It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday… Or in this case, She’s Gotta Have It.
Less than two months after its season two premiere, Netflix has canceled Spike Lee’s series She’s Gotta Have It. Titled after the 1986 film, we follow Nola Darling, a young Black female graphic Brooklyn-based artist who is a self-proclaimed “sex-positive, polyamorous pansexual.”
In true Nola Darling fashion, leading lady Dewanda Wise said farewell to the series with an Audre Lorde quote, “And at last you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.”
In two seasons, we watched her character navigate love, life and her newfound career. And like her suitors, we’ve all been changed by the infamous Nola Darling. Here’s how:
Nola showed Black women how to own their sexuality. Played by perfectly by Wise, we watched Nola juggle the attention of three different men and one woman. She taught us we could be sexually liberated without the opinion or judgment of other people.
Nola empowered Black women to have agency over their bodies. In the first season of She’s Gotta Have It, Nola fell victim to the dangers of sexual harassment while walking home. After she rejects a man’s advances, he grabs her wrists and calls her a “bitch.” Nola fights him off and she’s able to escape, but the incident caused serious trauma. That story arc sparked the “My Name Isn’t” campaign and became a movement throughout the season.
Nola spread love… the Brooklyn way. Like Sex & the City and Insecure, the love story isn’t just centered around her sexual pursuits. Nola was as much in love with being a Brooklynite as she was with her paramours. For New Yorkers, it’s perhaps the best part of watching She’s Gotta Have It as images of Greenlight Bookstore, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, even a particular corner on Myrtle Avenue would float across the screen.
Nola liked a good bop. Musically She’s Gotta Have It is a whole vibe. C’mon, episode five was soundtracked almost entirely by Prince songs including “Sign O’ the Times,” “Nothing Compares 2 U,” “Kiss,” and “Sometimes It Snows in April.” The show’s soundtrack also features Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, War, Babatunde Olatunji, and more. Fall in love with the music all over again by hearing the series’s full playlists on Lee’s Instagram.
But Lee isn’t saying goodbye to She’s Gotta Have It just yet. According to reports, he’s hopeful another network will pick up the series. So maybe it’s not goodbye Nola Darling, but until next time.