We All Must Have It.

A good friend has shared with me that he found the Spike Lee Netflix serial reprise of 'She's Gotta Have It" to be :

"entertaining but disturbing. I found it unfortunate that the  most redeeming black male portrayed was a homeless Iraq war veteran with mental issues. All others are caricatures whose personas are not developed to the extent of the female roles. Also, the lead character's juxtaposed juvenile attitudes and immaturity would be as unacceptable for a male."

I rarely these days judge art. I suppose in some real ways I consider myself to be an artist as well and when I have explain my photos I feel a little well maybe a lot aggravated.

I found my friends mini review however to be of interest. In some ways he is being judgemental and critical but to me he actually has perceived exactly what Spike intended.

I am not saying that I know what Spike intended.

But after watching the series on Netflix over the course of a few days, I did feel entertained and disturbed. For me that is a plus, a real plus and a verification that my time was not wasted.

I did find the black male portrayed as a homeless Irag war veteran with mental issues to be a real delight and an pole star representation of the triage that society can and does inflict upon our most vulnerable. As an aside one of "smartest" guys that I have never known has been homeless for several decades.  Nola the lead female in the series remarks several times that the homeless character was the most talented artist in her school/class growing up. So for me that portrayal of our  communities talent "wasted" by circumstance, fate, misguided governmental war policy, raging economic inequality captured my attention and interest. His character resonated with me in other words.

The reference to all of the other male characters being shallow , especially in contrast to the female roles, struck me as being consistent with the overarching plot line. Okay here goes- for me the overarching plot line is that many females perceive many males to be shallow, self centered caricatures clothed in various degrees of conscious and unconscious sexest beliefs, especially when it come to viewing females as objects.

The series in my opinion can capture the imagination of many under 35 viewers .  For whether Nola can move in a straight line of  growth  or wallow in vacillation is  surely a recurring theme and honest preoccupation in growing up in general, especially in this day and time.