She’s Gotta Have It: Your Side piece Couldn’t Handle A Nola Darling Thanksgiving

I’ve always had an affinity for Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns), the fictional character Spike Lee created in his first feature film,She’s Gotta Have Itand now a Netflix series. Spike created a woman who did exactly what she wanted. Nola was a natural Brooklyn baddie; she had a harem of guys simply because she could. And each of her men served a different purpose.

Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee) was the gump with a good heart and was fun to kick it with. Greer Childs (John Canada Terrell) was a handsome, rich narcissist. And Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks) was a stable, overprotective alpha male. Each suitor had his virtues, but Nola just couldn’t make up her mind.

She’s Gotta Have It showed us that when a man has a lot of sexual partners, they are looked at as “the man.” But when a woman has a lot of partners she is looked at as a nymphomaniac. Spike Lee pretty much took these stereotypes and turned them around.

One can only imagine how a modern day Nola Darling would be similar to Erykah Badu, with pieces of let’s say a young Instagram vixen. It’s not a debate of if “hoes are winning.” It’s more of a discussion on doing what you want. I mean, IG models having fun while dating rappers and they haven’t burst into flames as others want to believe. Erykah Badu has multiple baby daddies, yet she is still MUVA. Maybe Future is right, “you do what you want when you’re popping.”

Nola showed how popping she was when she decided she wanted to spend Thanksgiving with all three of her lovers. She invited all three men to break bread together. In the real world would that even fly? Can you imagine inviting all your side pieces to dinner and chatting about Donald Trump and LaVar Ball? Or discussing how Jaden Smith’s debut album, SYRE knocks?

Nola’s Thanksgiving worked because all of her men knew about each other. She didn’t play no games with them. And she wasn’t silly with her affairs like, how Ty Dolla Sign sings of buying both of his chicks the same perfume and Louboutins. Or how people send the same, “Good Morning heart face emoji” to their suitors. Nola’s dinner with multiple baes worked because she actually had personality, creativity, and substance. She dated her men.

This kind of Thanksgiving dinner is a fictitious G move. I personally wouldn’t try it, I don’t want no blood on my hands. But Spike Lee has always been ahead of his time. Nola was giving us a Love and Hip-Hop love triangle realness in the 80s.

Do you think you could invite your side pieces to a peaceful Thanksgiving dinner?