Netflix series offer 2 new looks at past
Lee revisits Brooklyn; ‘ Godless’ evokes old West
Nola Darling wasn’t willing to be called a freak in 1986, and she’s still not down with the label in 2017.
Although 31 years have passed since Spike Lee directed his first feature, She’s Gotta Have It, the themes of sexual freedom and gentrification still ring true in his adaptation as a Netflix comedy series ( streaming now).
The updated Nola is played by DeWanda Wise, and her reinvented lovers are a modern- day motley crew.
Wise says the “polyamorous pansexual” Nola is just as significant today. Early episodes delve into Nola’s mental state after a sexual harassment incident.
“Anyone who’s been like, ‘ Why now? What makes this relevant? It was done 30 years ago, aren’t we further?’ Unfortunately we’re not,” she said.
“There’s actually more opportunities for people to police and have an opinion and attack and feel like for whatever reason they have domain over our very personal lives and bodies and choices, and that’s crazy,” Wise said.
“What’s invigorating about this moment,” she added, “is that we are all speaking up.”
The reinvented series fleshes out Nola as a modern character.
“A lot of people still don’t remember it was only 86 minutes,” Lee said. “This version is 10 half- hour episodes, so it gave us a lot more room with resources to explore Nola Darling.”
Fresh off a career- making performance in Broadway’s hit musical
Hamilton, Anthony Ramos got the chance to reimagine jokester lover Mars, played by Lee in the film.
“It’s just awesome watching him work and being a student; you really feel like you’re in school,” Ramos said of the director. “Spike was dope. He lets you shine. He lets you do your thing.”
Lee, who saw Ramos in Hamilton, said Blackmon was difficult to cast, “because Mars is a global, iconic figure, and it’s a lot to go with the role.” — Anika Reed
‘ Godless’ offers role reversal
The Old West is no longer just a man’s world in Godless. Netflix’s limited series ( streaming now) is a gen-
der makeover as women take center stage in a genre usually focused on men.
Godless is set in La Belle, N. M., a struggling 1880s community populated mostly by women after a mining accident claimed nearly all of the men. Their mettle is tested after widowed rancher Alice Fletcher ( Michelle Dockery) takes in wounded outlaw Roy Goode ( Jack O’Connell), who’s being pursued by Frank Griffin ( Jeff Daniels).
“Alice is like steel,” said Dockery ( Downton Abbey, Good Behavior). “Alice represents a lot of women who had experienced great loss and hard times. They’re incredibly tough.
“Women’s lives at that time often focused upon domestic life and child care, ( and) their employment opportunities were limited by their gender,” she said. “The women of La Belle ... shift roles, and very successfully.”
Widow Mary Agnes McNue ( Merritt Wever) now wears her husband’s clothes and is in a relationship with a woman.
“I don’t think the moral of the story is that all these women are waiting to be saved or are looking for husbands,” Wever said.
Says Jessica Sula, who plays Louise Hobbs: “There are so many women who made that trek and that journey. It was a gift to educate ourselves on real people who lived this.”