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How Did Spike Lee Ever Escape The Clutches of The Me Too Movement?

Adebayo Adeniran
3 min readJan 30, 2024

Just asking…

Spike Lee. Image via Wikimedia Commons

Shelton Jackson Lee is without question, one of the leading film makers of his generation.

For someone who grew up on his material —She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Mo Better Blues, Crooklyn, Clockers and everything else that’s followed, it is no exaggeration to state that we would be poorer culturally, if it weren’t for this guy.

You didn’t watch Spike Lee films without seeing some nudity and what was interesting was you had the distinct impression that the man was having a phenomenal time, being at the heart of things.

In his debut feature, we meet the polyandrist Nola Darling, who lived life on her own terms.

The notion of a highly intelligent and sexually liberated Black woman being brought to life by a first-time director was incredibly revolutionary, but that was soured by the rape scene involving Jamie Overstreet and Nola Darling.

Why Spike Lee thought that having that particular scene was necessary, I will never understand, but it is one of the man’s very many missteps.

Anyone who has seen School Daze cannot defend the rape (again) of yet another female, when Spike’s Dunlap was offered the girl of the sorority leader in the…

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Adebayo Adeniran
Adebayo Adeniran

Written by Adebayo Adeniran

A lifelong bibliophile, who seeks to unleash his energy on as many subjects as possible

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