Pearl (2016)

This Netflix series is about Ashley Garcia, who gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to work at NASA.

Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is over, but that doesn’t mean discussion about it has stopped. One of the most controversial characters on the show that’s still stirring up discourse is John Walker. Many have debated his morality online: Is he a hero, a villain, an anti-hero?

In Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (1986), we follow the love life of powerful female protagonist Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns) and explore the relationship dynamics she has with her partners. She sees three men simultaneously: Greer Childs, (John Canada Terrell) Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee), and Jamie Overstreet (Tommy Redmond Hicks). Though an 80’s film, She’s Gotta Have It is surprisingly progressive with its themes of female sexuality, although at some points in the film it is handled clumsily. Overall Nola is an incredibly compelling character especially for modern women, as we as a society acknowledge female sensuality more and more without the negative stigma.

“The most disrespected person in America is the Black Woman/the most unprotected person in America is the Black Woman,” Director Spivey Jr quotes. The quotes are absolutely true. Misogynoir is a devastating social ill that is not given the weight it is due.

“I’m always interested in exploring female fantasy, and the sexy witch is a loaded archetype that is simultaneously about men’s fears and fantasies about women, and women’s feelings of empowerment and agency. So whereas we are used to seeing the sexy witch or the femme fatale from the outside, I wanted to explore her from the inside.” - Anna Biller, on why she made The Love Witch

The Cycle refuses to lean into the same old, same old monster-movie tropes and builds the entire premise around the intellect and the history of a capable, smart female protagonist.