Along with Stranger Than Paradise, She's Gotta Have It helped usher in the new generation of independent film-makers. Spike Lee's first film is influential in many ways but it is the portrayal of women and African Americans that sets it apart. Nola (the eponymous 'she' of the title) wants what she perceives men to have: multiple sexual partners. The film shows her juggling the attentions of three men that she's seeing. Nola is a strong, sexually free and independent black woman, something not often seen in Hollywood. Her would-be suitors are also up-scale well-read suburbanites, a representation of black people that Hollywood also did not often adhere to. The film cost $185,000 to make and made almost $8m at the box-office, making Spike Lee a hot property in the process. Lee's character Mars Blackmon became a mainstream figure by appearing in adverts for Air Jordans along with Basketball legend Michael Jordan.
