LIGULA MANGA No.

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Spike Lee’s 1996 film, “Girl 6” was his

attempt at a female lead driven film.
What resulted was a box office flop
and the film met with heavy criticism
for the potrayal of women. But why
so? Well, after viewing there are
definatley some things I’ve picked up
on. Girl 6 is almost never named, we
learn that her name is Judy through
her cousin Jimmy, but no one in the

film refers to her as such other than

that instance. By not giving her a
name, just as the other women
operators are not named, then that
takes away from the character. It is
curious also how none of the women
were to act/be black. All the roles
given to the women operators were to
be white regardless of their real race.
It begs the question, why? Why are
only the white women allowed to be
sexualized/played? The film’s poster
even features Girl 6’s character in the
role of a white women (See below).
These are some of the issues.
LIGULA MANGA No. 001
We also see how Judy/Girl 6’s
character seems to be in constant
danger of sexual violence. Whether
it’s the creepy callers who play on
innapropriate/even illegal fantasies
that threaten her, or if it is her ex-
husband pracitcally assaulting her.
Girl 6 plays into the role and even
develops a kind of obsession into her
phone sex characters. She justifies
all the kinks the men have, saying
“they’re not perverts.” Even when
some of the men have underage/rape
fantasies. The theme of a certain and
protected innocence seems to be
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prevalent throughout the film. We
see this in reference to Girl 6 and
Angela King. King is a little girl who
falls down an elevator shaft and is
then in slow recovery throughout the
film, Girl 6 meanwhile is on a slow
downfall, becoming more and more
lost into her profession as a phone sex
operator. A lot of the other themes
attribute to Girl 6’s vague and
disjointed sense of self. Although the
film was written by a woman, Suzan-
Lori Parks, the role of the women in
this film is largley centered around The film’s cover showcases girl 6’s character playing the role of one of her phone sex
men and their own desires rather characters. this particular character is white, and blonde with blue eyes. did spike lee
than the women’s desires. intentionally pick the blonde character for the poster?
LIGULA MANGA No. 001 6 7 CHAPTER 001

Is it a Spike Lee film without

music and dance?

After watching quite a few of Spike’s
other films, I’ve noticed the
relationship with music and dance is
clear in his films. A lot of his films
seem to have a heavy soundtrack that
plays almost in the whole entirety of
the film. Music plays over dialogue
and even tense moments. We’ve seen
examples from “Mo’ Better Blues”
and “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We
Cut Heads” that upbeat music is
played over intense and violent
scenes. In “Girl 6” music is played
when Girl 6’s ex-husband takes her to
an alley after they meet for dinner,
and takes her hand down his pants.
She pulls away, to which he replies
“What did you expect talking to me
like that?” As if sexual talk grants
sexual acts. Upbeat music is also
played while Girl 6 criesin the
bathroom while the audio matches to
a particular underage fantasy phone
sex call.
I have also noticed that many of
Spike’s films feature some sort of
dancing scene or dance moment. A
lot of the time I feel it is to show a
sense of escapism. In “Joe’s Bed-Stuy
Barbershop: We Cut Heads” we see a
group of black youth dancing with
their beatbox in a rundown building
where the character of Ruth
eventually is jumped. In “Girl 6” we
see dancing when Girl 6 is imagining
being in a sitcom and Spike Lee even
begins to dance. The dancing
moments are a break from reality in
the otherwise tense and bleak
moments from some of the situations
of his films.

It almost takes away from the tense

moment that Spike Lee is creating.
Because his films are very music and
sountrack-oriented having an
absence of music during the intense
scenes would be very noticeable and
effective. But this is Spike Lee’s style,
and this contributes to how his films
are viewed. I am curious as to why he
chooses to play upbeat music during
intense moments.
Shown here is Spike Lee’s annual block party honoring the King of Pop with a joyous
afternoon of loud music and exuberant dancing. Aug 26. 2017.