The Red Light Rules: Zola
Zola is a horror movie (lol) – a white girl with a skin crawling blaccent, the Black main character being held against her will, and men being disgustingly bold– horrific indeed. It was almost too much honestly! I had to do a nervous system reset after watching the film because it made me so angry and made me feel so many things. Many of our followers have asked us to review this movie within the framework of The Red Light Rules™ and it did not score well. Since the film itself is based off a twitter thread/true events that transpired between these two women the scoring isn't to say it's a "bad" movie, just that it may be triggering for SWers to watch (as it was for me).
The film follows A’Ziah “Zola” King, a Detroit waitress and part-time stripper who is befriended by Stefani, another dancer, who persuades her to join a trip to Tampa to make some fast money at this club she knows. After arriving in Tampa, Stefani’s boyfriend Derrek and her manipulative “roommate” X, Zola realizes she’s been played as X is actually Stefani’s pimp. Zola refuses to sleep with the men that X arranges for them; instead, she helps Stefani earn more money by raising her rates online, which angers but also impresses X.
As Derrek’s recklessness, Stefani’s lies, and X’s violence reach their peak the trip spirals into chaos involving robbery, assault, and murder. After a brutal encounter where Stefani is abducted, Zola is assaulted and X kills one of the attackers, the group flees. In the end, Zola silently distances herself, gazing out the car window as Stefani professes her love for her.
Overall, just an extremely messy situation proving you can't trust people you don't know! PSA: Don't travel across state lines with someone you have known for less than a week, especially for this kind of work. So yeah, this is horror movie IMO, at the very least a dramatic/thriller that will definitely scare you so maybe give it a watch before spooky season ends if you haven't already.
– Mel
Zola scored 1/4 on The Red Light Rules™ test that assesses portrayals of sex work in media. We created 4 questions to determine this:
- Does the film show an understanding of choice, circumstance, and/or coercion? yes
- Does the SWer interact with another person in a positive manner unrelated to SW?
- Does the SWer have a storyline, hobby, or interest outside of SW?
- Does the film have a happy and/or non-traumatic ending for the SWer?
