Netflix/Moxie
Just in time for women’s month, Netflix drops its newest teenage inspiring dramedy film Moxie.
At a first glance, Moxie may remind you of familiar films from the same genre— Mean Girls and the 1989 cult classic Heathers. The premise is of the same format, a teenage girl finds out about the imbalance and impunity within her high school and starts to form some sort of rebel. However, at the same time, it is far from those two. The new Netflix film offers a fresh take on the well-beloved young adult genre and caters to a more contemporary audience, Generation Z.
The Saturday Night Live alumni and Parks and Rec star Amy Poehler directs the coming-of-age film that successfully expounds on its liberalism views that tackles misogynism, gender, race, and identity; although it ultimately resolves with a white girl’s coming-out-of-age experience.
Vivian (Hadley Robinson), a quiet, smart 16-year-old girl who would like to keep her head low through the remainder of her high school years until she reaches college. Joined at hip is her best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai), who is equally introverted and prefers to stick by the book. However, a series of fortunate events— a popular student poll, a fierce new student Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Peña), tank tops, and a soda can, ultimately shakes her resolve. Inspired by her mother’s (Amy Poehler) past riot grrrl that aims to squash the patriarchy, Vivian creates the underground feminism zine Moxie.
Packed with a delightful and talented cast, the film’s strongest points is the array of characters it has. Each character is a representation of different girls found in a typical high school hallway— from athletes, to a transgender women, to those who are disabled. It is nice and pleasant to watch these young women band together to fight together against a system that has entirely ignored them.
Women’s suffrage has been a long part of the world’s history. Women fighting for their rights have long been celebrated, yet somehow, the fight never ended. Every day women still suffer under the pressure of society, of misogynistic nature that have somehow deeply ingrained itself in the world we walk in. Although there is progress in today’s world, it does not mean the desire for a better and inclusive society is not over. This is where the film comes in, it addresses these situations and makes it easier for the viewers to understand that, despite the age of infinite knowledge and discovery, there are things that were evident then that are still present now. Although targeted for a younger audience, Moxie speaks to more than just one age group. It addresses situations that have spanned across years, whether one was born during the World War or the age of MTV, Moxie’s message is still able to pinpoint issues from before and try to make them better.
The film is good at making the audience feel uncomfortable. It shows different scenarios of not only high school boys being bullies, misogynists, and aggressive, but as well as parental-figures such as principals and teachers contributing to this world of ignorance and tolerance. As an audience, especially if you are female, one cannot help but relate to the experiences these characters go through. From a young age, women are taught to dress a certain way, act a certain way, to shut up and let the world decide for them, that sometimes it's better to just let boys be boys, or as the film stated, ‘annoying.’ The film hopes to erase such a mentality and hopefully, let girls be girls.
Another commendable point of the film is that it does not cage itself with feminism views only. In fact, Lauren Tsai’s character, Claudia’s struggles as an Asian-American hits way too close to home. There are scenes wherein they justify her hesitance to join the Moxie bandwagon. One of the film's strong statements is when Claudia voiced out the importance of education in her Asian culture and the struggles her immigrant mother went through just so she could have a better life and eventually go to university.
Despite its success in delivering its message, an amazing cast and crew, a few concerns though still come into mind. The film revolves around the concept of Moxie and how the homemade feminism-zine sparked almost the entire school population, especially women, to riot. Yet, the audiences never get to read what is written inside and never feel why these girls are suddenly sparked with passion. On the other hand, Mitchell’s (Patrick Schwarzenegger), the film’s central antagonist, character felt one dimensional. Schwarzenegger’s portrayal, however, is spot on and has successfully willed the audience the desire to punch him in the face. It would have been a nice touch to know more about Mitchell and why he has such a nasty approach towards these girls and what the root cause is.
Nevertheless, the film ends with hope and satisfaction. Jam-packed with talents such as the likes of Alycia Pascual-Peña, Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, and Nico Hiraga, the film is surely off to a road of success. Maybe, even earning a spot next to Mean Girls, Booksmart, and Heathers.
Moxie is currently streaming on Netflix.
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