Whilst being a light-hearted comedy/musical, Moxie is also a great representation of the female experience and gender discrimination. The film was a directing debut by Amy Poehler who also plays the mother and early on expressed her love for ‘smashing the patriarchy and burning it all down’. The film is set in a stereotypical American high school and follows 16-year-old Vivian. The head teacher, who I found to be an unlikable character, hosts an assembly, and is shown to be trying to ‘bring back’ the word “moxie”. After a quick google search, I now understood that this is a slang term for energy, pep, courage and determination. During this assembly a well-coordinated group text is sent out to the whole school with a list of derogatory categories such as ‘Best Rack’ or ‘Best Ass’. Our protagonist wins the category of ‘Most Obedient’ and new girl in school Lucy gets the new category of ‘Biggest C***’ which leads an infuriated Vivian going home and creating her very own magazine ‘Moxie’.
The movie had many witty moments albeit a bit cliché at times, and a lot of important contemporary issues were touched upon. The cast was diverse and despite it being focused on the themes of sexism and gender inequalities it also refers to ableism, racism, and transphobia. There are various moments where some of the characters seem to fall flat and feel almost too stereotypical, but I would argue that maybe that is the point? This makes it abundantly clear that sexism is still prominent and leaving the themes of friendship, feminism, support, activism and inclusion all to ring through. The creation of Vivian’s magazine leads to a whole bunch of revolutionised thinking that results in a tank top wearing protest and the new ‘Moxie girl’. Rebel girl be Bikini Kill becomes the ‘Moxie girl’ anthem used throughout the movie and there is one character in particular who I think should receive a specific mention being Seth.
Seth is one of the best characters in the film and goes from being called ‘the shrimp’ to becoming an active supporter for the ‘moxie girls’. He showed support from the beginning of the film with the hand stars, boosting the nominations for the girls’ soccer captain and just showing an overall awareness and understanding for women’s issues.
Despite the fact that Moxie tries to address too many social issues in a short amount of time it is still a fun, entertaining, empowering and easy to watch film.
By Sydney Cranfield.
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