(SPOILER ALERT)
Last week, I, amongst a few other people, had the pleasure of watching Netflix’s film Moxie before it came out- and I loved it. Loved the music, loved the makeup and costumes, and even loved how innocent the love interests were. Moxie had everything from strong independent women taking charge to a revolution taking over a school like a wildfire, but that doesn’t mean that it was perfect. Just as Moxie brought up many important issues, they also failed to thoroughly discuss those issues making some viewers like myself wonder what was the real purpose of the film because at this point it seems like Vivian’s mom’s salad: a bunch of random things thrown in a bowl. If Netflix would have taken the time to comb through the movie’s issues and organize it better they could have created at least four different female-empowering movies that would have been a hit, but instead, they mushed them all in one film leaving the girl power movie Moxie with a lot of plot holes, and here’s why.
- Rape Subplot
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Yeah, when it comes to this one I’m not going to lie; I was absolutely pissed that Netflix thought it was okay to just throw this in at the end when Emma Johnson deserved more closure. No, she deserved her own movie that showed what she went through and how Moxie made her feel until the end and not just little clips of her skulking around the corner or making microexpressions in the background. Now that’s a movie I would love to see; her struggling to get justice in a school where her principal tried to bury the problem and everyone always viewed her as perfect and “bangable” while she felt shitty inside. Not a film where we randomly find out she was raped by her boyfriend and then she magically feels better after screaming on a bench. I mean, no sis, that’s not how trauma works!
- Principal Shelly and Mitchell Wilson
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If I had to sum up these two characters in the fewest words possible it would be “W T F” and, yes, I mean that wholeheartedly. I’ve seen many films with horrible characters but these two made me want to choose violence (picture me flipping a table). Mitchell Wilson was a complete menace to society and no one wanted to do anything about it and instead covered for him time after time saying “boys will be boys.” News flash; those boys grow up to be men capable of much worse things until taught a lesson, which the principal FAILED to do. I mean where to start with this woman? Not only did she dare to call herself the best principal when there was an inappropriate list and a string of sexual harassment circulating but had the audacity to look bothered when calling Mitchell to her office as if she were reluctant. That principle should’ve lost her job and Mitchell go to jail losing his big scholarship in the process, but instead, Moxie decided to leave viewers on a cliffhanger wondering if justice was ever served.
- Black Girl Problems
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I honestly appreciate how Moxie included problems black girls have to face today like how fetishizing our butts and treating our hair like a commodity, but like the rape subplot, there is nothing to grasp. All we get is the list calling Kiera “Best Ass” and some random girl talking about how people need to stop touching her hair. That’s it, which is why I wish they would’ve included more scenes where Kiera and Amaya take on these racial profiles more publically. That way viewers would think that the movie did care and wasn’t just including the predicament to cover all their bases and clout.
- Random LGBTQ+ Aspects
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This goes for the character CJ (played by Jodie Totah) who was a trans woman at their school. There was absolutely nothing about this character that stood out in the film despite representing an important issue and that’s on Netflix. Instead of showing scenes where CJ is bullied or dismissed for her new gender, all they showed were two scenes; one where she talks about people not accepting her new gender and the other of her auditioning. This is not even enough to be called a subplot because, in the end, we don’t really know her. We don’t know the types of hardships she faced nor if she even got the part she wanted. All we do know is that she just happened to be the only trans girl in Moxie making her almost like a token representing the LGBTQ+. Also, the fact how at the end Alycia and Amaya made out was really insulting because the movie had not once alluded to their feelings for one another making it seem like another random LGBTQ+ aspect Netflix just threw in there to seem inclusive and didn’t care enough to actually explain.
Knowing all of this, I would like to end this article with a high note so it’s all not depressing. Despite its little hiccups, Moxie was indeed a good film for one and one reason only; diversity. I say this because not only did it depict feminists of every color, gender identity, and disability, but personality as well. For once, we got to see a character in a film that cares and wants to make a difference but doesn’t have the same confidence as some (and, no, I’m not talking about Vivian). I’m talking about Claudia, the girl who had so suffered enough pressure to make a diamond. She represents the type of girls out there that believe in the cause but prefers to fight the battle in their own way. For instance, when girls were writing on their hands and wearing tank tops to show their support. Claudia didn’t feel comfortable enough and wasn’t allowed to wear the top to school making people doubt her dedication to the cause when that simply wasn’t the case. Her character shows viewers that there are many types of feminists out there and that we’re not all loudly intense women. Some of us are quiet and more introverted, but no less a firm believer, which is why I applaud Moxie for including such a character when not many do.