Moxie is a black teenage girl's battle, quietly done by a white girl, who is simply too frustrated with patriarchy. Unfortunately, it is Asian and the Black girls who are suspected of starting this new Moxie, the feminist movement, (because god forbid white people to get blamed for anything.) Toxicity in men begins at an early stage such as in school where we are told to ignore a boy's bad behaviour because boys will be boys.
For most women who studied in a co-education school, Moxie may somehow turn out to be a personal journey, because we have had that boy classmate, who thought he was above law. Such a character in Moxie had been Mitchell, the football captain, the famous boy in school, who is well-protected by the Lady Principal of his school since he brings in all the trophies and popularity.
What director Amy Poehler clearly makes us notice, are gender, caste, race, discrimination, which reflect clearly. You notice the white girl, her Asian best friend, the new black girl, her soft battle against the white guy who spat on her soda, refused to listen to her opinion on The Great Gatsby and basically imposed his views on everyone else and did not allow anyone else to form a different opinion on a literature piece of work.
Moxie and Feminism
What Amy Poehler had struggled to bring out in high school, her character had already suffered in Parks and Recreations. In the television series, Leslie Knope had been a highly ambitious woman who wanted to bring a change of the right kind in the town of Pawnee. She works in a department of the Government that hardly pays attention, but she remains ambitious in her minor initiatives. But what do we end up doing? We end up laughing at Leslie Knope for being fiercely ambitious.
The Netflix film, Moxie creates a similar effect. Initially, we laugh at the woman who stands up for herself and we tell her to calm down, but hardly do we tell the man to behave himself and allow another woman to speak. The silent Moxie movement eventually gains momentum when all the women read relatable stories of harassment, however, the lady principal of the school is forced to take action to stop the feminist movement since it mentally affects the white guy and forces him to respect the women of other race.
In the final sequence, the Moxie movement eventually created a large impact without the presence of national media (only social media). Moxie like MeToo created awareness, and even the most sexist men remained careful before passing comment. But the battle against patriarchy has not been won yet.
