Gina Boyle

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The first time I watched Moxie, I loved it. But after sitting on it and really thinking about the plot and themes past "girls fighting the patriarchy," I found more things to critique. The movie is supposed to be focused on Riot Grrrl culture and media, but besides them playing "Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill twice and showing some of the band stickers on Lisa's old suitcase, there are no mentions of what's important to the Riot Grrrl movement: the musical expression. I think that Seth was one of the best characters in the film and they did a great job of a good guy character without completely sexualizing the female character, but I was increasingly annoyed by Vivian's behavior. Towards the end of the film, I suppose she "learned her lesson" from her self righteous actions, but I wish that the movie would've been more focused on Lucy, a person of color, rather than the little white girl who thinks that she's entitled to being a feminist just because she believes in equality and "smashing the patriarchy." Admittedly, I haven't read the book, so I don't know how much the movie deviates from the plot of the novel, but I think that there could've been some creative changes for the film's direction. Amy Poehler needed to do some actual research on the Riot Grrrl movement besides throwing in a mention or two of Kathleen Hanna. I do think that the film's message was great, and they did a great job of showing that women can fight back with their teeth bared against misogyny and homophobia. It was exciting to see a diverse cast of young men and women in a Netflix original, but Vivian's character in general still annoys me. If they wanted to have a white protagonist, fine, but they should've done it right. Instead, they made a protagonist who is painfully unaware of her own privilege and bases her entire personality off of hating the male characters in the movie just because she thinks it's cool.