Moxie Girls Fight Back
New Netflix film shows the importance of speaking up about sexism in schools.
By Jocelyn Cosgrove
New Netflix film shows the importance of speaking up about sexism in schools.
By Jocelyn Cosgrove
Note: this article contains references to a fictional sexual assault.
In light of Women’s History Month, Netflix’s new movie, “Moxie,” successfully captivates audiences with the revolutionary movement against the sexist double standards at Rockport High School. The Netflix original has been streaming since March 3.
“Moxie” is about 16-year-old Vivian Carter, who creates a zine called “Moxie,” which is filled with pictures of women not caring about the standards society puts them in. The zine started the fight against the fact that the boys at Rockport High School get away with everything and the girls get punished for showing their shoulders at school. With an engaging plot and plenty of heartfelt moments between characters and the audience, “Moxie” shows how women can speak up for anything that is troubling them.
At the beginning of the movie, Vivian is a very shy girl who gets labeled as “most obedient,” by the boys at her school. Senior Aria Lombera feels that both Lucy and Vivian’s mom were Vivian’s inspiration to create Moxie.
“How the movie started, with her in the woods, unable to scream, to finally being able to let it all out, in the end, showed how far she’d come and how much had changed for all girls at their school,” Lombera said.
One double standard in schools that they showcased was dress codes. More often, women are restricted by the clothes they can wear in public at school and one of the main points of this movie is fighting against the school’s dress code because it targeted women showing their shoulders. Sophia Aranda, 9, sees both in the movie and in real life how guys can get away with a lot of things, but when girls try to do the same things, they get punished.
“An example would be the girls getting punished for wearing tank tops while male students constantly wear them and even take off their shirts with no punishment,” Aranda said.
A large focus of “Moxie” is the idea of feminism and that men shouldn’t be able to dictate what a woman says, what a woman does, and what a woman wears. Feminism is a way for women to advocate for women’s rights and being able to use their voice without being shut down.
One of the major moments of this movie was when Josephine Langford’s character, Emma Cunning, tells the other students that she wrote the note to Moxie about being raped by the school’s jerk of a football captain, Mitchell. Emma spoke her truth about being raped after being shown how much support she was given because of that note. In society, women are targeted for it being their fault for being raped or sexually harassed, and so when it does happen to us, we don’t speak up.
By the end of the movie, the true identity of the writer of Moxie is revealed, and change is undergoing at Rockport High School. What “Moxie” does so successfully is its approach to feminism and how strong the women are in this movie because women are strong, no matter the rules that society puts on us. In “Moxie”, the characters speak out about the dress code, about a female soccer player not getting voted the school's athlete, and walking out because Emma got raped. “Moxie” captures how when women support each other, a movement becomes so much stronger because so many other voices are included.
To anyone who needs a good movie, with strong female characters and voices, I recommend “Moxie” 100%.
“Moxie” is currently streaming on Netflix.
In light of Women’s History Month, Netflix’s new movie, “Moxie,” successfully captivates audiences with the revolutionary movement against the sexist double standards at Rockport High School. The Netflix original has been streaming since March 3.
“Moxie” is about 16-year-old Vivian Carter, who creates a zine called “Moxie,” which is filled with pictures of women not caring about the standards society puts them in. The zine started the fight against the fact that the boys at Rockport High School get away with everything and the girls get punished for showing their shoulders at school. With an engaging plot and plenty of heartfelt moments between characters and the audience, “Moxie” shows how women can speak up for anything that is troubling them.
At the beginning of the movie, Vivian is a very shy girl who gets labeled as “most obedient,” by the boys at her school. Senior Aria Lombera feels that both Lucy and Vivian’s mom were Vivian’s inspiration to create Moxie.
“How the movie started, with her in the woods, unable to scream, to finally being able to let it all out, in the end, showed how far she’d come and how much had changed for all girls at their school,” Lombera said.
One double standard in schools that they showcased was dress codes. More often, women are restricted by the clothes they can wear in public at school and one of the main points of this movie is fighting against the school’s dress code because it targeted women showing their shoulders. Sophia Aranda, 9, sees both in the movie and in real life how guys can get away with a lot of things, but when girls try to do the same things, they get punished.
“An example would be the girls getting punished for wearing tank tops while male students constantly wear them and even take off their shirts with no punishment,” Aranda said.
A large focus of “Moxie” is the idea of feminism and that men shouldn’t be able to dictate what a woman says, what a woman does, and what a woman wears. Feminism is a way for women to advocate for women’s rights and being able to use their voice without being shut down.
One of the major moments of this movie was when Josephine Langford’s character, Emma Cunning, tells the other students that she wrote the note to Moxie about being raped by the school’s jerk of a football captain, Mitchell. Emma spoke her truth about being raped after being shown how much support she was given because of that note. In society, women are targeted for it being their fault for being raped or sexually harassed, and so when it does happen to us, we don’t speak up.
By the end of the movie, the true identity of the writer of Moxie is revealed, and change is undergoing at Rockport High School. What “Moxie” does so successfully is its approach to feminism and how strong the women are in this movie because women are strong, no matter the rules that society puts on us. In “Moxie”, the characters speak out about the dress code, about a female soccer player not getting voted the school's athlete, and walking out because Emma got raped. “Moxie” captures how when women support each other, a movement becomes so much stronger because so many other voices are included.
To anyone who needs a good movie, with strong female characters and voices, I recommend “Moxie” 100%.
“Moxie” is currently streaming on Netflix.