Starring: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Nico Hiraga, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sydney Park, Josephine Langford, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz, Marcia Gay Harden, Joshua Walker
Distributor: Netflix
Runtime: 111 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2021
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High school drama on sexual harassment.
More than topical. Had Netflix premiered Moxie in January 2021, most of us would have nodded our heads, a high school version of #MeToo, teenage sexual harassment, bullying, some inept responses from school authorities. But, premiering in March 2021, it is not just an American story, it is a universal story.
And, it is highly significant in the Australian social context, political context, sexual harassment context, legal context, that has provoked enormous media consideration, public and private discussions, protests.
A bit of help from Wikipedia first: there is a definition of ‘moxie’:
1: energy, pep woke up full of moxie.
2: courage, determination it takes . . . moxie to pull up roots and go to a land where the culture and probably the language are totally foreign – M. J. McClary.
This film is based on a contemporary novel by Jennifer Mathieu, female screenwriter, Tamara Chestna, and directed by well-known and popular comedian, Amy Poehler (who plays a significant role of the central character’s mother). This is a women-focused story, centring on a 16-year-old at high school, Vivian, played effectively as both shy and strong by Hadley Robinson.
Vivian’s mother, Lisa, was something of a rebel and protester in her day and has communicated something of this to Vivian who does not quite know how to assert herself, is in admiration of a new student, Lucy (Pascual-Peña) black/Hispanic, who makes a mark in the literature class on the first day of the new school year, posing the question of why they should study The Great Gatsby (‘written by an old rich white man…’). She is brusquely interrupted by the supreme self-confident football jock, Mitchell (Schwarzenegger, quite dashing but in what turns out to be a courageous performance for a most unsympathetic character). Mitchell continues to taunt Lucy.
In the Australian context, Chanel Contos, remembering her school days at a private school, collected stories and testimonies ‘over 3000 testimonies of sexual assault from current and former schoolgirls from across Australia, some claiming they were raped by boys from all-boys private schools, some when they were as young as 13’. Moxie illustrates most tellingly this kind of harassment. Incidents can seem small and insignificant, easily passed over – the principal (Marcia Gay Harden) answering Lucy’s complaint by distinguishing what is annoying (can be discussed and quietly settled) from what is harassment (which requires the trouble of investigation and paperwork).
Incidents help us appreciate how hurtful and harmful male presumptions and conscious and unconscious arrogance can be – and are. Texts assessing students quickly do the rounds, ‘the most bangable’, ‘best fat ass’. Male giggling, Mitchell as super-hero, presumption that he be the only candidate for school sports representative (with a $10,000 scholarship.
Vivian is stirred and designs a small magazine to highlight the issues. She calls it Moxie. At first there are 50 photocopied issues, left in the restroom, in the hopes that someone will pick it up. Success. The girls find a voice and begin to make it heard. They decide to nominate one of their own sports captains to stand against Mitchell. (Vivian also has some 16-year-old’s issues including attraction to a nice fellow-student, Seth (Hiraga).)
Then, in the final 15 minutes, Moxie becomes even stronger and more topical. A girl anonymously emails Vivian to reveal she had been raped on prom night. At the protest, she reveals herself and the 17-year-old fellow-student who was responsible…
Netflix offers an opportunity for accessible story, images and incidents – and serious discussion, especially for school students, teachers and parents.
Peter Malone MSC
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