Line #38 Film/Moxie


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4	->'''Vivian:''' If you just keep your head down, he'll get bored and move on.\
5	'''Lucy:''' Nah, I'm gonna keep my head up, ''high''.
6	\
7	''Moxie'' is a 2021 film starring Creator/HadleyRobinson, Lauren Tsai, and Alysia Pascual-Pena. Directed by Creator/AmyPoehler, it was based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer Mathieu.
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9	Vivian (Robinson) is a typical introverted teen just trying to survive high school and keep out of the crosshairs of bullies and jerks. But after witnessing a new student, Lucy (Pascual-Pena), stand up for herself against the norm, Vivian begins to realize how awful normal is. After a dive into her mother’s memorabilia of her own rebellious teen years, Vivian is inspired to make some change, and Moxie is born.
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11	Vivian writes an anonymous pamphlet she dubs ''[[TitleDrop Moxie]]'', calling out the casual sexism and misogyny the female students put up with every day. While she initially sees it as a one-off to vent her own frustrations, the idea catches fire with the girls at school and Vivian finds herself at the center of a cultural revolution.
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13	----
14	!!This film provides examples of:
15	* AdultsAreUseless: Principal Shelly fails to address bullying in her school, refusing to acknowledge the issue. She asks Lucy not to use terms like "harassment" or "bully" and shoos her away when she shows her social media list. She blames Lucy and Keira's supporters for not doing their job properly after Mitchell's fake victim speech on air.
16	* AllMenArePerverts: Implicitly discussed. Most of the boys in Vivian's school are sexist and royally degrade and harass the girls, making Vivian fed up when no action is done to call it out. The film makes clear that it isn't ''all'' the boys; Seth is one of the good ones, but the perverts stand out. Also, the old guy in the copy shop who copies Vivian’s zine is not (see CoolOldGuy below) and Vivian’s mom’s boyfriend John is presented as a good guy.
17	* AsHimself: Music/TheLindaLindas are a real-life band who perform at the Moxie party in the middle of the film.
18	* BecomingTheMask: Vivian is a shy introvert who creates Moxie as a feminist movement without having to talk to people. By the end, she lets go of the zine and speaks in public about the problems girls are facing.
19	* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: The school principal explicitly states that if Mitchell is "harassing" Lucy then she has to do a lot of paperwork and take action, whereas if he is only "bothering" her then she can handle it delicately (i.e. ignore it completely). She rephrases the conversation into Lucy claiming that Mitchell is only bothering her and sweeps it under the rug.
20	* BlessedWithSuck: The girls who are ranked on 'The List' for their physical attractiveness [[SoBeautifulItsACurse hate how it sexualizes and demeans them]]. They are often singled out based on these features, and even punished by the school administration.
21	* {{Callback}}: Lisa puts an arrangement of leeks in a vase on the table as if they were flowers when John comes to dinner. It serves as a cute callback to their flirting in the grocery store.
22	* CelebrityParadox: Claudia mentions a ''Film/MeanGirls'' costume. That film starred Creator/AmyPoehler as Regina’s mom while in this film she portrays Vivian’s mom, Lisa. She’s a much better mom this time around.
23	* CoolOldGuy: The copy clerk where Vivian prints Moxie. After one print job, he yells after her, “Smash the patriarchy!”
24	* CoolOldLady: When they hold a Moxie party at the VFW center, Helen, one of the old women playing mahjong cheers her support when Lucy talks about how they are bringing down the mediocre, old white man.
25	* CoolTeacher: Mr. Davies functions as a slight [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]]. He seems to honestly mean well, but he is too set in his ways to really connect with or understand his students, especially those who challenge the established white male curriculum. He eventually realizes that his best way to help is to support the students as ''they'' challenge the system.
26	* CountryMatters: After Lucy stands up to Mitchell she finds a new category has been added to the list just for her, "Biggest..." something that nobody wants to say.
27	* CurseCutShort: A soundtrack variant. "Kitana" plays in the background when the girls do their tank top protest, but it stops when Vivian sees Claudia isn't wearing one, ''right'' before the song drops the f-bomb.
28	* DCupDistress: Kaitlynn, a girl who wins "Best Rack" by boys, struggles with insecurity and is sent home for wearing a tank top. Despite being left alone, she eventually stops shameful about her body and confronts harassers due to her breasts.
29	* DeadpanSnarker: The copy clerk gets in a good one:
30	--> '''Vivian''': ''[holding up the first Moxie]'' I’m gonna need a shit-ton of these.
31	--> '''Clerk''': How many is that?
32	--> '''Vivian''': ''[{{beat}}...]'' Um, fifty?
33	* DirtyCoward: Several people accuse Vivian of being one as things start to get out of hand. When consequences start happening for Moxie, Vivian stoutly refuses to reveal herself as the mastermind behind it. This leads to people like [[spoiler: Claudia]] taking the fall. Instead of coming forward or reining it in, Vivian actually ''escalates'' into [[spoiler: theft and vandalism]], which could really get her fall guys in trouble.
34	* DisappearedDad: Lisa appears to have been raising Vivian solo for a while now. The two times her father is mentioned is when Vivian, in a tearful breakdown, asks Lisa why he doesn’t want to spend Christmas with her this year, and when she tells Seth she attended his wedding.
35	* DoubleStandard:
36	** Called out: Kaitlynn is publicly sent home by Principal Shelly for wearing an inappropriate tank top, despite other girls and boys also wearing it. Despite her argument that it's only "against the dress code" because of her large chest, Shelly dismisses it.
37	** The girls' soccer team is actually a winning team, including going to the state championships in the last year. However, the boys' football team gets all the attention and financial support from the school... even though they lose every game during the film.
38	* DrowningMySorrows: After [[spoiler: Kiera loses the scholarship to Mitchell]], Vivian drinks the entire bottle of celebratory champagne by herself as she walks home, crying.
39	* EveryoneHasStandards: Implied by the end. Principal Marlene Shelly, a mix of DirtyCoward, AdultsAreUseless, and SlaveToPR, punishes Moxie members and singles out female students, defending male mistreatment. However, when she discovers that [[spoiler:Mitchell raped a girl]], she starts taking proper action.
40	* EducationMama: Claudia’s mother comes from a strict Asian background and is determined for her daughter to have the best life possible for the sacrifices she made. [[spoiler:Her suspension from school]] is serious business for her. She might as well have robbed a convenience store at gunpoint.
41	* FirstKiss: During the VFW party, [[spoiler: Amaya and Lucy]] kiss on the dance floor. They each seem thrilled that the other feels the same way.
42	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
43	** After Vivian advises Lucy to “just ignore” Mitchell’s taunting and harassment, Lucy responds that this kind of behavior is often a prelude to worse stuff. [[spoiler: This turns out to be completely correct, as Mitchell has raped at least one girl before.]]
44	** Emma seems highly uncomfortable with Mitchell’s sudden appearance in the news studio. She vacates her chair for him and scurries off like a scared animal. [[spoiler: At the end of the film, we find out she was upset upon seeing him because he ''raped her'' a few months prior.]]
45	* FormerTeenRebel: At first, Vivian is amused to find her mother was a protest-attending rebel feminist. It becomes a huge source of inspiration for her own rebellion.
46	* TheFriendNobodyLikes:
47	** Discussed. Vivian calls out [[NiceGuy Seth]] for being friends with someone as awful as [[JerkJock Mitchell]]. He counters that he’s just used to him because they’ve been friends since first grade. Vivian points out how weak of an excuse this is. Seth quickly distances himself from him after that.
48	** This is also Bradley's entire role in the film. As the team mascot, he struggles with football jocks and hosts a party at his house. He breaks his arm and asks the team not to high-five him too hard. Emma, his co-host, is tired of his lame puns and [[spoiler:sycophancy]]; he brings Mitchell on without telling her, which is revealed in the climax.
49	* {{Funny Background Event}}: On the first day of school, Mr. Davies has two sheets of paper tacked to the whiteboard. They read “You Matter” and “Don’t Give Up.” But the way he has them placed side by side, it can be read “You don’t matter. Give up.” [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent Towards the end of the film, he has moved the second paper underneath the first]], fixing his meaning and [[spoiler:signaling his awakening and support for the female students]].
50	* GotVolunteered: Lucy nominates Kiera for the athletic award in the middle of a school football game, without checking with her first. Since it comes with a $10,000 scholarship Kiera isn't that put out, [[DownplayedTrope and is quickly persuaded by the other girls that it's something she wants too.]]
51	* HateSink: Mitchell Wilson is a misogynistic, arrogant, irredeemable [[spoiler:rapist]] pig who uses his popularity to treat the girls at school as terribly as he wants.
52	* IGotBigger: Vivian and Claudia notice that “Seth the Shrimp” has [[ShesAllGrownUp really blossomed]] over the summer, having grown a foot according to Vivian and become very handsome.
53	* InsultBackfire: Mitchell and Jason wear their reverse list titles like badges of honor. When Mitchell’s locker gets plastered with the asshole stickers, he grins as he peels them off and puts them all over his shirt.
54	* JerkJock: Mitchell and his friend Jason. No matter how much the rest of the school comes around, these two keep their heads firmly up their asses and continue to dump on the girls around them.
55	* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Mitchell. There's nothing redeemable about this guy at all.
56	* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Mitchell enjoys ''much'' privilege due to his star athlete status and mostly uses it to act like an ass with no consequences. Turns out [[spoiler: the buck stops at rape.]]
57	* LesbianJock: [[spoiler: Amaya doesn’t get much characterization outside of being on the soccer team with Kiera and her eventual relationship with Lucy]].
58	* LoveInterest: Seth for Vivian. John for Lisa.
59	* LovableJock: Kiera and her best friend, Amaya.
60	* MaleGaze: When the list goes out, Kaitlynn looks up from reading she has the “best rack” to notice people are staring at her chest. She zips her hoodie up in humiliation.
61	* ManifestoMakingMalcontent: Vivian expresses her anger through publishing Moxie and anonymously distributing it to the girls at school.
62	* ManipulativeBastard: Mitchell.
63	* MaritalRapeLicense: [[spoiler:Mitchell and Emma were boyfriend and girlfriend when he raped her, and this is one of the things that made it so hard for Emma to talk about it or expose him. She doesn't know how to accuse him of rape when they were a couple at the time of the assault.]]
64	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Towards the end of the film, Mr. Davies has moved the poorly-placed motivations signs on his blackboard from horizontal to vertical, changing [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the unintended message of "You don't matter. Give up."]] to the more helpful "You matter. Don't give up."
65	* NewTransferStudent: Lucy is new at the school, although this is [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] since she comes in at the start of a new year instead of joining in the middle. She rocks the social ''status quo'' by not letting Mitchell push her around, while everybody else has either been cowed into submission or ignores it because of how long they've known him.
66	* NiceGuy: Seth is just an overall nice person. After Vivian notices how much he grew over their summer break, but doesn't want to admit to Claudia that she is now attracted to him, she tries to talk up how he is nice to everybody.
67	* NotMeThisTime: Lucy is the first person in a long time to challenge Mitchell, including reporting him to the principal for his harassment. Because of this, he assumes that she must be the one behind Moxie and doesn't accept any of her denials.
68	* OhCrap: Vivian’s reaction when Claudia is suspended for the stickers. The others don’t understand what the big deal is, but Vivian knows how badly Claudia’s mother is going to react due to being ''very'' strict.
69	* OpenMindedParent: Lisa encourages Vivian to find her voice and reminisces about her own activism with her. When Vivian has her breakdown and shouts all the things that are currently going on for her, she mentions how she's about to be suspended and is also considering having sex. Lisa is only upset to hear she may get kicked out of school and focuses on that; ignoring how her daughter is considering sex. Vivian is actually mad this doesn’t get a rise out of her.
70	* ParentWithNewParamour: When Vivian realizes her mother is dating John, she instantly turns hostile towards him.
71	* ParentalFashionVeto: When Claudia tries to take part in the tank top protest, her mother catches her on the way out of the house. She rails at her in Chinese for it and sends her upstairs to change.
72	* PostRapeTaunt: [[spoiler: Emma being voted “Most Bangable” is revealed to be this, as Mitchell (who is shown to be in charge of the list) had raped her shortly before its publication.]]
73	* PrecisionFStrike: Vivian shouts “Fuck the patriarchy!”
74	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler:The letter from someone saying she was raped is the climax of the movie, prompting a walkout from all the girls in the school, and the reveal that it was Mitchell is what finally gets him his comeuppance.]]
75	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Mr. Davies tries to skirt the line between keeping his job and encouraging his students to express themselves. In the end, [[spoiler: he sides with the girls, giving his required speech about the consequences of participating in a walk-out, but at the end, holding up his hands to reveal hearts and stars drawn on his palms, the symbols of the Moxie movement.]]
76	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
77	** Claudia explains to Vivian that she never did appreciate how her activism will negatively affect the people around her, especially when they're caught. She caps it by explicitly stating that Vivian is a coward who created Moxie because she was too afraid to actually take any risks herself.
78	** Seth later gives one to Vivian, telling her that she's taking her anger out on people who've done nothing to deserve it, including him. He also notes the situation with Claudia, pointing out that Vivian is taking reckless action and then letting other people take the blame for it.
79	* RebelliousSpirit: Lucy isn’t about to let anyone walk all over her. Her determination and pride shocks Vivian out of her apathy.
80	* SchoolClubsAreSeriousBusiness: The vote on "student athlete ambassador", which sends an athlete from the school to an event later in the school year, comes with a ''$10,000'' scholarship and is decided solely by popular vote of the student body. When Lucy nominates Kiera against Mitchell, the vote also becomes viewed as a referendum on sexism, given that Kiera leads a ''winning'' team while Mitchell is the quarterback of a -- at best -- mediocre football team.
81	* SchoolClubFront: To prevent the administration from taking down all the Moxie signs and posters as 'vandalism', Claudia registers it as an official school club so they are allowed to put up notices. She also says they may have to learn chess.
82	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Mitchell's status as the star quarterback grants him seemingly total immunity from the school authorities, who actively sweep his transgressions under the rug and even explicitly state that it's because he's the quarterback. [[spoiler:It finally collapses when [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he is exposed as a rapist]], and [[EverybodyHasStandards the principal finally takes action against him]].]]
83	* ShoutOut:
84	** Lucy's first scene is talking about ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' in class, and questioning why it is still taught instead of other literature that may be more relevant.
85	** Claudia talks about how she once planned to wear a ''Film/MeanGirls'' Halloween costume, but in the end chickened out and went as a ghost. [[{{Homage}} This is also a reference to]] the episode "Halloween" from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', where Willow originally planned to wear a revealing costume but then covered it up by dressing as a ghost.
86	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: The three [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman 'winners' of The List]] resent that they are sexualized and singled out because of their bodies.
87	** Kaitlynn ("Best Rack") covers herself with a sweatshirt immediately after "winning" because she notices that everybody is staring at her chest. Later, she is sent home by the principal for wearing a tank top [[DoubleStandard despite other people wearing the same top]].
88	** Kiera ("Best Ass") is insulted that her athletic training and sports skills are only appreciated for how they make her body look. Additionally, it's racist since black women have historically been sexualized specifically for their butts and hair.
89	** Emma ("Most Bangable") [[spoiler:was raped by Mitchell]] and is now being told her body is all she's valued for and the only thing guys appreciate about her. [[spoiler: During her speech to everyone about her rape, she specifically points this out and how hurtful it is.]]
90	* SmugSmiler: For the vast majority of the movie, Mitchell. There are a couple of moments when he's not grinning (see SpitefulSpit) but for the rest of the time he's incredibly pleased with himself.
91	* SpitefulSpit: When Mitchell harasses Lucy at the vending machine and she refuses to back down, he caps it off by taking her can of soda and spitting in it. This is what prompts Lucy to go to the principal and report him for harassment.
92	* TeensLoveShopping: Vivian and Lucy bond over a shopping montage.
93	* TheirFirstTime: Vivian and Seth are about to have sex in his car. However, Seth stops because, while he definitely wants his first time to be with Vivian, [[SubvertedTrope he doesn't want it to be a rush job to make it on time to a football game.]]
94	* ThisMeansWar: A soft variation; after Kiera is nominated for a stipend Mitchell is after, he starts to attack Moxie.
95	* TokenMinority: While the cast is quite racially diverse, there is only one trans character (CJ) and one disabled character (Meg), who don't have much of a significant role in the plot besides talking about their experiences.
96	* TransTribulations: CJ joins Moxie because she is fed up with being misgendered and referred to by her dead name by teachers and students. She longs to do things like act in the school play but is afraid to make herself a further target by drawing attention like that.
97	* VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Seth and Vivian have been friends since first grade just like many of their small-town classmates. At the beginning of the school year, Vivian realizes how much Seth has [[ShesAllGrownUp grown up]]. That combined with what a genuinely NiceGuy he is, she develops feelings for him and they become a couple before long.
98	* WhamLine: Vivian finds an anonymous letter addressed to Moxie, asking for help after [[spoiler: being raped.]]
99	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: By the end of the film, Mitchell has done truly despicable things and been awarded a $10,000 scholarship. Principal Shelley arrives to take him out of class to her office, and nothing more is seen of him. Given the way she's handled things previously though, this could amount to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. He deserves to be kicked out of school, stripped of his scholarship, arrested, tried and imprisoned; but none of this is shown. Nor does the eventual fate of the scholarship that Keira always deserved get resolved.
100	* WhatTheHellHero: Both Lisa and Seth are disgusted with Vivian’s behavior at dinner and her verbal attack on John. Lisa chews her out immediately and Seth refuses to speak to her for several days.
101	* WildTeenParty: Vivian and Claudia attend a Hawaiian-themed one. They eventually slip away and have the first impromptu meeting of what would become the Moxie club.

Context Film / Moxie