Moxie: Comparison Between Book And Movie

Jennifer Mathieu’s Young Adult fiction novel, Moxie, tackles the subjects of sexism and feminism through Vivian, a white high school student in Texas. To rebel against the school’s tradition of sexism, Vivian starts Moxie, an anonymous, feminist organization to protest and support the women in the school. There is a subsequent film adaptation of Moxie, directed by Amy Poehler, that tried to expand on the established ideas of feminism within the book. In each version, Vivian is strongly inspired by her mother’s feminist rebellion youth in the 90s. However, during the 90s, white feminism was strongly adhered to, which did not allow for the voices and rights of women of color, LBGTQ+ women, disabled women, etc, to be heard. Because this issue

Although with less diversity, the book had more time to show subtle intersections and uplifted all women by how anonymous and free Moxie was. Each version has its flaws that are perhaps limited by the author’s own white background. The movie had a diverse cast to increase the opportunities to address the different intersections of feminism but ultimately the plot does not fully take advantage of this, resulting in unfulfilled expectations. The most prominent inclusions were Lucy being Afro-Latina and Claudia being Asian in the movies. Poehler expanded upon Claudia’s hesitancy toward feminism by relating it to the pressures and struggles of first-generation immigrant children. This created a great opening into racial

Although the movie has more diversity and representation, the plot does not serve to help uplift such representation. The book utilizes more of the progression and the anonymity of Moxie is better suited to remove Vivian from the center of the movement, but due to the lack of diversity, it still deters away from intersectionality. Both of these results may be caused by white writers and directors. As Zeke Stokes says, “It’s one thing to be a straight white person who is creating a woman of color on their show, who finds a queer woman of color to talk to about this, but what are we doing as an industry to empower queer women of color to tell their own stories, to create their own content” (White). Stories told by actual Lucy Hernandezes can provide more meaningful counterstories of intersectionality based on their own