The concept of the story was very strong but it was so poorly executed by the screenwriters. There were way too many storylines that, as a result, all fell flat. Moments of the story that were clearly meant to have a lot of emotional weight felt completely empty because there was barely any build up to them. The writers should've chosen one of the arcs to focus on and really honed in on that; Kiera's storyline would've been great for this.
If the majority of Moxie's attention turned towards working on Kiera winning the scholarship, as in, they spent lots of time and energy campaigning only to have her lose to Mitchell who only won due to his reputation, popularity and generally him just showing up, then her loss would've hit much harder. Seeing all of the characters cry when she lost felt so forced, it was honestly cringy.
Also, the tokenism was real. It would've been so lovely to see the girl in the wheelchair or the transgender girl have a significant role. Instead, they just kind of float around on the sidelines, not really contributing to the action of the story. The fact that I can't even remember their names is telling. Frankly, it felt like they were just shoved in to spice up the story with 'diversity' when really it felt lazy. The transgender girl's aspiration to play Audrey in the production of Little Shop of Horrors could've also been a major storyline, a campaign that Moxie really fought for.
It is even mentioned that the transgender girl is facing a lot of discrimination and that intersectional feminism is key, yet these topics/themes are never picked up again or given the time of day. Again, it feels like these parts were just thrown in for the sake of slapping on a 'diversity' badge and then the writers called it a day. It isn't enough. It's time that these characters who represent marginalised demographics actually provide something for the story.
Overall, it was just a very weak attempt at representing fourth wave feminism and I don't think it did the movement justice. Also, it legitimately just like, wasn't funny. Like, it was meant to be a comedy and genuinely the jokes just weren't good. So, big nah.
If the majority of Moxie's attention turned towards working on Kiera winning the scholarship, as in, they spent lots of time and energy campaigning only to have her lose to Mitchell who only won due to his reputation, popularity and generally him just showing up, then her loss would've hit much harder. Seeing all of the characters cry when she lost felt so forced, it was honestly cringy.
Also, the tokenism was real. It would've been so lovely to see the girl in the wheelchair or the transgender girl have a significant role. Instead, they just kind of float around on the sidelines, not really contributing to the action of the story. The fact that I can't even remember their names is telling. Frankly, it felt like they were just shoved in to spice up the story with 'diversity' when really it felt lazy. The transgender girl's aspiration to play Audrey in the production of Little Shop of Horrors could've also been a major storyline, a campaign that Moxie really fought for.
It is even mentioned that the transgender girl is facing a lot of discrimination and that intersectional feminism is key, yet these topics/themes are never picked up again or given the time of day. Again, it feels like these parts were just thrown in for the sake of slapping on a 'diversity' badge and then the writers called it a day. It isn't enough. It's time that these characters who represent marginalised demographics actually provide something for the story.
Overall, it was just a very weak attempt at representing fourth wave feminism and I don't think it did the movement justice. Also, it legitimately just like, wasn't funny. Like, it was meant to be a comedy and genuinely the jokes just weren't good. So, big nah.