On Asian and Trans Representation in Moxie (2021) | An Asian Trans View

Today, I want to talk about the film Moxie, by Amy Poehler, released last month. Much has been said about the brand of feminism it promotes, but today I want to focus on the trans and Asian representation in the movie. I think I should say that I haven't read the book, so all of this review is going to be based entirely on the movie.

Much has been said about the very limited trans representation in the form of the character CJ, played by actress Josie Totah. As many people are saying, blink and you'll miss it. I also suspect that people who aren't familiar with trans issues wouldn't even know the character is trans, given the way her story was presented. I mean, the extremely online world notwithstanding, the reality is that trans awareness isn't that great in the general public yet, so a trans character probably still has to be presented clearly to be universally understood. Another thing I'm worried about is that it could be becoming fashionable to just randomly add trans characters for performative wokeness points, where they otherwise don't relate much to the storyline at all. As we recently discussed on TaraElla & Friends, this kind of shallow representation risks being not enough to promote public understanding and empathy for trans people, while still being enough to generate plenty of backlash. That would indeed be the worst of both worlds!

In contrast to the trans representation, the Asian representation is much more substantial, in the form of the character Claudia, played by Lauren Tsai. Claudia's life gets plenty of in-depth treatment, including her family life. I think there's both good and bad things about her portrayal here. The good is that we are finally getting more in-depth exploration of Asian culture and issues, after having been ignored for so long. The bad, I think, is that the portrayal here is quite stereotypical, of Asians being nerdy, cautious, eager to stay out of trouble and so on. I mean, I won't deny that there is at least some validity to that stereotype, and it is linked to Asian culture and the way many of us are brought up. Indeed, it could be helpful to acknowledge this, so we can begin to address the root causes of the underrepresentation of Asians in media-related occupations, and hence in the mainstream media conversation about cultural diversity. In a way, I think the movie's message that Claudia could contribute 'in her own way', and her work is not any less valuable, helps advance the much needed conversation of whether there are culturally based barriers towards the participation of Asian voices that should be addressed.

On the other hand, it still concerns me to some degree to see that there are outspoken black people, there are outspoken white people, but the Asian has to be particularly shy and controversy avoiding. Growing up, I was the outspoken Asian, which I would admit is not the usual norm, be we do exist! I have yet to see anything in the mainstream media acknowledging this at all, and to be honest, I am frustrated. I am also worried that, this whole stereotype would contribute a vicious cycle, robbing young Asian people of the media role models that could encourage them to be more outspoken. This is why, I think, it's important to have more Asian representation that breaks with this stereotype, and is as loud and confident as the most loud and confident black and white voices alike.