Review: Minx, feminist ideals vs. capitalism

Minx puts an ardent feminist who wants to change the world into the hands of a p0rno magazine publisher. He suggests she put her ideas about equality into a magazine with nude men and a new magazine is born.

Minx is set in 1970. The idea of showing male bodies with the same clarity as female bodies in magazines was brand new then. And we’re talking full frontal nudity.

The series is sharp and funny and down to earth. It’s a never ending struggle against the oppression of women. It scores a lot of direct hits in the equality battle. And, did I mention the full frontal nudity?

Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) has a ton of feminist articles on file. They are long, angry, rages against the patriarchy with few paragraph breaks and no images. She plans to publish them in her own magazine. But she can’t find a publisher.

Joyce is pitching publishers when she runs into the semi sleazy Doug (Jake Johnson). He already has 11 successful girlie magazines and wants to publish hers – if she’ll spice it up with some buff guys.

She resists. He’s persistent. He has money. They finally agree to give it a try. She has a lot to learn. He brings her into his big warehouse of an publishing company and introduces her to his staff, who will help on her magazine.

There’s constant conflict between Joyce’s wishes and Doug’s money-driven decisions. Sometimes she wins. Sometimes he does. Sometimes they even compromise.

Tina (Idara Victor) is the smartest person in the place and Doug’s right hand woman. When Joyce first visits, she asks Tina for a cup of tea, and Tina rightly labels her a racist immediately. Tina sees what Joyce is trying to do and wants to help her do it, despite the inherent racism of feminism at that time.

Richie (Oscar Montoya) is the photographer. Bambi (Jessica Lowe) doesn’t have a job title as such, but she turns out to be pretty good at layout. She gets what Minx should be and do, she understands it.

Somehow Joyce’s sister Shelly (Lennon Parham) gets dragged into helping with the first issues. She turns out to be fantastic and translating Joyce’s academic and overblown rhetoric into catchy and ordinary English. Shelly is not satisfied in the sexual department at home and her sister’s new magazine upsets her equilibrium. I won’t tell you who helps her out, but it isn’t her husband.

By the second issue, the magazine is such a sensation that Joyce goes on Dick Cavett, where she’s put down by one of her feminist heroes who thinks Joyce is a sellout.

Spoiler alert. By the end of the season, the magazine has received so much mail and attracted so much attention from women readers that Doug realizes it’s more than what he knows how to do. He turns the whole thing over to Joyce. Which leads to the very important question – will there be another season of this feminist series?

There’s a big cast I haven’t even mentioned. Actors like Amy Landecker, Allison Tolman, and Stephen Tobolowsky show up for a bit and depart.

Minx is streaming on HBO Max. The series was created by Ellen Rapoport with Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Natalia Leite, Stella Meghie, and Carrie Brownstein among the women directors.