This new generation is a complete enigma. After swearing my whole adolescent and young adult life that I would always be in touch with the youth and their culture, I am at a complete loss. I work with 12-17-year-olds, and their total obsession with social media and the internet continues to plague them. I cannot possibly put myself in their shoes, and I myself am only about 10 years removed from this age gap. That makes me all the impressed that Bo Burnham, writer/director of Eighth Grade, can achieve this feat so effortlessly at the age of 27.
Eighth Grade follows the adolescent trials of Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) and she tries to come into her own. She is highly insecure, yet ironically runs a self-care YouTube channel. Her internet persona is of a confident, bright young woman who has her act together. Her real-life person, however, is scared, nervous and eternally uncomfortable in her own skin. She is raised by a single father, (Josh Hamilton) who is completely out of touch with his daughter's struggles. This generational gap is the main focus of the film as it explores the uprising of how the Internet has impacted the youth.
As I mentioned earlier, one of the most difficult things to do as a writer is to write a character that is completely different from yourself. Not only was Burnham challenged to write a role of a 13-year-old, he was challenged to walk a mile in the shoes of an adolescent girl. The feminine perspective is one that is not easily understood. Use the Me-Too Movement as a prime example of the lack of total feminine understanding men have. Eighth Grade takes this to the next degree. Kayla really has no idea of her place in this big scary world. The first thing she tries to force herself to use to get the attention of men is her sexuality. She believes this is all she has to offer This an unfortunate fact of many young women's development. In reality, women have intelligence, insight, empathy, humor, and so many other gifts than just their physicality. Burnham communicates this in a way where even as a semi-"woke" male felt a sort of guilt and shame for.
All in all, Eighth Grade is a triumph. Very few films can fully capture an era, and this might be the first film to fully conceptualize the 2010s for future generations. I hope that we are graced as viewers with a follow up viewing of Kayla Day as he finishes high school in a Boyhood-esque fashion. As a viewer, I was left wanting more, and that can be my only criticism.
Rating (8.9/10)
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