page_title: Eighth Grade (film)
section_title: Themes
hierarchical_section_title: Eighth Grade (film) / Themes
caption_attribution_description: English: Student texting during class
context_page_description: Eighth Grade is a 2018 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Bo Burnham. It stars Elsie Fisher as Kayla, a middle school teenager who struggles with anxiety but strives to gain social acceptance from her peers during their final week of eighth grade. To cope, she publishes video blogs as a self-styled motivational advice-giver, though spends much of her time obsessing over social media. This frustrates Kayla's otherwise supportive father, whom she alienates despite his wish to be present in her life as her sole parent.
  The film is Burnham's feature-length debut as a writer and director. He began the screenplay in 2014 to reflect on his own anxiety and panic attacks stemming from his career as a comedian. Deciding to convey his experience through Kayla, he also wanted to explore how her generation copes with mental illness, grow with the presence of social media, navigate sexuality and consent, relate to their parents and develop their sense of self. Burnham aimed for realism, casting actual eighth graders — including lead actress Fisher — who informed his script and directing.
context_section_description: The film explores anxiety. Professor Julianna W. Miner, writing in 2018 about Eighth Grade, reflects that 22% of teenagers were struggling with depression and anxiety, and teenage girls were committing suicide at higher rates in 2015 than they were in the previous 40 years. The anxiety depicted is typical in middle school, but according to reporter Valerie Strauss, also reflects life in 2018 where people of all ages see a "cacophony of indifference and downright meanness". The words "um" and "like" in the screenplay also reflect "the process of struggling", rather than the characters' lack of intelligence.
  Critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that Eighth Grade was a trailblazer in examining youth who never knew a world without the Internet, touching on sexting as well. CBS News also commented that besides "the usual teen angst and acne", Eighth Grade depicts how Kayla spends a great deal of time online and engaging in text messaging. This reflects general trends in "iGen" (post-millennials), where 94% of youth have used smartphones by age 14. A 2018 U.S. poll found 45% of teenagers reported "almost constantly" online. 24% called its effects "mostly negative", while 45% characterized it as "neither negative nor positive".
  According to Elsie Fisher, "for Kayla, social media is almost religious". Burnham explained, "social media has made me think differently as a person. It's made me more anxious, I think". Professor Jean Twenge also connected an increase in Internet usage to a decline in juvenile mental health. Gleiberman called the depiction an examination of "overwhelming — and, I would argue, unprecedented — woe that teenagers today can feel". Author Robert Barker contrasted Eighth Grade to earlier coming-of-age films such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Mean Girls (2004). Rather than work through cliques, Barker wrote, Kayla and others are on "a digital war of all against all, preening, pretending, and pontificating as much to themselves as to an anonymous audience". Barker also saw the sexting between characters as representing their obliviousness to lost innocence. NPR interpreted the impact of the Internet during maturation as "one of the key subjects of Eighth Grade", commenting on how many people may not remember the age fondly, but social media has added complications. Even so, NPR stated Kayla is still able to grow despite great challenges.
  According to critic Kyle Buchanan, "The biggest mystery to ... [Kayla] is the opposite sex", considering her interest in Aiden and taking online lessons about fellatio. However, journalist Chris O'Falt suggested Kayla is not truly ready for sex, but simply is "pressured to barter [her] sexuality for social acceptance". Time mentioned Kayla's claim to Aiden that she has nude selfies as being among the "classic middle-school indignities" depicted in Eighth Grade.
  Burnham also criticized American sex education for not exploring sexual consent, as reflected in the "truth or dare" scene. Although Kayla is shown in a sex education class earlier in the film, she does not know how to react when Riley sexually coerces her, and apologizes to him for rejecting his advances. Film critics connected the scene with the Me Too movement, though it was written before the movement began. At festival screenings, moviegoers were visibly uncomfortable and yelled during the scene.
  The story also explores Kayla's relationship with her father, Mark, a member of Generation X, from whom she is breaking away, exhibiting typical behavior for her age. His attempts to communicate with her are frustrated by her fixation with her smartphone. However, journalist Sonia Rao judged Mark to be "the only constant presence in her life"; Mark is devoted to Kayla and later tells her he is proud of her.
caption: Texting and social media are featured prominently in the film.
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