Eighth Grade (film)

''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 (Josh Hamilton), 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 during his career as a comedian. Deciding to convey his experience through Kayla, he also wanted to explore how her generation copes with mental illness, grows up with the presence of social media, navigates sexuality and consent, relates to their parents and develops their sense of self. Burnham aimed for realism, casting actual eighth graders—including lead actress Fisher—who informed his script and directing. For research, he watched vlogs from teenagers on YouTube, where he also discovered Fisher. Independently financed with a $2 million budget, production took place in 2017, in the suburban town of Suffern, New York. It was later given wide theatrical release in the United States on July 13, 2018 by A24. Instead of appealing the Motion Picture Association of America's R (Restricted) rating of the film, A24 and Burnham arranged free all-ages theatrical screenings in every state to let their young intended audience see it.

Upon release, the film was a critical and commercial success. Burnham's writing, direction and Fisher's performance drew the most praise from critics, while domestic box office sales topped $13.5 million. The filmmakers won many awards and nominations, with Burnham winning both Writers Guild and Directors Guild of America Awards, and Fisher nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress and winning the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Actor. At year's end, the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute each chose ''Eighth Grade'' as one of the top-ten films of 2018, with the former naming Burnham's film as the year's Best Directorial Debut.

Plot

Kayla Day is an eighth grader in her final week at Miles Grove Middle School, a public school in a small New York town. She posts motivational vlogs on YouTube about confidence and self-image that receive few to no views. Nervous and struggling to make friends at school, she is voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Meanwhile, her single father Mark struggles to connect with her and break her reliance on social media.

Kayla is invited to popular classmate Kennedy's pool party by Kennedy's mother. At the party, she has a panic attack in the bathroom but eventually goes outside to swim, where she meets Kennedy's nerdy cousin Gabe. After trying to leave the party early, she has an awkward encounter with her crush Aiden, who suggests that she rejoin the party. She overcomes her fear and volunteers to sing karaoke.

Hearing that Aiden broke up with his last girlfriend because she refused to send him nude photos of herself, Kayla tells Aiden that she has a folder of dirty photos of herself on her phone, a lie which piques his interest. He asks if she gives blowjobs; unsure of what to say, she says she does, but she later looks up oral sex instructions on YouTube and is disgusted by what she finds.

Kayla attends a high school shadow program, where she meets a friendly senior named Olivia who shows her around the school. Olivia gives Kayla her number and later invites her to the mall with some friends. They have a good time, but a mortified Kayla spots her father spying from afar and orders him to leave. Olivia's friend Riley gives Kayla a ride home from the mall and initiates an awkward game of truth or dare in which he asks about her sexual experience, takes off his shirt, and asks her to remove hers. She refuses and he backs off, angrily claiming he was just trying to help her gain some experience. Kayla breaks down at home and is comforted by Mark.

Kayla makes a video announcing that she intends to stop making videos, as she is not the person she pretends to be and feels unfit to give advice. She opens a time capsule she created for herself in sixth grade. She watches a video in which her past self asks questions about her current friends and love life. She asks Mark to help her burn the time capsule and asks if she makes him sad. He says that she fills him with pride and he could never be sad about her, prompting her to hug him tightly.

At graduation, Kayla rebukes Kennedy for ignoring her and acting indifferent toward Kayla's attempts to be nice. She later has dinner at Gabe's house and they enjoy their time together. Kayla makes a new time capsule that she and Mark bury in the backyard, and she leaves a video message for her future high school self which encourages her to persevere through tough times.

Cast

The cast includes:
* Elsie Fisher as Kayla Day
* Josh Hamilton as Mark Day
* Emily Robinson as Olivia
* Catherine Oliviere as Kennedy Graves
* Jake Ryan as Gabe
* Luke Prael as Aiden Wilson
* Daniel Zolghadri as Riley
* Fred Hechinger as Trevor
* Imani Lewis as Aniyah

Themes

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 dying by 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.

Texting and social media are featured prominently in the film.
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 ... aylais 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 ersexuality 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.

Production

Development

As a touring comedian, Bo Burnham suffered from panic attacks related to his performances since 2013. While his main intention was to write a story about anxiety, he chose the setting of eighth grade because of his perspective that "anxiety makes me feel like a terrified thirteen-year-old." He also reflected on his notion that eighth grade is a crucial year for forming self-awareness:

Burnham was also inspired by observing a girl in a mall taking selfies while alone; he believed she was concerned about her appearance. Given his career started with producing YouTube videos, he also wanted to explore the life of a character whose videos have very small audiences. Work on the screenplay began in March 2014. Kayla was not the sole protagonist in an initial draft of the screenplay, but Burnham decided to focus on her because her voice felt the most true of the characters. He decided his protagonist would be female after watching YouTube, saying, "the boys talk about ''Minecraft'' and the girls talk about their souls ... probably half because girls are just actually maturing more quickly and half because culture asks way deeper questions of young women earlier than men". He also liked the idea of a female protagonist to avoid "projecting" his personal memories of eighth grade as a male. The film's working title was ''The Coolest Girl in the World''.

To write dialogue representing Generation Z, Burnham watched YouTube. Burnham's personal views on the differences between Generation Z and its predecessors inspired a scene where the character Trevor theorizes access to social media at an early age molded the generation's minds. Kayla and Mark's relationship is based on Burnham's relationship with his mother. Burnham viewed a teenager's relationship with their parent as a stage where "You want independence, and you also want affirmation".

Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, and A24 would go on to produce the movie with a budget of $2 million. A24 executive Nicolette Aizenberg remarked ''Eighth Grade'' was "personal" to her. Burnham spent years seeking financing, confident he was marketable with his success as a comedian. Although he had not directed a feature before, Burnham was adamant to be allowed to direct, and spent eight months before principal photography reading books such as Sidney Lumet's ''Making Movies''.

Casting

Fifty teenagers auditioned for the role of Kayla. Burnham discovered Elsie Fisher on YouTube and had her audition three times. Fisher, then 13, said she had struggled to find a part realistically depicting a teenager before auditioning for ''Eighth Grade''. Burnham cast Fisher because, "She was the only one who felt like a shy kid pretending to be confident – everyone else felt like a confident kid pretending to be shy". Fisher said one reason she was apprehensive at the first audition was that she was a fan of Burnham's comedy. She was drawn to the part because Kayla's speech mannerisms are similar to hers. She had graduated eighth grade one week before the production began. Upon reviewing the screenplay, Fisher's father shouted and swore reading the "truth or dare" scene, but made sure his daughter was comfortable with the material.

Burnham considered Josh Hamilton to have a "dad vibe". Daniel Zolghadri was cast as Riley. Because of the "truth or dare" scene, many young actors who auditioned played the part as sinister, but Burnham coached Zolghadri to be "the opposite of creepy". Emily Robinson and Imani Lewis were teenagers when cast and both said they found the depiction of anxiety relatable. Jake Ryan, who played Gabe, remarked that in the screenplay Gabe "was supposed to be off-centered", and not knowing the meaning of this phrase, played himself.

Actual teachers and students at Suffern Middle School in New York were used as extras, with principal Brian Fox saying five to ten students were cast. During the audition process for the real-life eighth graders, one student claimed having eczema was her "special talent" and another auditioned by "eating a bell pepper like an apple." Burnham accepted this as a qualification. Band teacher Dave Yarrington said Burnham cast him because he "liked my look".

Filming

The film was shot in Suffern, New York

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