From mean girls to math tests, nobody enjoyed middle school, and the film Eighth Grade accurately portrays this universal struggle of navigating middle school in an honest, authentic fashion. The film follows pre-teen Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), as she juggles her final week of eighth grade, and begins the transition into high school.
The storyline exhibits common eighth-grade obstacles from the perspective of a new generation dominated by social media. This unnerving perspective provides an interesting viewpoint to an older audience–one that didn’t have a cell phone or Twitter account at 13-years-old. Kayla’s battles with fitting in, boy crushes, and pimples are heightened by the pressures of Instagram photos and Snapchat filters. Middle school hobbies have surpassed board games and kickball, and have moved to endless hours of scrolling through Tumblr, and watching YouTube videos.
Kayla’s character additionally explores what it’s like the be the shy kid in class. She isn’t necessarily bullied by her technology-obsessed peers, but is ignored. The film illustrates the frustrating insecurity of feeling invisible, and the lengths a young girl will go to be noticed and accepted.
As Kayla strives for the acceptance of the popular crowd, goes to great lengths to impress an unworthy boy, and obsesses over outfits and filtered selfies, she begins to grow into herself, and learn the lack of importance in each of these things. By the end of the film she has obtained an important lesson in growing up: the only way to be cool is to be kind.
For a raw coming-of-age storyline, and a nostalgic look-back at the most cringeworthy moments of middle school, check out Eighth Grade.
I watched the movie because of the review.
It was great – thank you