Surprise! I’m sure you thought that I was one of the unlucky 50% to be taken to the Soul World. Nope…. I’ve just been reeling from the pain that that film inflicted. Honestly, this is not far from the truth. Also, it’s hard to write consistently—not that anyone would care—but to those that do care, I’m back!
In all honesty, I’m not really sad that we don’t have that many viewers yet (did you read that? YET 😏), I just like talking about movies, and this gives me the space. With any form of conversation like this—as one-sided as it can be—the person conversing can release their problems, joys, anxieties, etc. and even if there is no one listening or reading, there has to be some healing in just getting their POV out there. Right?!
Well, this seems to be the case for 13-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher), the protagonist of Bo Burnham’s 8th Grade [like that segue?]. Kayla struggles with her identity as the “Quietest in Class” and the burden of being introverted/shy seems to weigh heavily on her mind. She tries to find comfort in making advice videos on YouTube. These videos are interjected throughout the film, reminding us that Kayla’s advice to her non-existent viewers is a projection of the confidence she wants to have.
In a way, her role-playing this confident middle-schooler in very self-made videos prompts her to live up to her faked confidence by trying to be more vocal and interactive with others in her real life. It’s that thing where you tell yourself something so often that you begin to believe it’s true. Unfortunately, lying to yourself that you are cool and composed around others isn’t a remedy for social awkwardness. That’s what I appreciate about this film: it’s admittance that the protagonist probably will never be who she wants to be because who she wants to be isn’t herself.
All in all, this is a very “real” film in that the character goes through the trying stuff that most of us go through. She doesn’t often succeed in changing her life–at least not in the direction she’d like–but she does finally realize that attaching identity to popularity and social media status is a slippery slope. Kayla is a malleable human, trying to find who she is, and performing traits that are foreign to her hurt this process.
I’m not 13 or in middle school, but this film really touched me. The whole situation with the R-rating is so stupid, by the way. If I were this age again, I would want to know that I wasn’t alone in feeling sooooo uncomfortable with just being myself.
As Kayla says, Gucci 💋
RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
THE FILM ALIEN 