'Eighth Grade' is teenage angst done right

Eighth Grade has many so-me-when-I-was-young moments. Realistic to the core, it narrates a poignant story about an American middle schooler. But that is only half the picture. The film’s rather simple plot gradually reveals multilayered subjects and social complexities — only if you are patient with it.

Yet, Eighth Grade has not received the same attention as did the 2017 hit Lady Bird which is about a gawky American teenager desperate to break free from the stifling limitations of suburban American life. One of the reasons for this lack of attention could be the former movie’s less known production team. A seal of approval from the Sundance Film Festival, however, has allowed critics and audiences to see Eighth Grade for what it is rather than judging it through the credentials of those who have created it.

Kayla Day (played by Elsie who previously gave voice to the character of Agnes in the 2010 animated film Despicable Me), the introverted protagonist of Eighth Grade, is about to graduate from a middle school and is on the brink of losing her sanity in two competing worlds — the physical one she lives in and the virtual one, the world wide web, she shares with billions of others. During their last week in school, all the students in her class are asked to open boxes they got for themselves when they started their studies. The top of Kayla’s box reads, “coolest girl in the world” — something that becomes a tag line for her ultimately thwarted dreams. As she opens the box, it reveals hopes and expectations she failed to fulfil for her own younger self.

Kayla is officially the quietest student in her class. Always connected with the virtual world and forever disconnected from the real one, Kayla is constantly trying to beat herself to a race she is doomed to lose. Swimming against the current of her own introverted nature, she wages a desperate struggle to be a cool kid. Overexposed and constantly agitated, she is the prototype of Generation Z, trying to live up to the standard set by nameless online spectators. At the same time, the lure of online illusions uproots her from her immediate surroundings, including from normal social interactions.

Glued to her smartphone, she lives in the alternative universe within it – a kaleidoscope of hashtags, make-up videos and selfies – through her video blogs. The only time she is somewhat confident and comfortable about herself is while doing those vlogs on self-help topics like ‘how to be yourself’ and ‘how to be confident’. Measured by the online currency of success – views and likes – these videos remain a failure but her soliloquies allow a quick look into the person she dreams of becoming.

As graduation day approaches, Kayla gets a half-hearted invitation from a popular girl in school and is forced by her concerned father to accept it. As expected, it turns out to be a disaster as she allots herself a corner in the party, away from the crowd. Later, she makes acquaintance with a group of slightly older high schoolers and ends up alone in a car with one of them — another disaster.

There onwards, Kayla tries, if only desperately, to find her voice and her confidence by doing and saying things beyond her comfort zone. She talks to the boy she has a crush on, an annoying teenager with a knack for making silly faces. She also takes the microphone to sing at a party.

The film shows a gradual transition in Kayla as she begins to accept herself. Detached from the superficial world of the web, she looks for solace in what seems like the only meaningful relation in her life — that is, with her father. It is only in the last days before she becomes a high school student that she tries to accept the limitations of her own character.

Eighth Grade is Burnham’s directorial debut. A YouTube success story, he started sharing his personal videos on the website more than 10 years ago. In retrospect, most of his early videos are an uncanny reminder of a young man trying to get attention. Kayla’s failure to make it big in the online world is obviously not his story – he got millions of views, a fan base and a lot of money – but her desperation is symbolic of the collective failure of the generation both she and the director belong to.

Burnham zooms into Kayla’s mind by letting her take control of how she sees the world around her. Repeatedly, we are guided by her hunched back as if the lens literally piggybacks on her perspective. The director reduces the drama around her to a minimum in order to render her inner world realistically.

The only drama we get is from Kayla’s relationship with her father, a single parent. The role is played by Hamilton who is mainly a television actor and may be familiar to fans of television series such as American Horror Story and 13 Reasons Why. His character offers an uncomplicated side note to the film’s struggling main character. His goodness verges on being unexciting as he does his assigned job of uplifting an awkward teenager. By being the only adult voice in the film, he also becomes the inspiration that gives the movie its endearing air. As he helps his daughter get rid of her past expectations, he also allows her to build new ones.

Most films with young struggling protagonists take an emotional or inspirational approach. Eighth Grade is teenage angst done right. Elsie does a phenomenal job as an isolated figure. She is relatable and organic. As Kayla, she sucks out the charm from a young girl to give us a person damaged by an overbearing culture. As inherently American as her story might be, she is a universal figure.

The constant anxiety and the persistent let-down Kayla experiences is what makes this a tragic film. As she says, the continuous feeling of waiting in line before a rollercoaster ride with butterflies in her stomach has become a permanent state of mind in this over-digitalised era.

If Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman was the quintessential tragic hero of the commercial age, Kayla could well be the modern tragic heroine of the digital age, let down by the achievements of her own times.

This article was published in the Herald's September 2018 issue. To read more subscribe to the Herald in print.