MovieChat Forums > Eighth Grade (2018) Discussion > I’ve never related to a movie more

I’ve never related to a movie more


I was in 8th grade in the 1996/1997 school year. Obviously no cell phones and social media back then, but I shared the same life as Kayla. Kayla actually had it better, she was white, she got invited to the cool party (though by default), some high schoolers tried to hook up with her, she made high school friends, and she even went out on a date. None of that happened to me. Just the general shittiness of 8th grade. As an adult, I often feel like I’m back in middle school trying to make friends. People are so flaky nowadays!

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I was in grade 9 that year

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I'm in the UK where we don't use the same numbering system, but I was the equivalent age in the 99/00. And I was a boy which obviously makes some difference. There was stuff I related to and stuff I didn't. I do think Social Media makes a huge difference. I was expecting this to be a more timeless growing up tale, and it kept me at a distance at first, but I think it's good to get some insight into what this world is like for kids growing up with it. The conversation Kayla has with the older kids about generation gaps being widened by being introduced to Social Media at different ages was interesting, it's something I think about as someone who didn't get social media until my final year of University.

On the whole I loved this but there were a few elements that seemed a little more mannered than I expected, and a little more so than other scenes. Kayla's crush seemed like a real cliche, although I guess these characters are a cliche for a reason. And the incident in the car was telegraphed in a way that made it very easy to see where it was going for quite some time.

Great film though, it'll be very interesting to see what the kids who were this age at the time the film was shot will say about it in 10, 20, 30 years. Will they say it nailed it, or that it got some stuff wrong? We'll see.

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