Movie Maker's Intent

Writer/director of Eighth Grade Bo Burnham (right) with the film's lead actress, Elsie Fisher (left) [1]

Bo Burnham, the writer and director of the film Eighth Grade, rose to fame from viral comedy YouTube videos he’d created starting in high school. In later years, he would go on to perform stand-up professionally, putting out several comedy specials [2]

Eighth Grade, from Burnham’s perspective, is both a portrayal of his own anxiety [3], and one of the current climate, much more generally. It represents both Bo himself, and how it feels, for everybody, to live so closely tied to the Internet and social media in this day and age [4].

To discuss the former, Burnham would suffer severe panic attacks on stage while performing stand-up, and was reckoning with his own performance anxiety. When expressing these anxieties, he found that it was girls in their young teens that expressed understanding with him the most, feeling similar feelings of performing their lives on social media. “I do deeply believe it’s the same story,” Burnham said, regarding this, in an interview [3]. In this way, the movie is Burnham writing about himself, through the kids. In researching for the film, Bo watched videos that kids of these ages posted on YouTube, noticing “the process of watching the kids navigate this weird performed version of themself” [5]. 

Burnham wanted to represent the anxieties of that age accurately, wanting to portray “what it means to be a kid in real time” [6]. He stated in an interview that stories for those ages are often very big and dramatic, perhaps not because they are escapism, but because they are realism. The example he gives is that walking across the hall to talk to your crush at that age feels like fighting a dragon [7]. With Eighth Grade, Burnham wanted to portray everyday, arguably small or silly situations, along with the anxiety coming with them, despite how mundane they may seem [7].

More broadly, Burnham has stated that this movie is about what we are all living through currently: “the kids for me were expressing the problems we’re all facing, more viscerally,” he said, along with the fact that he wasn’t interested in making the movie for the problems facing the kids, alone [4]. With this story, he wished to “give a more subjective description of what the Internet is,” portraying it in the everyday life of an eighth grader [4]. Bo stated, in response to being asked about the dangers of kids growing up in the current climate surrounded by social media, that “the true terror would be not acknowledging it and not seeing it. That would be the actual most dangerous thing that could happen” [4]. 

References

[1] Slane, Kevin. “Hamilton’s Bo Burnham on How His Own Middle School Experience Did (or Did Not) Inspire ‘Eighth Grade.’” Boston.Com, The Boston Globe, 19 July 2018, www.boston.com/culture/entertainment/2018/07/19/hamiltons-bo-burnham-on-how-his-own-middle-school-experience-did-or-did-not-inspire-eighth-grade/. Accessed 13 October, 2023.

[2]Smith, Grace. “The Transcendent Career of Bo Burnham: From Teen Youtube Comedian to Emmy-Winning Director - Hollywood Insider.” Hollywood Insider, Hollywood Insider, 5 Sept. 2022, www.hollywoodinsider.com/bo-burnham-career/. Accessed 13 October, 2023.

[3] “Bo Burnham Talks About His Anxiety Toward Performing on Stage.” YouTube, uploaded by theoffcamerasshow, 19 November 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbS-7jUBJGY.

[4]“Bo Burnham Examines Social Media.” YouTube, uploaded by theoffcamerasshow, 16 November 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XHRJJe2Kl0.

[5]“Bo Burnham Talks About the Inspiration for His Film ‘Eighth Grade.’” YouTube, uploaded by theoffcamerasshow, 19 November 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIl3pz31ZkQ

[6]“Eighth Grade | Director Bo Burnham | Official Featurette HD| A24.” YouTube, uploaded by A24, 25 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_j8GSmcok.

[7]“Bo Burnham and Elsie Fisher Discuss Coming Up With Her ‘Eighth Grade’ Catch Phrase.” YouTube, uploaded by Variety, 29 January, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IKyfcAeRik.