- I'm going into eighth grade, so this is kind of
stressing me out.
- (FBE) We talked to your parents
and you are both going to go see the full movie right now.
- That's awesome.
♪ (cute intro) ♪
- (Kayla) Hey guys, it's Kayla back with another video.
- Oh, I've seen this trailer. It always pops up
on my Instagram.
- (Kayla) The topic of today's video is being yourself.
- Oh, is this Eighth Grade?
- Is this the Eighth Grade movie trailer?
I think I've seen it before.
- (Kayla) Being yourself is like not changing yourself
to impress someone else. - Facts.
- (Teacher) Most quiet, Kayla Day.
- (Kayla) I don't talk a lot at school.
- Me neither. Me neither, girl.
- (Kayla) But if people talk to me and stuff,
they find out that I'm really funny and cool and talkative.
By the way, I like your shirt a lot.
It's so cool. - (girl) What?
- This is really awkward.
- Is she being bullied a lot?
- Is this life between internet versus life between
actual the real world?
- (Kayla) Huh? - (dad) I said
one more week of eighth grade, right?
- (Kayla) Yeah. - (dad) It's crazy.
- (Kayla) Yeah, huh. - That's me.
- Oh yeah, I heard that Bo Burnham
directed this movie.
- (woman) We will begin to explore these
changing bodies of yours. - Oh God.
- (woman) It's gonna be lit.
- This is painful.
- (Kayla) As always, make sure to share
and subscribe to my channel. - That's me on YouTube.
- (dad) Maybe you just need to put yourself out there.
- (Kayla) I'm gonna stop eating with you if you keep
doing this. - (dad) You said I could
say one thing. - (laughs)
- That's me and my dad.
- (Kayla) I'm really nervous all the time.
I try really hard not to feel that way,
but you just need to face your fears,
let people know the real you.
- I mean, this is kinda accurate with people
at my school.
- (boy) Just grabbing my phone. Had to charge it.
- (Kayla) Yeah, I mean sometimes I charge it, too.
My phone, I--
- It's good, but it's so much anxiety.
- This seems like a depressing movie
that I'd have a hard time watching.
- (Kayla) Just 'cause things are happening right now,
doesn't mean they're always gonna happen.
- (dad) What was in there? - (Kayla) Just all of
my hopes and dreams. - Mood.
- (dad) Right. - (woman) I was a complete
mess when I was your age. - (Kayla) Really?
- (woman) Eighth grade is the worst.
- I agree.
- Oh boy, I'm going to eighth grade.
- I'm going into eighth grade, so this is kind of
stressing me out.
- (Kayla) You never know what's next and that's
what makes things exciting and scary and fun.
- I'd probably watch it, actually. It looks pretty good.
- In other TV shows, sometimes it feels like
they're trying too hard to be relatable,
but here, they actually understand what it's like.
- Everyone's just trying to fit in.
Post pictures so you can get the most likes,
who could get the most follows,
who could get the most comments.
It's kind of like a competition
and you always have to present yourself
and make yourself look good for other people's
enjoyment. It's not for yourself.
- (FBE) So, now we have an interview with
the director, Bo Burnham and the main star of the film,
Elsie Fisher so you can get a little more background info.
- Ooh.
- (Hostin) So, everyone is talking about this film.
I got the chance to see it with my twelve year old
daughter, Paloma. - (Haines) Kayla struggles
with anxiety and panic attacks. - Aw, I feel bad for her.
- (Haines) Seems to be happening or at least we're more open
to talking about it. What do you think
the role of social media is in all of those struggles?
- (Elsie) I think it makes us much more self aware.
- That's true. It does make people a lot
more self aware.
- (Elsie) And that probably leads to a lot of anxiety.
- Exactly.
- (Elsie) No one's really narcissistic on the internet.
We're all just trying to fit in, I think.
- That's true.
- (Elsie) So, it's more of a shield,
but that can make you anxious. - Yeah.
- (Bo) Performance anxiety and stage fright has
bled into kids' normal lives. They feel like they're
performing all the time. - It's true.
- People don't stop performing. That's, I think, the problem.
- (Hostin) Parents like myself of a twelve year old,
what do we need to know about our pre-teens?
- (Elsie) You don't need to respect teens,
but they're people. - Yes.
- (Elsie) Probably just as emotionally insecure
as you and they're not-- they think they know everything,
or maybe you think they do, but they don't.
- I definitely think I know everything.
- (Elsie) We're really just people without money
or independence. - That is really true, honestly.
- They feel like they have to be this outside
version of themselves all the time.
You don't realize that everybody is performing
all the time and it's not healthy.
- I like the accurate depiction of some
teenager's life in a modern world.
Oh my God, I'm such a socially anxious person
in real life, but I'm actually really fun
on the internet and stuff.
- (FBE) So today, we're actually going to be
doing something a little different.
- Ooh. Are we gonna watch it?
- (FBE) Before you came in to shoot today,
we talked to your parents and you are both
going to go see the full movie right now.
- Right now?
- What? That's awesome.
- That's so cool. Yay!
- ♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- (FBE) So first of all, welcome back.
How was the movie? Did you have fun?
- Yeah, I had a lot of fun. It was really good.
- Some parts of the movie were cringey, I guess.
I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be cringey,
but it was still just like, I don't wanna see this.
- (FBE) Being someone who's very close to the age
of the people who are in the movie, did you feel that the movie
was an accurate description of how life is for people
around your age? - I felt like, for me,
it was more accurate to when I was in sixth grade,
because back then, everybody's like, Lebron James,
dab, Gucci. No one says that now.
- The personalities of the kids are accurate,
but the stuff that they say and did weren't really accurate.
- I really say it's just how you choose to act.
Sometimes you can just build your confidence
and just really get out there and make a lot of friends,
or you can just be like Kayla and sometimes be shy
and everything. I think I'm kinda between
that spectrum.
- Well, I haven't been in eighth grade yet,
but some of the parts were so relatable.
The way that boys and girls interact was very similar
to what happens, the awkwardness.
It was more like a warning and I was like, okay.
Eighth grade, here I come.
- (FBE) Even though the film focuses mainly on those
in eighth grade, you know the movie received an R rating
for language. - Yeah and I get why
at some parts.
- (FBE) So, the director, Bo Burnham was quoted
as saying, "I didn't want to make it R rated.
I just wanted to portray the way kids' lives are."
- Yeah, and he basically achieved that,
how they talk nowadays.
- (FBE) Do you agree with that? Do you think that this
is a movie that kids your age should see
despite the R rating? - Yeah.
It's not gonna be worse than what they see in real life.
- It kinda changed my perspective on how
other people think. I'm not in the position
that the main character was in and it just made me
get a different view on how she thought of stuff
and what she thought was right to do to be cool.
- This movie is depicted towards the teenage demographic
and obviously teenagers swear a lot
and feel sexual things. The studios and stuff
are saying, "No, this has to be R rated.
If I see anything swearing or if I see anything
adult things, then it has to be R rated."
Even though teenagers sometimes do those things.
- (FBE) So, without spoiling things too much,
there is a scene a lot of people are talking about
where the main character Kayla is in the car
with an older teenager. - Yeah, that was so uncomfortable.
- I didn't wanna see whatever happened next.
I was like, "Please just get on with the movie.
I don't wanna watch this. I'm watching with my mom over here."
- (FBE) How did that scene make you feel?
Is that something that you would ever worry about
potentially happening? - Yeah, that's why I always--
if I'm gonna get a ride from someone, I have to
know them, so then I don't die.
- That's not necessarily something that I'm scared for
in eighth grade. I'm comfortable with
my friend group and I feel safe around my friends.
No one should be forced to do something
that they don't wanna do.
- I'm very aware of my own surroundings
and I'm a very-- if I don't feel comfortable,
I'll say something.
- You should obviously tell your parents about
that kind of thing because they can really help you
through that and especially because they're a trusted adult
who've sometimes gone through your situations and they're
your parents, so you must talk to them about it.
- (FBE) So, the movie portrayed the differences between
those who are popular kids versus those who are say
maybe not as popular. From your perspective,
what makes someone popular? - You have a lot of friends
and you go out and do stuff a lot.
- You definitely have to be social.
You can't be always in the corner at a party.
- The type of people who pretend to be so exclusive,
like you can't really be friends with them
unless you're already friends with someone
who's friends with them.
- They could just be a nice person
who's confident in themselves, who's nice to others,
respects one another and is genuinely a good person
who focuses on themselves and caring about others.
You don't necessarily have to be a snobby, rich, mean girl.
- Just because you're popular, doesn't mean you have
to be mean to everybody. I know a lot of people
who are popular at school who are actually just
really nice people and sure, the kids who are also unpopular,
they don't have to be some always socially freaks and stuff.
They can be really nice people too if you
actually get to know them.
- (FBE) And if we're speaking honestly,
do you consider yourself popular?
- Yeah, I think I'm popular. I don't know, it makes
me feel weird to say that I'm popular.
- I have a lot of friends. I get invited to
a lot of things. I don't wanna say
I'm popular, but I was with that group.
- No. I wasn't an outcast
or really popular. I didn't do anything weird
or anything cool. I was just kinda there.
- I don't know. People are either
friends with each other or they talk
to each other occasionally.
- Not really. When I was in fifth grade
or fourth grade, I was part of one of the popular groups,
but we weren't one of the mean popular groups.
All of us were really nice. Now I'm just somewhere
in the middle, honestly. It's not that big a deal.
- I'd say not that much. I'm not really looking for that.
I'm just looking to get academically good grades
and everything and just live my early days good.
Sometimes that can be a little hard to go through,
but I'd honestly just say be yourself.
- (FBE) Finally, in the movie, Kayla often films videos
of herself, sometimes leaving herself videos to watch
when she is older. - Yes, the YouTube queen.
- (FBE) So if you could, what would you wanna say
to your future self when you were
finished with school? - How bad did you do in school?
If you did bad, I saw it coming.
- I hope you're doing the same that I'm doing right now,
'cause I love life right now and how everything's
going for me, so I just kinda wanna keep it that way.
- I hope that you're still kind and you're still
a huge animal rights activist. I hope that you started
your own animal rescue like you wanted to
and I hope that you have a group of friends
who you love and you aren't hanging out with
just because they're cool.
- Do what makes you happy and even though
maybe high school's a struggle, if it was or wasn't,
you have to find the good days and the good times
that you enjoyed yourself in high school.
Stick with your friends, be happy, and then
college is right around the corner, so you have time
to make new friends, you have time to experience things
and to enjoy yourself, basically.
- Thanks for watching this special episode of React.
Gucci.
- Gucci.