Heartwarming / Eighth Grade

• Kayla's dad's speech towards the end of the movie where he finally finds an effective way to tell Kayla why he's so proud of her. He was scared to raise Kayla as a single parent, but when he saw her growing into a good person without having to teach her how to be nice, she gave him bravery.
  • Kayla responds by climbing onto her father's lap and giving him a big hug, which is by far the biggest display of affection she shows her father throughout the whole movie.
• Whilst the ultimate end result is pure Nightmare Fuel, the relationship between Kayla and Olivia is one of the healthier ones in the film, given how naturally supportive and understanding the latter is of Kayla. It's easy to see why at the end Kayla keeps a photo of the two of them to put in her time capsule.
• Kayla and Gabe's "first official friend hang-out". He's quick to tell her that she's not being awkward or too quiet, they bond over Rick and Morty, and, after an entire film of Kayla's peers ignoring her, it's so nice to see someone her age actually being kind to her.
• The look on Kayla's face after she tells off Kennedy at her eighth grade graduation is so uplifting after the anxious vibes she's exuded throughout the film.
• At the pool party Kayla is begging her dad to pick her up early, but after a brief encounter with Aiden she pulls herself together and decides to go sing karaoke with the other kids, as narration from one of her videos tells the audience that you have to choose to be confident. And this she does, taking the mic and performing with such confidence that Gabe looks on approvingly and even Kennedy looks up from her phone. And while the encounter with Aiden may have inspired her change of heart, she's doing it for herself, not for him, as she doesn't even look for him in the audience.
• A meta example: Molly Ringwald (the star of several iconic 80's teen movies) called the film "the best movie about adolescence I’ve seen in a long time. Maybe ever", and Burnham's Squee reaction ("i dead now ok what thank u byeeeee").

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