The video killed the Hollywood star: will vloggers conquer the world of cinema? | Movie



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Theand Grade 8 identifies the ways in which social media has distorted the lives of adolescent girls beyond recognition. Insta-envy, artificial vlog characters, meticulous selfies, Snapchat label – generally engage more with your smartphone than any other human being, without deceiving you. But in addition to social relationships in high school, the film also shows how social media is changing the movie, and not necessarily for the worse.

The best vloggers, Instagrammers, and YouTubers have begun to win insignificant roles in movies with little effect. But Eighth is the first time one of these upstarts has done it significantly behind the camera. Bo Burnham, his writer and director, became an online celebrity in 2006, when he began downloading comedy songs, performed in his bedroom. YouTube hits resulted in an agreement with Comedy Central, agents, specials, and acting roles. Now, Burnham made a movie. And it's a good movie, sensitive to the pressures on her 13-year-old heroine (Elsie Fisher), who lacks Burnham's verbal dexterity and Internet mastery.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg, no less, has enormously stimulated YouTube's journey from the room to the movie theater. He recently announced that Maria's role in her new version of West Side Story was entrusted to … Rachel Zegler? Exactly. Zegler is a 17-year-old teenager whose highest theatrical experience to date has been her production at Shrek School. Zegler, however, has thousands of subscribers on its YouTube channel, where it plays pop covers and shows.

Playing in front of the camera is part of the daily life of this generation and a YouTube channel is a permanent program – mounted, organized and subject to the requirements of the media, certainly, but for the moment, a real showcase for raw talent. Old Hollywood practices such as "screen test", "hearing" or "talent scout" seem strangely redundant in this new realm. This could spell the death knell for a whole group of middlemen, not to mention another well-known tool in the film industry, the "casting couch".

It's not always good, do not forget. Take Kian Lawley (3.4 million subscribers), who was making his way into movies thanks to his personality on YouTube. He landed the role of boyfriend in the drama The Hate U Give. But then an old video resurfaced where Lawley was making racist jokes. He was removed from the film and returned by his agents. YouTube gives and that's okay.

In its own way, Eighth Grade evokes exactly the same disconnect between online identity and real identity. Rather than exploit his celebrity online as his peers, Bo Burnham chose to analyze it. He is the right person for the job.

Eighth grade will be released in theaters on Friday, April 26

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