Sydney Speckmann
Technology in film has advanced as the technology in our society has advanced. From what was once a pipe-dream to tech as it exists now, we must re-situate ourselves into the context of how this can be processed; as it is often seen with polar streams of affection and aversion alike in film. An important question often faced is does it compose itself within our realm of belief? Films with technology in them often become outdated the moment that they are released, reliant on technology of the past which has now been adapted beyond recognition. In the 1995 film Hackers, Iain Softley chooses to represent a fantasized-future of tech, and in contrast, the 2018 film Eighth Grade, directed by Bo Burnham, deliberates to display technology as close to the source as it can be. Each of these films take vastly different takes on what technology can and cannot do for society, approaches as to how to represent it, and more. As time has passed, a more negative connotation has been applied to technology and its effect on society, and this has been exemplified through films such as Hackers and Eighth Grade, in light of Hackers displaying a common desire to shed the self and become someone else, Burnham’s use of social dichotomy, connection being found best at the hearth, and the differing natures of films that were made twenty years apart would have.
Hackers partakes in a fantastical side of technology, using computer generated CGI sequences of computer infrastructure that are not even within the realm of how things truly operate. Even when hacking, Crash Override keeps his room dimly lit, and allows for only the computer screen to light up the shot, exemplifying that technology has taken to be the source of light in his life, and his one true joy. The portrayal of technology in this way lends itself to a fantastical depiction of the internet, making it seem to be the end all be all for people to try and find their micro niches. As Legacy Russell said, “I aged. I died. […] And I was not alone,” in reference to her time on the internet, occupying the spaces in an anonymous fashion as LuvPunk12, where technology allowed her to live many lifetimes over, while knowing and caring and growing connections with people she otherwise would not have met (Russell 4). Her markers and identifiers as a queer, black, and femme identifying in person could be washed away under the light of the internet, something strived for and sought out by many in the sub niche. And with this comes the implicit degree of anonymity, the internet allowed her to shed her physical being and just become bits and bytes inside of a computer network- just like Hackers and the characters’ desires to be their hacking personas for real.
Eighth Grade stands for a different perspective and portrayal of technology, leaning more into the harm it created for our society and the height of its outreach over young, impressionable youth. Kayla’s extension of herself comes to life in her digitized social spaces, using the technology she’s bridled with to display herself as something she is not, similar to Hackers, but there comes a lack of anonymity that keeps her grounded, stuck in an interdisciplinary medium of not truly being herself and still stuck being ‘Kayla’. This is especially exemplified in her Youtube channel, where she lies about her experiences and pretends to be different from her true self, while all being tied to her face, her nature, her identity. Without the anonymous escape, can one truly be something new? With all the Youtube scenes, the camera work for them was done on an actual MacBook, not a professional camera attempting to simulate the low-grain of middle school, but something authentic. It draws the viewer to see Kayla’s experiences as an extension of themselves, if only the pixels blended and stretched a bit farther then the viewer may even see themselves staring right back. The entire point of the her Youtube channel is to actively display the fact that technology has given Kayla the outlet she needs, the space to find her voice in a room so loud she often can’t breathe, but to inherently exhibit her lack of ‘self sense’ when she is stuck between the dichotomy of ‘wanting to be’ and being itself. An exceptional shot in the “Goodbye Eighth Graders” rally is the use of an overhead camera angle, looking down towards all the children in the audience. Each and every one of them has a phone on their lap, or in their hands actively being used. This presents the corruption of authenticity that they all collectively share- the kids as one unit all feel disconnect from each other and from their school, going through a communal feeling of distance and simultaneously being unable to separate themselves from it. The downward angle also provides the notion that this is something to be looked down upon, that this is something Burnham does not feel as just either. This portrayal of technology in movies builds a world where disconnection is the norm, and there isn’t truly a way out.
This is not to say technology’s accessibility has not changed throughout contemporary society, as Hackers dealt in a more proto-internet and Eighth Grade did justice towards the current (at the time) digital landscape teens partake in. In the most impactful scene of Eighth Grade, when Kayla burns her “Coolest girl in the world” box with her dad alongside her, there is not an electrical light source in the shot at all, just the echo of the flame flickering and its warmth to cast light onto their faces. Human connection was found in that scene, where she finally opens up to her father and he reassures her that “It’s so easy to love [her],” and there is not a phone in sight to commemorate it. In the legend of Prometheus, he stole fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to humanity as the first form of technology- this provides the suggestion that perhaps technology can still foster human emotion and connection to its own degree, but its evolution throughout time has deliberately moved humanity apart rather than towards.
As technology becomes more widespread and rampant, its roots have spread itself into our culture, overshadowing the micro-niches it used to create and generating fields of jutting vogue. Gone are the days of LuvPunk12, and the internet being a safe space for minorities to take peace in delabeling themselves (Russell 3). Tech in Hackers is something of merit, a safe haven for the people who find they do not fit, whereas the use of tech in Eighth Grade leaves greater gaps for un-assured people to continue to feel like they don’t belong there. Crash Override gets to be himself in all the ways he could want, hack into the TV channels and do things for himself that he couldn’t have had without technology. It’s important to view these two films with different situated contexts, one preceding the other by an order of 23 years, and the fact that society has rapidly evolved since the widespread use of technology. In Hackers, the protagonists and the antagonist are the only ones who truly ‘get’ technology, everyone else seemingly fine with never getting their hands on it- as opposed to Eighth Grade where Kayla would likely feel ostracized if she couldn’t participate in the trends and other cultural normalities assuaged by the people she was surrounded by at school.
In conclusion, Hackers shows technology as a bridge of connection, whereas Eighth Grade shows a more contemporary reality to the harsh truth of technology: it has festered in our culture and divides us at the root, no further and no less. With time separating the two films, it is only logical that their portrayal would differ rashly, there is no viable middle ground to stand on when technology has advanced so rapidly towards this modern day, and it is suffice to say that the comforting space it once provided may no longer exist, genuinely, purely, and persistently.