When I signed up for this event, I was expecting a moderately enjoyable movie experience. I knew a little bit about the movie. It had been described to me as a coming of age story. That phrase has always rubbed me the wrong way. I think its because I associate coming of age stories with something that is not relatable to me. I think of a group of boys, growing up and learning to deal with problems that make no sense to me. Dope was not like that.

Instead, this movie depicted a group of teens that were struggling in a funny and relatable way. The first thing that I noticed was that there was actually a girl in their friend group. I know that this does not seem like a huge difference, but it was to me. Seeing a girl, especially a girl who likes girls, in a role that makes her story worth telling was so refreshing. That alone made the movie remarkable to me.

But Dope was a lot more than that. It highlighted issues of racism in higher education. It mentioned the ways in which people who do not fit in are asked to change themselves. It even showed the impact of socioeconomic status on outcome. Dope brought attention to so many important issues. On top of that, it was hilarious.

If Dope was a coming of age story, then maybe I need to give coming of age stories another chance.