Malcolm the main character in the movie Dope was unexpected in the best ways. He was geeky and cool. He had style and could appreciate music from the 90’s. His two best friends were not the stereotypical sidekicks but unique and fresh in their own ways. The entire movie was not what I had expected. I found myself relating to Malcolm in many ways but perhaps the biggest way was the ability he had to change how others saw him. High School sucked for me. I guess like Malcolm I didn’t really fit in. Unlike Malcolm however, I wasn’t able to find my group of friends until my senior year. For me the idea of college was so great because you could become anyone that you wanted. You could re-imagine yourself; you could change your style, get a new haircut, fix things about yourself that you didn’t like too much. College was this place where you would fit in and your hard work would pay off finally. Like Malcolm I came from an area that wasn’t great. I grew up in a low-income family and I had to fight for everything I got. I worked harder than anyone that I knew in school because like Malcolm college was my ticket out. One of my favorite lines in the movie was towards the end, was when Malcolm realized that he had to be willing to do anything to get where he wanted. Now, the movie portrayed, a very dramatic example. He did things that I’m not willing to follow but the message that you have to do things others won’t, work harder than others, and do things others don’t have to resonated with me. I loved this movie for the wit, humor, and unexpected characters that portrayed the struggles of the underdogs. Alan Turing once said “Sometimes it is the very people who no one imagines anything of that do the things that no one can imagine.” Dope represented the very heart of this sentiment.

While ‘Dope’ was semi-entertaining to watch, it epitomizes mindless “entertainment” characteristic of most commercial movies. Tom Cruise’s ‘Risky Business’ from over 30 years ago is a lot more entertaining as a comedy in this genre, and it has the advantage of not making a farce out of complex racial issues.

Malcolm, a black nerd who lives in a rough part of Los Angeles, is a straight-A student with hopes of going to Harvard. Malcolm’s guidance counselor is not so pleased with his college application essay, titled “A Research Thesis to Discover Ice Cube’s Good Day”. Instead, he suggests that Malcolm should write something personal about himself, his family, and his life. Malcolm is not so convinced. After all, writing the typical “I’m from a poor, crime filled neighborhood, raised by a single mother, don’t know my dad, blah blah” seems like a cliche to him. All fine and well so far. In what ensues as a long series of farcical scenarios, Malcolm unwittingly gets involved with drug dealers and possessing drugs, and ultimately ends up selling the drugs to make a small fortune and manages to alo blackmail his Harvard interviewer (who is part drug lord) to give him a glowing recommendation.

In his final application essay, Malcolm describes two students: Student A is a geek that hangs out with his friends and gets straight A’s, while Student B earns a lot of money in an unethical way. He asks “Which student do you think I am?”. He continues by adding all the reasons he should be accepted to Harvard, and ends with: “So why do I want to get into Harvard? If I was white would you even be asking me that question?”. And of course as is expected in a farce movie, he has a smile on his face after he opens the big envelope he receives from Harvard.

In real life, Student C, who is either (a) incarcerated or (b) murdered by the gangsters or the police (#blacklivesmatter), seems like a more likely outcome if someone supposedly as smart as Malcolm was enough of a dope to partake in any of the farcical scenarios depicted in ‘Dope’.

I ultimately have to agree with Robert Abele’s review in Los Angeles Times: “ ‘Dope’ is, in the end, just another unfunny grab bag of stereotypes. Don’t believe the hype. ”

Last week I had the pleasure of going to a probate. The experience was enriching and a unifying force within itself. Afterwards I left the steps of Baker and headed down to the Cornell cinema. While I was waiting for the movie to start I did not know what to expect. I went to the event without inviting any of my friends so I planned on doing this solo. Luckily when I get there two friends from Keeton showed up and I sat next to them. I was so glad that I had them it made the film experience that much more enjoyable for me. It was so comforting to watch such a real film that called out the various disadvantages that marginalized peoples face. If was comforting to sit with friends that understood those struggles and could easily relate to the characters in the film.

The film is about three high school geeks from a rough California neighborhood that end up at a Los Angeles party that changes their lives from that point onward. When you think about the title of the movie and the rough neighborhood in which the teens grew up one would assume that the geeks were abusing illegal substances, that is far from the case. The teens strategically sell dope in order for Malcolm, the main character to get into Harvard. Along the way the teens address various micro -aggressions and systems of oppression that they face. This movie was powerful. It addressed so many issues that I have had to face in such an eloquent way that I have purchased it on amazon and plan on playing it for my family when I go home for break. My favorite line is “Why do I want to go to Harvard? If I were White, would you even ask that question?”

There were various times that this movie failed to address what actually happens in real life. The average black student at Harvard or any other elite institution does not have the journey that Malcolm did. This movie once again perpetuates that black students must have gone through such atrocious circumstances and terrible schools in order to get into a school like that. If the main character where white would he have the same journey to Harvard as Malcolm?

I love movies and film, as I’ve said before in my past articles.

Dope was a movie made for people like me. Dope was a parody that had a movie draped over it. Some scenes were almost exact reproductions of other films or TV shows, and when it clicked in my mind in the theater for some scenes and at home for others, I laughed hard.

Regardless, the films was also funny to me in its overwhelming cliche– the coming of age story for an underprivileged person in his attempt to get into Harvard, to score the princess, and to save the day. The protagonist seemed to tie up all three, which to some looked impossible.

Dope was funny where it needed to be and cool where it needed to be, while also keeping a 20-something’s ear entranced with key 90’s hip-hop. The fashion was fresh, the characters were refreshing; all in all, to me this was a movie that had deeper motif’s and easter eggs than you could catch in just the first watch.

*Warning: Spoilers*

As soon as the movie opened I could tell it was going to be something original. The main cast of characters were loaded with quirks and the presentation of the movie simultaneously had the exaggerated scenes you would find in a cartoon yet a strange sort of honesty in the messages it was delivering. The movie was focused on a black high-schooler and his struggles to escape from and exist peacefully in a tough neighborhood. When the main character fell into drug-dealing by accident, I was very frustrated by the way his environment seemed to be pushing him to a place he couldn’t come back from– the way it seemed to be trapping him. Then, as tried to work his way out he seemed to be losing his previously held morals and standards. He became more violent, more willing to work in systems he had used to avoid. I began to become increasingly worried for his character, wondering if he would even try to escape from his world anymore or if he would remain stuck forever. The more I saw him succeed at his new business, the more scared I became. Clearly, as a capable, intelligent person, he would find success no matter which path he chose. At the end, he cleverly manipulates the situation and ends up being admitted to Harvard (his main focus throughout the movie) while receiving no consequences for the drug-dealing he was forced into. Overall, Dope was a great movie and is well-worth the watch!

Last week, I went to watch Dope, an incredible film providing insight into just how difficult it can be to rise above the gangs and drugs of a bad neighborhood.

Malcolm and his two friends are 90s geeks with big dreams and a low risk of getting involved in any questionable activities. Still, through no fault of their own, they get stuck with a bag of drugs, and, too afraid to go to the police, are forced to come up with a safe way to get rid of it. They ultimately turn to the internet, setting up an E-shop and selling the drugs bit by bit. As Malcolm becomes increasingly invested in the project, it seems clear to me that it’s going to be yet another movie about kids that gradually cast their aspirations to the wayside in favor of the highly lucrative drug market. What we don’t know, however, is that Malcolm has other things in mind. We discover that, after learning that his Harvard alumni interviewer is secretly a drug lord, Malcolm had created the E-shop not only to dispose of the drugs, but also to leave a trail back to the interviewer, to be used as leverage in the college admissions process. Genius.

What made this movie so great was not just the surprise ending, but the fact that it was kept a secret so well for so long. I was convinced that Malcolm had given up on his dreams, and the sad part about it was that I wasn’t terribly surprised.  We have heard so many stories of  promising individuals succumbing to the temptations of drug culture, that the incredibly pessimistic “bad things happen to good people” stereotype was almost reflexive. I’m sure this is exactly what the director was going for and it made the take-away message all the more triumphant. Against all odds, Malcolm succeeded, and is proof that anything is possible with a little hard work and perseverance.

Truly a beautiful film. Incredibly well-written, and a great satire of America’s racial biases.

Would recommend.

Last week, I joined the Rose House and headed to Cornell Cinema to watch the movie, Dope. Dope is about a wild adventure of the high-school senior Malcolm and his friends Jib and Diggy bond, whom he bonds with over ’90s hip-hop culture, their studies and playing music in their own punk band. Their adventure was resulted from his chance encounter with a drug dealer named Dom lands Malcolm and company at the dealer’s nightclub birthday party; when the scene turns violent, they flee — with the Ecstasy that Dom secretly hid in Malcolm’s backpack. At the end, Malcolm’s adventure made him unique and led to his acceptance to Harvard.

I thought the movie was quite intriguing. Thinking back about my own college application process, I thought it was very hard to come up with a way to distinguish myself from a pool of very talented students. Watching this movie makes me wonder if life can be a little bit less stressful when we do not worry too much over every little thing we do. Like Malcolm, he went on this very exhilarating journey (although it definitely was not fun for him), and he is able to grown and develop his character through his journey. I hope when I applied to colleges, I could have gone through the same thing, instead of sitting in front of my computer, scratching my head and stressed over what I should write about in my personal statement.

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.

Last Friday, I attended a screening of the movie Dope. I can very easily say that I thought this was a great movie. Not only does it touch on the human condition and racism, but it also employs humor, fear, sadness, happiness, anger, desperation, and a variety of other emotions. I remember feeling not only these emotions but many others as well both during and after the film. As an audience member, I instantly connected with the protagonist’s aspirations, optimism, and determination throughout his arduous twisted journey. I think his demonstrated ability to successfully maneuver the many obstacles that he repeatedly faces proves that he’s a unique problem solver and does perhaps indeed deserve the *SPOILER ALERT* big Harvard acceptance letter at the end.

Also, at a time of high racial tensions in the U.S., I think this movie is particularly interesting because it portrays non-stereotypical characters and plot line. The main protagonist is an African American young male, and of the other two protagonists, one is an African American lesbian tomboy and the other is a Latino young male. They are defined as geeks or nerds early on because they’re passionate about 90’s rap music and culture and not about what average teens are in to as well as the fact that they’re in a band. They also mention that they particularly stay away from gangs and drugs, although those are accepted and prevalent in the community. I feel that I can somewhat relate to this because I’ve never quite had the same interests as the majority of other girls my age growing up. I’m very glad to have seen this movie because it allowed me to engage in the experiences of Malcolm, the main protagonist, through a unique lens that I wouldn’t have otherwise gotten a chance to see through. I also think movies like this are important to watch for the base reason that they simply open up one’s mind to other perspectives that one’s mind was previously closed off to, either subconsciously or consciously.

Dope is an entertaining take on racial stereotypes and digitized social scene experienced by three black high school seniors in a dangerous neighborhood.  Malcolm, the protagonist, has perfect SAT scores and excels academically; he refutes the black stereotype.  After an unfortunate encounter with a local drug dealer, he has to get rid of an enormous amount of illegal narcotics. He strategically does so during the college admissions process, eventually receiving an acceptance letter from Harvard after all the drugs are sold.  The loyalty of his friends helped him on a journey of self discovery.  The film tells the reality of a disadvantaged people without being dull.  

Although there is only so much a movie could convey to the audience, I left the theater feeling optimistic that a change will come to eliminate racial stereotypes.  Overall, Dope is a fantastic movie for people who wish to catch a glimpse of the story of Malcolm and black adolescents like him.  

DOPE. Cornell Cinema. 11/20/15

I hadn’t even heard of the movie but it was well worth my Friday night. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it and because I hope you do, I won’t tell you about it or spoil it.

But all humor and plot aside…..

After the movie, I asked my friend, Jeremiah Grant, what he thought about the movie because he saw it for one of his Africana Film classes. He said that although the movie does a great job portraying the conflict in identity for students like Malcolm, it makes college the all mighty solution and perfect end when in fact, the struggles of minority students continue beyond college. The “troubles” don’t go away with the acceptance letter as we have seen through the recent events on college campuses. Jeremiah sure makes you think. (: I look forward to reading his work in relation to this topic on the Cornell Daily Sun.