Dope
Dope
Dope is a film about is a teenager called Malcolm a straight A student who also happens to be a 90s hip hop geek who plays in a punk band with his friends 'Jib' and 'Diggy' Malcolm lives in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of America 'Inglewood' he feels his life has put him in the direction to either end up as gang banger or to achieve his dreams of joining Harvard university. After Malcolm is invited to underground party with the local gangsters lead by 'Dom' (Played by Asap Rocky) after a life changing event occurs at this party Malcolm and his friends are lead into adventure around L.A.
Dope on the surface seems to be quite a generic story, a film trying to tell the struggle of one young person trying to achieve greatness from the bad cards they have been dealt in life. To me Dope is a unique story in the way that it approaches various pressing issues to do with Race, Class, Education and Dreams. The Character of Malcolm is a very conflicted character in the sense that he different to the usual person that lives in his neighbourhood, even though he has no interest in following the gang culture that his home is so famous for he is constantly being conflicted between being the person he wants to be or giving into the culture that his environment is pushing him into.
One of my favourite things about this film is the dialogue, when character exchange conversations in this film I feel as if these conversations feel very real, the characters talk to each other in a way that makes you feel like they know each other and they are actually real living breathing people. For example in this scene Malcolm is approached for the first time by 'Dom' the leader of the local drug selling gang, he shares a conversation with him about why Malcolm looks so ridiculous wearing the clothes he wears because his clothes are completely influenced by 90s hip hop as the conversation continues Malcolm tries to justify how that the age of hip-hop in the 90s was the 'Golden age' of hip and I found this part of the scene the most interesting myself because I find that many people try to compare older music to newer music in a way that doesn't really give much substance, but in this scene Dom is supposed to represent to the audience the new breed of hip-hop and black culture, the fact this character is played by Asap rocky adds even more to this argument because he is a new breed rapper himself and Malcolm is there to represent the older breed of hip-hop and black culture back in the 90s but as this conversation continues we manage to see both sides of this argument but it doesn't necessarily lean towards either argument it just shows us as the audience the contrast between malcom and his friends versus Dom and his gang.
I have researched into this film because I find it talks about a large amount of things which I believe concern Black culture, Hip-hop and also just youth culture in general. The film is detailing the struggle of someone trying to find his way out of a place which will not allow him to prosper which to me relates to me on personal level because of the I live in the area of Norfolk which does not provide me with the same type of opportunities as other places would allow me to have. This films messages and main ambition relates quite heavily to my project ideas because my ideas are mostly to do with the struggle of finding success and happiness through tough circumstances and this film appeals to me on a level that makes it much more relatable to me as material to use as inspiration.
Dope is a film about is a teenager called Malcolm a straight A student who also happens to be a 90s hip hop geek who plays in a punk band with his friends 'Jib' and 'Diggy' Malcolm lives in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of America 'Inglewood' he feels his life has put him in the direction to either end up as gang banger or to achieve his dreams of joining Harvard university. After Malcolm is invited to underground party with the local gangsters lead by 'Dom' (Played by Asap Rocky) after a life changing event occurs at this party Malcolm and his friends are lead into adventure around L.A.
Dope on the surface seems to be quite a generic story, a film trying to tell the struggle of one young person trying to achieve greatness from the bad cards they have been dealt in life. To me Dope is a unique story in the way that it approaches various pressing issues to do with Race, Class, Education and Dreams. The Character of Malcolm is a very conflicted character in the sense that he different to the usual person that lives in his neighbourhood, even though he has no interest in following the gang culture that his home is so famous for he is constantly being conflicted between being the person he wants to be or giving into the culture that his environment is pushing him into.
One of my favourite things about this film is the dialogue, when character exchange conversations in this film I feel as if these conversations feel very real, the characters talk to each other in a way that makes you feel like they know each other and they are actually real living breathing people. For example in this scene Malcolm is approached for the first time by 'Dom' the leader of the local drug selling gang, he shares a conversation with him about why Malcolm looks so ridiculous wearing the clothes he wears because his clothes are completely influenced by 90s hip hop as the conversation continues Malcolm tries to justify how that the age of hip-hop in the 90s was the 'Golden age' of hip and I found this part of the scene the most interesting myself because I find that many people try to compare older music to newer music in a way that doesn't really give much substance, but in this scene Dom is supposed to represent to the audience the new breed of hip-hop and black culture, the fact this character is played by Asap rocky adds even more to this argument because he is a new breed rapper himself and Malcolm is there to represent the older breed of hip-hop and black culture back in the 90s but as this conversation continues we manage to see both sides of this argument but it doesn't necessarily lean towards either argument it just shows us as the audience the contrast between malcom and his friends versus Dom and his gang.
I have researched into this film because I find it talks about a large amount of things which I believe concern Black culture, Hip-hop and also just youth culture in general. The film is detailing the struggle of someone trying to find his way out of a place which will not allow him to prosper which to me relates to me on personal level because of the I live in the area of Norfolk which does not provide me with the same type of opportunities as other places would allow me to have. This films messages and main ambition relates quite heavily to my project ideas because my ideas are mostly to do with the struggle of finding success and happiness through tough circumstances and this film appeals to me on a level that makes it much more relatable to me as material to use as inspiration.
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