High school (like most of life) there is a caste system of sorts. There are the cool kids (jocks, class clowns, kids with money), the mid level kids who can be like the jocks but pretty much have their own crew of people. Then there's the outcasts or dorks (we are the popular ones now, so SUCK IT!). The funny thing about being an outcast is that we tend to be the more interesting out of the bunch. But being a dork in high school pretty much leads you open to ridicule from everyone because you aren't the in crowd or do what's popular. "Dope" is the story of a nerd named Malcolm and how a bad day can turn into a slippery slope (watch the movie and you'll get the slippery joke).
Malcolm and his friends Jib and Diggy get straight A's, are obsessed with late 80's and 90's hip-hop culture and get called names, beat up, and has his sneakers stolen on a regular basis. But Malcolm, Digg's, and Jib continue to live their lives the way they feel they should. So what happens when a straight a good guy with good intentions end up in the wrong place at the completely wrong time or when something as normal as taking your normal route home is abstracted and you take a different way? More than just the average amount trouble. They go to a party that gets raided, someone puts a ton of drugs into Malcolm's book bag, and then the next day Malcolm gets a call telling him to give him the stuff in the bag and threatening to kill him if he doesn't. Oh, it doesn't end there. Before Malcolm can give the stuff to the guy on the phone, he gets a phone call saying that the person who originally called him is either a rival gang and shouldn't give him the drugs OR a cop on a sting and he should still not give him the stuff. And from there, things don't get any better.
image source "nypost.com"
This was a really special movie. For a lot of us nerds, dorks, or "Outcasts", we get a bad rap. That we can just be pushed over as if we weren't even there. Then there is the thought that because a person is a certain race or creeed that they have to be a certain way. Black people can't enjoy nerd culture or white people have to be preppy. This movie shows that things are more than what you see on the outside. Or, to be cliche, "You can't judge a book buy it's cover".
"Dope" flew under the radar and it is shocking that it was not or has not been nominated for an award. Especially in a society that is always looking for ways to show how to stand up for yourself and what you believe in. If there is ever a movie that is anti bullying, racism, prejudice, or any anti gay.
