Malcom

Malcolm reveals to the audience that he is now confident enough to 1) perform with his band in front of a crowd, while at the drug party, 2) brave enough to punch a gangster, especially being the one who bullies him in school. In doing so, he also draws a gun, because the bullies want to make him feel emasculated by taking something that didn’t belong to them, and allowing him to yield in this power structure. 3) and Malcom became street smart enough to blackmail a drug kingpin, through Austin Jacoby.

The fact that Malcom uses these functions to deter from the theatrical nature of portrayals of Black men in film (good negro/violent misfit), he still gives the viewer the ability to see the demand for the Black man to be a certain character to remain relevant. Individualism is the most relevant here because it takes into consideration the ways in which you come out to those you wish to inform about yourself. Malcom in the last scene, addresses the audience and dictates his college application essay, which encapsulates Malcolm’s dual nature. He was willing to say that his Individualism was defined by being a geek, becoming a drug dealer and living to inform Harvard all about it. He also finds the love in Nakia, which he desperately searched for throughout the entire movie. In the scene, Malcolm explains the two students for the audience to make their judgments and constructions of his identity: He speaks of a Student A and a Student B. Student A is described as getting excellent grades and SAT scores, being a 90s hip hop nerd, and playing in a punk band with his friends.

This is everything that separates his individualism from others. He understands him importance to this, and makes sure that the people around him know this. He also explains that Student B doesn’t know his father (deadbeat dad), comes from a poor black neighborhood (ghetto), was raised by a single mother, and has sold dope (become a drug dealer). In this, I found interesting that the ideas of everything that makes a Black man, he wants to relevant, but not to be who he is. The two students seem to be polar opposites and Malcolm uses the strong contrast to convey to the audience his feelings of duality. Malcolm uses his individualism and ability to think and make rational decisions for himself as a means to prove that he does not identify with how society wants him to, rather he is the author of his own path, and makes sure that others know this as well. And a very clever and witty way to present this information was by the director, Famuyiwa, to allow Malcolm to create his own unique montage to tell his story of how he was both a geek and a hustler. The most successful montage used in this film is when Malcolm is reading his newly written college essay to the audience. Malcolm focuses on himself and the journey he had to take to get to an ah ha moment in his life. On a symbolic level, the montage unites the two halves of Malcolm and addresses the duality of the film.

Ultimately the movie is a bittersweet but ultimately empowering moment. Dope is a good movie for themes of coming of age individualism, and themes of masculinity, uniqueness and blackness. It also showcases some good work on characters and visual, making it a movie which stands out among other movies with similar themes. On the one hand Malcolm knows that much of society may look at him and where he’s from and still make stereotypical assumptions no matter how successful he becomes. Through understanding the functionality of what makes a person unique through different functions, Malcolm ends the film a wiser, more confident young man than he was at the beginning, and he also proves that staying what others wants you to be can be changed through your own agency. Malcolm did this by not allowing other to speak for him, as speaking for others can remove the originality and add in an element that would have not been there if it were spoken by you. “No one else knows what our life is like each day, minute by minute, nor hour by hour and therefore, no one can speak for or represent us because there are often problems that are associated with that” (Alcoff, 1991). How film portrays Black men is not set in stone to be the end all ideology. The struggle of defining and self constructing identity is an ever evolving process.

Malcom and Dope was just one example of a character who lived and acted, not someone that concerned himself with not being true to himself or negotiating how he identified. Black audiences interpret things in ways that may differ from others, but knowingly will make the judgment to whether it is necessary to be a part of who or what it is that defines them. It can be said that through social reality, Malcom identified as someone that was unique in many ways by being himself, and acting through free will to pursue any and all that he went through. He did not act through internal desires or any external pleasure to conform or maintain a collective identity. Films in the past have portrayed Black men as servants and 2nd to their white counterparts, but through reformation of film and the stories that can be told, Black men often now make themselves who they want to be in the films that are dissected by audiences. One last note, In an article from the guardian, it states,