Does Malcolm End Up With The Upper Class

Set in a run-down, crime-frequent neighborhood in Inglewood, California, Dope tells the story of a young boy in his senior year of high school. Visualizing a successful future, Malcolm has aspirations of being admitted to his dream school, Harvard University. After being criticized and discouraged by his school counselor for dreaming unrealistically due to his current class status, Malcolm gets put in a situation with a Harvard alumni and businessman, Austin Jacoby, who has the potential of making or breaking his chance of admission to Harvard. A truly innovative approach on tackling issues dealing with class, Dope exemplifies the idea that upper class does not all way end up with the upper hand. Throughout the film, the director is able to

discuss issues on class by showing the audience Malcolm’s background, explaining Malcolm’s drug dealing situation, and describing Malcolm’s ingenious escape from his superior.
The first element the director uses to discuss the issues on class is Malcolm’s background.

Malcolm lives in a crime-filled neighborhood in Los Angeles, California referred to as “The Bottoms”. Born and raised by a single mother, which he acknowledges in the beginning of the film, Malcolm describes his life to be pretty cliché. He had little memory of his father; the only memory he had was receiving a birthday present from him in the mail. With that, the director of the film already distinguishes Malcolm as the inferior lower class; he’s in a position where he can be easily manipulated and controlled by a superior. On the other side of the binary opposition, we have Harvard alumni and businessman, Austin Jacoby. Termed to be the superior upper class, Austin holds the power throughout most of the film. Not only does he hold Malcolm’s future college career at Harvard in his hands, but he is also secretly the person in charge of the drug dealers in the film. Austin is in a position where he can dictate and control characters in the film. Despite this, Malcolm has full faith that he will attend Harvard University and is given the perfect chance to be admitted; in the beginning of the movie, Malcolm has an alumni interview set up with Austin Jacoby. This interview turned into an opportunity for Malcolm to become “a Man of Harvard” if Malcolm is successful in disposing of the

drugs.
The second element the director uses to discuss the issues on class is Malcolm’s drug dealing situation.

Malcolm was never the person to get involved with drugs. His infatuation for a female named Nakia led him to attend a party that turned out to be a drug deal where in which the police raided. Dom, who is the actual drug dealer, finds Malcolm’s backpack and fills it with the drugs and a gun and sends him away when the police came. Malcolm did not realize this happened until he set off the security alarm when arriving to school the next day. Malcolm then receives a call from Dom informing him that people are out to get him and to deliver the drugs to the address that he texts him. The address turned out to be Austin Jacoby’s house, the Harvard alumni Malcolm had an interview set up with. Malcolm arrives for his alumni interview and relays Dom’s instruction to Austin, but Austin denies having any knowledge of what he is talking about. Austin then manipulates Malcolm into taking responsibility of disposing and selling the drugs in exchange for admission to Harvard University. Due to the lack of Malcolm’s power at that time, he had no other choice but to find a way to get rid of the drugs. He sets off to try to strategize a plan to dispose and sell the drugs. His interview with Austin is also rescheduled to give him time to get rid of

everything.
The final element the director uses to discuss the issues on class is Malcom’s escape from Austin’s control. To get rid of the drugs, Malcolm and his friends sought help from a college student they knew from years past. Will Sherwood, a hacker, sets up an online black market website to sell the drugs. The website goes viral and they manage to sell all the drugs before Malcolm’s deadline. When Malcolm returns for the rescheduled interview, he informs Austin that all the drugs have been sold. Thinking on his feet, Malcolm realizes that Austin may not give him admission to Harvard despite the fact he was able to dispose of the drugs. With that, Malcolm develops a plan where the money collected from the transactions would be deposited in Austin’s bank account which would point all evidence to Austin. At this point in the film, tables are turned and the lower class breaks free from the upper class control. Malcolm is able to gain the upper hand and leave Austin powerless; Malcolm ends up in a position that gives him the power to dictate how things will go down. Malcolm makes a bold statement and describes two different students – Student A is a high school geek that gets straight A’s, while student B suffers in “The Bottoms” and makes money in immoral ways. He then asks, “Which student do you think I am?” At the end of the film, we see Malcolm enter his bedroom with a letter on his bed from Harvard University congratulating him on being admitted to the university.
In conclusion, Dope is able to portray the issues of class through Malcolm’s background, Malcolm’s drug dealing situation, and Malcolm’s escape from his superior. The director successfully revealed his political agenda through the creation of an underdog movie centered on class issues and proved the point that the upper class does not always end up with the upper hand. He portrays the ability of an individual in the lower class to defy all odds, end up with the upper hand in society, and break free from the status quo. It’s made clear to us as an audience that it does not matter how the roles were played out in the beginning or in the middle, but what matters is where they stand in the end.