When i decided to pay money to go see Charlie Bartlett in the theater, i thought, “its only eight dollars, what’s the worst that could happen?” What i didn’t expect, was to come out of the theater thinking, “Wow, i respect that character more than i respect most of the rappers in the mainstream spot light!” But that’s what happened. My consensus of this movie is, Charlie Bartlett personifies Hip Hop in its rawest form. First we have to take a look at what personifies Hip Hop, since it has been skewed so much by corporate interests.
Since the insurgence of Hip Hop in the american culture, it has first and foremost been an art form based on escape and rebellion. Escaping the poverty stricken neighborhoods the culture was created in, and rebelling against the very authority that ignored that poverty. DJ Kool Herc, the godfather of Hip Hop, gave the youth a place to escape to and a voice to rebel with when he created Hip Hop.
Charlie Bartlett assumes the role of DJ Kool Herc in a round about way. He is kicked out of private school for making fake ID’s for students, which essentially is an entrepreneurial venture. He is enrolled in public school, and stands out right away for not looking or acting like anyone else. When he is beat down by the school bully, he is sent to a therapist. The therapist does what any parent in america would do when there child is to creative to fit the mold of a sheepish student, he gives him riddaline. Charlie sees this as an opportunity, and enlists the very bully that beat him down to sell the riddaline to other students. Charlie makes a name for himself as a guy that can get medicine for other kids. He holds office hours in the boys bathroom, where kids come and talk to him about there problems, then he prescribes them medicine if they need it. This gives the students a way to escape, and Charlie a way to rebel.
The culture of Hip Hop has also been based around entrepreneurship and expressing yourself through a creative medium. The first Hip Hop heads formed crews and companies based around graffiti, DJing, MCing and break dancing. These crews and companies eventually led to money and fame, all by expressing themselves through a creative art form.
Charlie forms a crew and a company at school selling prescription drugs and advice to students. He becomes marked by school officials as the voice of the rebellion, just as Hip Hip has been marked the same by many politicians.
There are also many random ways Charlie Bartlett parallels Hip Hop kids of today; he gets shot at, he is musical (he plays the piano), he writes (a play), his father is in jail, his mother is struggling to take care of him, and he even goes to jail.
Charlie Bartlett is a portrayal of a rebellious generation that happens to parallel Hip Hop in its rawest form. For anyone that has ever felt like an outcast, this movie is not only for you, but about you.
J.S.
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