Music Video Theory: Blog Task :)

Childish Gambino: This Is America

1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video?

This music video meets the key conventions of a music video because we can see the artist lip-syncing his parts of the song while looking at the camera for some parts to make it look like he is singing to the audience. There is a lot of camera movement in this music video that tracks the artist around because he is moving a lot throughout the video. Another key convention for music videos is narrative and we can see the narrative of this music video is that he is telling the story of what black people experience in America 

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?

This video is a clear criticism against American culture because it has been suggested that racism and gun violence has become incorporated into the very culture of America and society has become desensitised to this and no longer see it as the very real issue that it is. The sudden shift from singing to the brutal murder of black people reflects how neglected this issue is by society because it has been normalised as American culture and people no longer feel the need to react to it 

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. Try and write a short paragraph for each theory.

• Gilroy: Paul Gilroy's Black Atlantic theory can be applied to this music video because when Childish Gambino uses a gun to shoot the black people in the video, the lyric "this is America" plays which explains and justifies the shooting of the black people because it has been normalised as American culture so the idea of black diasporic identity is emphasised 
• Hall: Stuart Hall's Race Representation can be applied to this music video as well because the artist has played one of the three roles that he suggested black people play in the media. Childish Gambino played the role of The Entertainer because he is dancing for a majority of the music video and seems to be trying to entertain the audience by dancing for them 
• Rose: Tricia Rose suggested that hip-hop gives black Americans a voice to express themselves and this can be applied to the music video because Childish Gambino has been given a voice to express his disgust and shame about racism in American culture and raise awareness for the issues that black people are facing in America 
• Dyson: Michael Eric Dyson suggested that hip hop music is important because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history and race- this can be applied to this music video because Childish Gambino created the music video as a criticism against the injustice that black people have faced in terms of politics and history in order to raise awareness for audiences who are unaware of the injustices that black Americans faced and continue to face 

Now read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below

1) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?

• Childish Gambino is playing an invocation of the racial caricature Jim Crow due to his grotesque smiles and exaggerated poses in the opening scenes 
• Childish Gambino is duping us with dance because in the background of Glover and co dancing, there are riots happening- the dancing masks and distracts us from the harsh reality which is perhaps what is also happening on social media 
• Childish Gambino is taking on the police as the line “this a celly / that’s a tool” has a powerful double meaning- fans have pointed out that on the one hand it refers to the case of Stephon Clark, shot dead by Sacramento police (who assumed he was armed but only had an iPhone on him) Glover distils the distorting way black men are seen by police with “tool”, meaning gun 

2) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line'? Choose two and explain what the comments are suggesting.

• "It's just music.": This music video raised awareness for the injustice of black people in America and the way that black people have been continuously mistreated in America but this comment has adopted an ignorant approach towards the music video and sees it as just music despite the powerful message behind it. This music video empowered many young black people to go and make a difference for black people in society but this comment is simply ignorant by ignoring the representation of injustice for black people and the stories of how many black lives were lost 
• "This is (not) America": This is another ignorant comment because they have simply disregarded the decades of mistreatment of black people in America and all of the lives that were lost under the hands of racist Americans. Despite the very real statistics, some narrow-minded audience members refuse to accept that they have mistreated black people in America for decades. This comment suggests that some Americans refuse to hold accountability for the way they have treated black people even though there is very real evidence for this mistreatment