Music Video theory - Childish Gambino blog task

Childish Gambino, the musical stage name of writer and performer Donald Glover, released an incredible critique of American culture and Donald Trump with This Is America in 2018.

The music video is a satirical comment on American culture, racism and gun violence. Racking up 10m views in the first 24 hours, it now stands at over half a billion views and has been dubbed ‘genius’ and ‘a masterpiece’. 

Childish Gambino's This is America music video meets the key conventions of a music video. The artist is seen lipsyncing to the song, along with this the artist and other individuals featured in the video are dancing to the rhythm of the song. In addition to this, a narrative is shown through the video with the supplementary use of props and movements.

This video was used as an aim to perpetuate the real and deep issues that lie within America. Topics such as racism and gun violence are addressed in this music video. Gun control is a major issue in America and many unfortunate events have happened in the result of the lack of it. Within this music video reference to the Charleston shootings in which members black church were killed in a deadly shooting. This horrific situation was captured in the music video with really intelligent imagery. The lyrics also touched on mass incarceration of African Americans within that country 

Gilroy: This video reinforces Gilroy's theory of black diasporic theory. Childish Gambino is seen with energy and moving fast around the set mostly with no breaks. This could relate to Gilroy's theory as he could be struggling to find a place to fit into western society.

Stuart Hall: Stuart Hall suggests that many people wrongly associate a particular race with class. He also suggests that white people are still dominant in western cultures whereas other ethnicities are seen as the 'other'. Hall outlined 3 common characterisations seen in American media. One that was noticeable was the 'clown/entertainer', a performer which could be the dancers. The 'Native' could be Childish Gambino as throughout the video he is portrayed as the criminal and savage character. The 'slave figure' could potentially be the man who got shot at the opening of the music video.

Rose: Rose's theory suggests that hip hop gives people an inside on how young black people live and the issues they face. Hip hop gives these black individuals to share their story. This is seen in this music video and the lyrics of the song. This video conveyed many issues that black people face in this modern society, it tackled many issues and addressed them efficiently.

Guardian feature on This Is America 

One of the first interpretations is that he is playing Jim Crow. In the opening scenes of the music video, he is seen doing exaggerated dances and faces. The pose that he does before pulling the trigger imitated the infamous jim crow pose. Jim crow was a persona used for a racist depiction of African Americans and their culture. 

Another interpretation is that Childish Gambino is duping the audience with his dancing. The modern hip hop dance moves blind the audiences to the riots and mayhem in the background. this was Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) attempt to illustrate how black art (dancing, music) distracts people from the real problems plaguing America

the last interpretation is that Childish Gambino is taking on the police. In one line he mentions a 'celly' and refers to it as a tool. In this line, he is referring to when police shot a man who was assumed to be armed but it was discovered that the gentleman had only an iPhone on him. This line also links to the fact that cell phones are usually used as tools to document the heinous crimes carried out by law enforcement. 

In one of the comments on the guardian, someone stated that it was 'Just music' many people replied to this comment ad argued against it. Many referred to quotes by philosophers to counteract the initial point.