Music videos are used by artists to create a 'star image'. Music videos focus on promoting reasons which make a band or artist a star, which will attract an audience or certain age groups. By using the Dyer Star Theory this video creates a 'star image' because it portrays what Childish Gambino feels strong about and this video is being produced and consumed based on the strength of their meanings. This music video is about a worldwide issue but mainly focuses on the issue in America. This music video addresses multiple different political messages and deeper connotation. This music video is laden with metaphors and issues about race and gun violence in America.
Throughout this music video the issues and controversial topics that were covered were: race (ethnic minorities and cultural racism), guns in America - stabbings and murders and this message also highlights the dangers of guns being so normalised and legal in America. After gun shots were portrayed through this video they followed the lyrics 'this is America' - highlighting that this behaviour and the killing of individuals is the norm and the 'classic in America', the gun is also provided with more protection and more safety than the victims and this highlights the thoughts behind gun violence and that guns are more valued than human lives.
After gun shots are portrayed throughout the video there is a shift in the musical genre, from being light and joyful to intense rap, which creates the idea that the individuals who end up being shot / killed are just living their lives and minding their own business, when they then get caught up in racial abuse and racism and this is out of their control and only due to their race.
In this video there is a sense of moving on and not looking back at victims as after gun shots and people being shot throughout the video, the video just carries on and moves away from the victims. This portrays the idea of no one really caring or doing anything about racism and people just forget about it - the ones who don't face racism on a daily basis. At one point in the video there is a group of teenagers being shown holding their phones up and their mouths covered by a white cloth. This emphasises on the message of cell phones being used to document brutality and people hiding behind their phones and social media without a voice and just watching and letting it happen. As the lyrics say 'this is celly, thats a tool'. This could also be a reference to the mass amount of viral videos of police brutality and racist encounters that tale place. Another reference that this clip may link to could have been the March 18th police shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man holding a cell phone. The use of the white cloth covering their mouths could be a metaphor for white people taking power over black people and reducing their freedom, will to live and life choices and many more.
At the closing of the video Gambino is running away and this links back to the tradition of black Americans having to run to save their lives and it links to the idea of black Americans having to constantly run away from situations in order to save their lives as they are being chased and/or threatened. This ending clip also creates intertextuality with the film 'Get Out' as this involved inherit racism and links in with the same themes and imagery to 'This is America'. These are only a few of the different issues and controversial topics which this music video covers.
Throughout this video symbolism is portrayed. Every time there is a gun shot in the video the police are then showed in the following clip, this highlights one of the main issues of police officers being the main culprits to racism and causing the most harm - where the irony is that they are meant to protect people and people are meant to feel safe around them, this is not the case.
The video portrays a shooting of black choir members in a church and this links to the 2015 Charleston church shooting when a white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine black people in a church. After this shooting occurs in this clip the gun is then handled with care and safety and the video just carries on which further highlights the normalisation of all of these shootings that take place within the black culture.
The use of the dancers being portrayed throughout this video is thought to be a distraction to distract the viewers away from the main issue - racism and racial abuse - in the same way black art is used to distract individuals from the real problems and issues plaguing in America. The dancing may also be interpreted as a method of survival, as the dancers who are dancing with Gambino are never injured which further relates to the idea of America applauding black culture but ignoring and turning a blind eye to the real issues.
The hooded person riding the white horse in one of the clips is seen as a biblical symbol for the apocalypse and symbolises the idea that 'death rides on a pale horse with hell following behind'. The hell following behind is represented by the police - further highlighting the police's role and contribute to racism and police brutality.
In this music video there is a reference to Jim Crow who was used as a reference in shows in the 1800s, where white/Caucasian actors would perform in blackface and act out black stereotypes. Jim Crow was the representation of how Caucasians during that era perceived the African-American culture and community. In the 1870s there were different segregations laws announced and legal rights and access to public facilities, most of these laws became known as the 'Jim Crow Laws', from this the term 'Jim Crow' became a derogatory term for African-Americans. Gambino's link to Jim Crow portrays the sense that Jim Crow is still alive within the American society, and still affecting people and people still in the 20th century, see Jim Crow as a clear representation of the African-American culture and community.
Overall there were multiple different hidden, visible, shocking and eye opening messages throughout this video. This music video was more than a music video and it was more a message and a statement that something needs to change in terms of America and the racism that circles America. This music video received a mass amount of feedback and reached a large number of platforms as everyone was so shocked and amazed by it. The official video received 764,716,351 million views on youtube and Childish Gambino was then asked to take part in multiple interviews and then won the 2018 Grammys award for the best music video of the year.
A few websites I looked at to gather more information and discover deeper connotations behind this music video:
No comments:
Post a Comment