music video (This Is America) analysis

This is America analysis


Childish Gambino released his song this is America in may of 2018 he first premiered his song ‘this is America’ on Saturday Night Live. Video is all about race and gun violence within America.

Linda this is America video there is many many hidden messages within. It takes a few times to watch the video to really see everything that's going on and even then there is still things that people don't understand about the video. Childish Gambino has never come out with a full statement about why or what all the hidden messages are within the video. when he is asked about in interviews he always seems to Dodge the question. the video also came out at the exact same time as the finale of his show.

Video opens up it looks like he is standing in a abandoned prison or abandoned warehouse it could symbolise emptiness and also the fact that it's enclosed and all the walls of white could suggest that black people have been surprised by white people. Fact that there is guns involved from the very start suggests that this is the main message he wants to get through to people and he does this from the beginning it's one of the first things that you see which suggests that this is what he wants put in people's minds most sense of urgency about it there's no leaving it to the end it's he wants you to see. Another Part of this scene is that when Childish Gambino shoots the man sitting in the chair, he imitates a similar position to the one of Jim Crow who was an extremely, extremely racist character who did black face in the mid 1800.

Second part to this section is after the man in the chair is shot as Childish Gambino walks away you can see that the body is dragged with zero care and the gun that shot the man is placed in a red cloth and carried off with care which shows what there priority is.

Next section you can see a gospel choir and him coming through a door this is a reference to a church shooting that killed nine people in Charleston Sanctuary. All these hands and hidden meanings ah don't educate and show people how often these things happen and after the clip of him shooting the quiet you can see him walk past the police car as if he gets away with it suggesting that white people get away for doing these crimes. Other point is that every time that a death occurs within the video the beat of the music picks up which suggests that as soon as something tragic happens does instantly avoidance of the situation and life just carries on like nothing happened.


Route the video Childish Gambino is making these extreme facial expressions and doing very much over expressive this moves this is all done to distract the audience from what's going on behind him this is also father followed up by the fact that he and the dancers are always centre of the screen and also they are the ones are always in focus and the background is slightly out of focus this is all done to suggest the masking of violence within America. Other point is that the children that are dancing along with Childish Gambino they are following his every move everything he does they do this shows the fact that young people can be manipulated and bought into things that they may not be fully aware of and they are very easy to follow behaviours of people that they look up to you whether they be good behaviours or bad behaviours.

One point in the video where the camera pans up on the top of the balcony of the warehouse and you see these kids that have masks over their faces and the barrier of the balconies almost covering their faces and there recording the violence yet not doing anything about it. This shows how normal this violence has become frequently young people are being exposed to it to the point where they feel comfortable with putting it online yet not doing anything about it. another hidden message is the White Horse that Gallup’s behind the dancers on Childish Gambino horse represents the beginning of the end.

And that was shot at the very beginning of the video appears again around half way throughout the video and it's him after he's being shot still playing his guitar this is known to symbolise the fact that even after an artists death people still value their music more than themselves rather than remembering the artist we just remember the music.

At the end of the video you can see that Childish Gambino is running out in a panic and some say this suggests that it's due to the lack of community and support within the hip hop rap culture and he feels if more artists within that genre of music showed the same level support he wouldn't have to runaway but he believes that it's lacking and therefore causes him to runaway from the issue. And you could also see this through his facial expression at the end you can clearly see that he is extremely scared. They may link up to the fact that he doesn't want to talk about the video as he feels this is all he can do with the support that he has and he can't push this as a solo artist.

Talking about their camera positioning the artist is always in the centre of the frame suggesting that he is a solo artist, and he isn't a part of a band as well as it's quite symmetrical there's usually things going on either side and the dancers are even between each side and all whether there in circle around him. I think that this video is extremely well thought out it's the way it's done is extremely clever and I feel like it brings such a strong message across and it really makes people think about these issues and I feel like he's done it in a really clever way where all audiences will be able to understand.

Reference:


Insider edition – YouTube


Shawn Cee - YouTube