This Is America

What is the overall message or connotation of the video in relation to the events, issues, individuals and social groups represented?

Childish Gambino highlights the concerns within black culture in his music video for 'This Is America'. The central message within the music video is about guns and violence in America and the fact that we deal with them and consume them as part of entertainment on one hand, and on the other hand, is a part of our national conversation. 

There are many key concepts within the music video that stand out. The first being the harsh gun violence, from which he hands the gun to someone who takes it away in a red cloth whilst the body which was shot is dragged away it is representative of guns being treated with care and priority while black bodies don't get the same dignity. The cloth is red because it is representative of Republican- dominated states which often are linked to the idea that guns are valued more than black lives. 

Childish Gambino's pose as he shoots the gun imitates that of Jim Crow. The Jim Crow persona was a racist theatre character by Thomas D. Rice and an ethnic depiction in accordance with white ideas of African-Americans and their culture. The character was based on a folk trickster named Jim Crow that had long been popular among black slaves. That someone is Jim Crow, who Gambino embodies with a combination of popular dance memes sporadically interrupted with bug eyes.The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. All were enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by white Democratic-dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. The laws were enforced until 1965. The reference to Jim Crow is used to refer to a series of racist segregation laws that emerged during the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era was from 1865-77 and followed the American Civil war and attempts to redress the inequalities of slavery. 

Throughout the music video, Gambino is topless; his exposed torso is there to demonstrate that he is black and vulnerable. Glover wants to remind us that violence is committed against black bodies like his with some regularity and with no heed to whether the body in question is that of a celebrity or an ordinary citizen. Glovers garments are a reminder of the historical violence inflicted upon African-Americans, and his dancing serves to highlight the ways that society are continually distracted from that history. His shoes and trousers imitate that of old confederate uniforms. The Confederate War, also know as the American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people.



Also throughout much of the music video, Gambino and a group of school children are seen to be dancing, smiling through impeccable moves as violence erupts from behind them. This can be interpreted in many different ways, for example the dancers could be there to distract viewers in the same way black art is used to distract people from real problems plaguing America. The style of dancing by Gambino in the video also calls out the way we consume culture. Gambino samples at least 10 popular dance moves derived from hip hop and African moves, including the South African Gwara Gwara dance. The use of so many famous dance moves show how ultra-popular pieces of culture lose their specificity over time as they become more ubiquitous (found everywhere).