Music Video Analysis : This is America by Childish Gambino

Music videos are still used by artists as marketing strategies to promote the artist or band's work or the artist themselves. Music videos draw the audience's attention to their music but also what message they are trying to communicate or something about them.

For example Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" music video was made as a homage to the American comedy film 'clueless'.

Iggy Azalea's Fancy music video

Music videos also create a memorable visual experience that enhances a song's meaning portraying the lyric in a visually intriguing way.

Childish Gambino's 'This is America' music video was released in May 2018 and was Directed by Hiro Muria. It went ahead to have over 700 million views and 11 million likes on Youtube and 8 awards including a Grammy award for best music video.

A star image is created for Childish Gambino as the music video portrays his ideologies in the smartest way possible.Sometimes the audience don't like being told what's happening but instead they like to be shown without being told.Gambino uses different imagery in his video that link to different meanings leaving the music video open to interpretation by anyone.

The fact that the title looks signed shows that the music video is more than just a music video but it's clearly personal to Gambino himself.

The way Gambino was able to make his audience think about serious problems in today's society lead to him having a larger audience which meant that he was also able to generate money aswell.

The video starts off with a long shot duration in a cheerful tone and then turns to a more serious tone and this is where we see Gambino pull out a gun.

The pose he holds is similar to the Jim Crow pose that was a racist character that classified African Americans as " lazy, stupid and inherently less human". He holds this pose possibly to tell the audience that Jim Crow is still alive in American society till this day and the use of long shot duration is a way of mirroring how long Jim Crow has been alive.

We then see Gambino handing the gun over and noticeably the gun is handled with more care over the body representing priority and how black lives aren't valued as much as they should be. Which is why the body is dragged away with no care as that is how black lives are treated in America.

Gun treated with care

The body being dragged away 

The red cloth used to wrap the gun represents the republican dominated state where they value guns over black lives.

This is Gambino's way of presenting his message of what life is like for Black people in America.

Gambino's costume also holds meaning as his lack of a shirt tells us that he as a black man whether a celebrity or not is still vulnerable to America's brutality.

Confederate soldiers pants

His costume serves a reminder of the historical violence inflicted on African American's and it also highlights how easily distracted we get from the history black people have had.

His double chain emphasises how engrossed we are with consumerism.

As the video continues to progress we see children dancing happily and taking up the foreground of the frame. This is purposely done to distract the audience from all the action happening in the background.

The dance scenes are interpreted as how social media is used to distract us from the issues that go on in the world and how easy people become blind when it comes to matters that need our attention and help.

Gambino uses famous dances that have blown up on social media like the gwara gwara as diversions from the background.

In one shot we see someone committing suicide as the children dance in the foreground implying that black culture and experience is often enjoyed by white people.

Here Childish Gambino is trying to portray the message that America uses its famous black celebrities like Beyonce or Kanye west as distractions from how black people drown in violence. It also shows how black lives are devalued in their own culture where they should be thriving but instead are failing.

someone committing suicide as the children dance

The music video cuts to the next scene where we see a church choir performing the a few seconds after is gun downed by Gambino.

This is done to reflect the church shooting in South Carolina in 2015 where 9 people died in. the mainly African American church.

Every time the diegetic sound effect of the gun shot goes off the lyric 'This is America' follows reminding us that it's simply what happens in America every other day like it's normal.

An AK-47 is specifically used as in America mass shooters choose to use AK - 47's.

In this scene the camera pans up to show children holding phones. While the camera pans Gambino says "This is a celly, that's a tool " which possibly refers to prison cells which is a great tool of oppression in America. The setting of the music video is similar to what looks like a prison cell mirroring this possible meaning.

Another possible connotation could be that these days people's first instinct is to take out their phones and record what's happening instead of trying to help the situation. It could also be seen as the normalisation of how black children in this generation are growing up seeing their own people die everyday on social media.

In the background we see a white horse galloping which may have a reference to the new testament and this verse talks about how death/ the last day will come riding on a white horse. The white horse is followed by a police car which holds the connotation that the police will be the death of black people in America.

In some shots during the music video if you look closely at the edges have been edited to make the corners look rounded like a frame.

This could be seen as a metaphor for how the police make black people feel everyday which is claustrophobic.

In this scene the camera pans out showing all the cars having open doors which signifies how Black people are constantly being asked to get out of the car or pullover.

The video ends in long shot duration where we see Gambino running away which could be a metaphor for slaves running away from plantations into the woods.

His expressions are clearly scared and terrified and the dark setting sets the message that Black people have been running for a long time since slavery.