Childish Gambino has completely destroyed the internet! In 6 days, his new video for "This Is America" has generated over 83 million views. I must have watched this video a dozen times already. It's one of those videos that you have to watch multiple times to see what's going on. Every time I watch it, I see something new that didn't catch my attention previously.
This article is meant to unpack "This Is America"
My 10 Top Takeaways :
- Childish Gambino is playing the role of "America"
- The background dancers represent high school students
- The empty warehouse represents where black society exists (with nothing).
- The church choir represents the mass murder that occured in Charleston, South Carolina (circa 2015)
- Dancing represents black society surviving or being distracted
- The hooded horsemen represents the apocalypse
- The red cloth represents "Red America" valuing guns over human life.
- Random chaos and movement in the background represents life in prison.
- Old cars represent the lack of progress and overall stagnation of black society.
- The white bandana clad kids on the second floor represent todays youth affixed on their smartphones documenting the brutality, rather than resolving it.
This video should not be taken at face value. There are so many sub-plots and hidden gems in this thing that it's hard to process all of it. This would explain why it's breaking the internet into tiny shards.
Here's a further explanation of what I see from scene-to-scene
Scene 1 :
This is a view of an acoustic guitar in a chair within an empty warehouse. The empty warehouse is a visual of how the black community has to live and survive. They are given nothing, hence emptiness. Society expects them to thrive with little to nothing. It's a ridiculous fallacy.
Scene 2 :
Jovial vibes, reminiscent of Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" mixed in with tropical goodness ala Harry Belafonte permeate. The joy on the guitar players face, as he sees and walks towards the guitar, is priceless. He really looks happy.
Scene 3 :
The camera moves in an arc to the left of the guitar player to focus on Childish Gambino facing his back to the camera. Clad in only a neutral pair of khaki pants, visually he comes across as a modern-era Al Green. He's only bobbing his head to the kick drum during this bit. It's the calm before the storm.
Scene 4 :
As the camera zooms in on Gambino, he begins dancing. The moves he makes are very specific and inspired by the Jim Crow cartoons from the 1920s and 30s. The different facial expressions he is making emphasize those mannerisms from the old clips.
Scene 5 :
As he dances back to the guitar player, we see him pull out a gun from his trousers. The guitar player is wearing a hood and Gambino shoots him execution style. I'm not sure which part of this scene is the craziest, but the second he pulls the trigger, the song changes. The body falls to the floor as the gun is carefully placed on the red cloth and the fingerprints wiped. It's sad that in America, we place more emphasis on the gun than the victim.
Extras come and drag the dead body off-screen while a purse snatcher runs away in the background and a car of partygoers drive by. Other people run into the background, which just adds to the chaos.
Scene 6 :
This is the solo dance sequence after the initial transition. He's still doing the Jim Crow mannerisms, but in a more serious way that lets you know that "America" is now more intense. The dancing may come across as tongue-in-cheek, but it's a bit more in-your-face than the earlier dancing to try and get your intention.
In the background, you see different scenes playing out involving cars, transactions and other sequences that you have to really analyze to understand.
Scene 7:
Background dancers dressed in high school uniforms serve as the representation for high school students that have to deal with these things more now than ever before. For the black community, they grow up in a poor neighborhood that is ravaged by drugs, prostitution, gangs and violence. High school kids in these communities have to navigate those waters AND get to school AND make their grades, in hopes of a better life. Some choose sports. Some choose education. Either way, they have to dodge bullets and avoid traps that society has laid before them.
Notice that the students have excessive smiles and are overtly happy, as they dance. This symbolizes the desensitization to violence that has had a lasting impression on today's youth. Social media, 24/7 news cycles and the exponential growth of the violence has the children growing a thicker skin and showing resistance and immunity to the shock that these used to have on us.
There are so many distractions that the children have no time to process the trauma they are experiencing and instead, put on a brave face (their defense mechanism) and get through life, acting as if there is nothing wrong or someone getting shot is "no big deal".
Scene 8 :
As the camera pans away, there are dozens of background extras running around, looting and causing destruction. Some are vandalizing cars, others are sitting on top of the hoods and roof of their cars partying, as the song plays out. Some people are watching the carnage unfold, others are participating in the riot-like chaos.
Scene 9 :
As Gambino and the dancers form a staggered pyramid formation, there appears to be dollar bills raining down from a kid on top of the car in the background. This is a subtle tidbit. Other people are picking up the money that is raining down from the sky, as if they were at the strip club. There's also a pair of chickens. One is brown and the other is white. They are purposefully facing away from each other, not in plain view. This represents black and white society refusing to communicate with each other in an open and honest way. Alienation is the motif.
Scene 10 :
This is a major transition to a church choir, singing on a different set. In full robes, they are representing the Baptist experience on Sunday. Childish Gambino enters into the room doing his Jim Crow dance looks at the camera with a stern look. The tropical guitar plays as the choir sings "Get Your Money (Black Man)" repeatedly. An AR-15 is thrown to Gambino and he proceeds to mow down the choir with gunfire. This is obvious commentary on what happened in Charleston, South Carolina (June 2015)
Scene 11 :
As Gambino moves away from the gunfire, we see random people running around with 2x4's and things that we can only imagine when a major event like this unfolds. There's complete chaos, no order and people running in all directions. As he walks towards the middle of the warehouse, even more people are showing up with no sense of direction or purpose. Another hommage to the desensitization and overall lack of empathy for calamities, catastrophes and heinous things happening today.
Scene 12 :
The camera pans back to a group dance sequence. A body falls from the second floor on to the roof of a car parked below. As we follow the dancers, the camera veers off to more of the background and then pans up to people on the second floor. There are a group of people wearing white handkerchiefs covering their mouth and faces, but they aren't paying attention to what is happening in the real world because they are glued to their smartphones and other handheld devices. Their mouths are covered because they never speak up.
This is social commentary on the digital age and how we all walk around like zombies staring into our phones, instead of seeing what is around us and enjoying what is right here and not online.
The lyric : "This is a celly" / "This is a tool" refers to multiple things. One of which is the vicious shooting of Stephon Clark, who police thought had a gun, but was actually a cell phone.
Scene 13 :
As the camera pans down on everyone dancing in a circle, a man wearing a black hood is riding bareback on a white horse that runs across the screen in the background. (Side Note : The dance they are doing is called the "Gwara Gwara" and originates from South Africa during the apartheid years)
The man on the horse is a biblical reference (Revelation 6:8) to the coming Apocalypse as he rides off screen. Childish Gambino then makes a gun shooting gesture, which causes everyone in the warehouse to scatter. A few seconds of silence, while a joint is lit.
Scene 14 :
As the church choir sings again, Gambino climbs on top of old cars before doing a big dance. This is fantastic because most videos are going to show us luxury cars and obnoxious extravagance. They go against the grain on this and showcase how black society is not progressing and struggling to evolve. These cars represent that.
There's also a special cameo by Sza, as she sits on one of the cars.
Scene 15 :
As the beat changes to a sporadic electronic thump, the scene moves from the warehouse to a pitch black alley. Childish Gambino ("America") is running for his/her life. Everyone is after America. Everyone is chasing the dream. Everyone wants a piece of her and he (ie. America) is running for their life.
