'This is America'

 Gambino

- Donald Gambino is an American actor, rapper, comedian, writer and producer who takes the stage name of Childish Gambino

- He has a number of mainstream Hollywood credits including playing the young Land Calrissian in 'solo: A Star Wars Story'

Dyer and the star theory 

- "stars are commodities, produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings"

- "stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media in order to construct an image for themselves"

Gambino/Glover v Elvis 

- these ideas are not new and in fact have gone through cycles

- both appreciated the benefits of a wide exposure 

'This is America' was released in the US on the 5th of may, 2018 to concede with Donald government hosting 'Saturday night live', one of Americas best known TV shows.

In terms of genre, it is hip hop with very deliberate elements of Afro-beat 

The songs release was not previously announced but instead appeared online while Glover was live on TV during his SNL performance.

Analysis of "This is America" music video

Problems raised:

- gun crime

- race, correlation between the two

- violence

- drugs 

All the shots in the music video 'This is America' are very slow pace tracking shots which have a long duration and smoothly link to one another through either cutting or creating the illusion that the camera is being taken to another setting. The long duration for the shots acts in favour to the viewer as they are able to absorb the enormous amount of detail that is cleverly inserted into each scene whether in the background or centre stage. Many of Gambino's hidden messages take place in the background of the main act, such as rioting, police integration and criminal activity. An example of this is the shot of performing African cultural dancing to the camera whilst cars are pulling up behind him with people running, swinging their arms around in the air in a violent manner. This, along with the majority of the shots, implies the idea of distraction, the idea that as a society we are distracted by entertainment and things of smaller importance, from actually focusing of the real crime and violence problems that have been present within poorer societies for years. 

There are also big references to real life happenings impeded into the visuals. The most obvious one being the reference to the Charleston church shooting. This incident hit America hard as the crime not only took part in a church but was a white supremacist teenager attacking a black congregation. BBC News reported that "Six women and three men, including the church pastor, were killed". This tragedy was clearly represented in the scene where Gambino shoots down the entire choir as they were singing along to the song. This is included as an example of a real world event that has occurred due to the discrimination agains black people in America and the aim to show people the regular, racist acts that happen to people of colour.   

The lyrics to 'This is America' conveys the lower positioning of the black community in the American society and how it's been kept there regardless of the discrimination it brings. A lot of the song feed back to the idea of gun violence, drugs and money within the black community and how white conservatives concentrate on following the narrative of blaming people of colour for the majority of the violence occurring in America. However, these actions are actually a correlation to poverty and is clearly present just the same among white people in poverty, yet is overlooked to benefit conservatives incorrect points of beliefs. Furthermore,  the lyrics, "don't catch you slipping' now" correlates to the idea that people of colour are always on their toes due to always being the first ones to have the blame thrown on them by the police and people of society due to the corrupt police system in America. There is clear reference throughout the lyrics to drugs and money; "grandma told me get you money black man, get you money black man, get your money black man". Lyrics such as these explain how you have to go out as soon as possible and start earning at a young age and if you are unsuccessful, you are forces to turn to other, harsher methods. 

Throughout the entire music video, children are very present and included not only in the dance routines but also behind the scene of the main event. for example, kids are used on multiple occasions after the gun scenes to collect the gun in a red cloth. this conveys the idea that children are fully included in violence at an early age and are born into the violence. It further highlight their knowledge into guns and the idea that they know to have care with them with cloth and almost treasure them. Furthermore, this exposure of violence and misery to children is juxtaposed with the scenes of children performing ancient cultural African dancing with smiles spread across their faces. These shots express the idea of love and happiness that comes with their desire for their culture and the idea that it is a comfortable escape from the real world problems of discrimination that they are about to grow up in. Lastly, displayed in many of the shots, children are present among chaos. In one of the dancing scenes there is a perceiving of a sort of riot taking place in the background of the shot, whilst the children remain unfazed by the chaos. This brings me to believe the idea that children are not only thrown into a violent lifestyle at a young age but it is the norm for them and they are eligible of staying clear of it and focusing on the task at hand. 

"contraband" - making money through this  

Set in a empty warehouse - comment about what's happened to American society 

James brown reference with one of the dance moves