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Analysis Of a Music Video




I've decided to analyse something different this week. Since most of my time I've spent analysing extracts from a TV show or a movie; today I've decided to dive into foreign waters and try and analyse a music video.

The video I’ll be analysing is ‘This Is America’ from Childish Gambino. This is a great piece to analyse, not just because of the great cinematography, but the hidden symbols of America's history of violence and  symbolism that connotes discrimination and racial intolerance.

I’ve divided this piece into 5 parts that I consider the most significant.


1. The first gunshot on the chair



We are introduced to Childish Gambino in the first shot through camera track on the dolly creating a full shot of our character. The part when he’s dancing towards a Black character on the chair whose head is covered with the white cloth, so his face can’t be visible; he shoots the guy and hands over the gun to the side character. 

This suggests how Gambino is shirtless and it indicates his bravery and freedom. This transitions from subtle choir music to him dancing, which feels natural to the viewer, to the point of a gunshot, that is followed by lyrics ’This is America/ don’t catch you slippin’ now.’ which establishes a sense of fear in the audience and represents how racism was always a problem in the country.


2. Dancing with the children dressed in uniforms



As we track the singer from the front, which is followed with non-diegetic music, he is represented as being the main one in the video and this is seen by shallow focus. Using this technique children dancing might represent a distraction to the viewer, despite the violence that’s happening behind them. Representing children as a distraction to the viewer suggests how this country behind its glamour has many complications and stumbling blocks that fans might trip on.


3. Choir shooting



A dolly zoom introduces us to the choir singing harmonically. The singing and singers entrance on the scene are enthusiastic, even to the point where he shoots them all. The shootings refer to the 2015 Charleston shootings where Dylann Roof is in the church basement. The enthusiastic tone and shootings indicate how all of the mess is not considered real and is not taken seriously. Although we can see the police running to the crime scene, while the real killer slips away and escapes in front of their noses. This implies that the police force might be careless and ignorant, and it establishes how solutions aren't made at the time, that in the end, it leads to numerous numbers of dead.


4. Running away in the end




Childish Gambino in the end is running away from the crowd under the lyrics 'You're just a Black man/ You're just a barcode...' shows how in the past Black American's were running for their lives during America's history with slavery. 










  









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