Music video: theory

1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video?

There are a lot of key conventions in this video. Childish Gambino is giving a performence with not only singing, but also dancing throughtout the music video. There's also a great narrative that has a lot of intertextuality indide, from the lasy shot of the video, to hit pose when he shoots a man within the first minute if the video. The video is trying to arouse controvercy about things happening in US and how ignorant people are about it. The movements in the video reflect the constant pressure of people watching news on social media all the time, and distracting themselves with silly jokes and dance moves.

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?

The This Is America video is very sarcastic and in some way scary, having a lot of surpricing, violent actions and the over-elaborated truth about the internet. He's potraing the American culture as toxic and extreamly ignorant to the inside issues of their nation. The rasism and gun violence have a huge part in American of what's wrong in American community.The #blacklifemetter was created because of Innocent black people being shot by policemen. In the video there's a reference to a mass shooting in the church and the gun being placed on a fancy, red pillow shows the attitude towards guns in US.
 

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. 

Gilroy- with his theory, the music video touches on the aspect of black community, especially American, being treated below other ethnicities and being targeted by the police. The black music and the reasons behind creating it is shown in the music video. At the end Childish Gambino runs away from white doctors.
Hall- the theory fits with the music video, because throughout the video we can see some stereotypes about black and white people. There are a lot of parts that include the police issue. There's also a representation of white people, actually the only one in this video, at the end, chasing the Singer. 
Rose- Childish Gambino tries to give the audience an insight into how it is like living in America if your black one, and through that he tries to raise awareness, and as Rose said, ' give them a voice, ' as watching this video Gambino tries to show you what's wrong with American culture. 

Read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below.

4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?

1. He’s playing Jim Crow
2. He’s duping us with dance
3. He’s taking on the police
   

5) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line'? 

"It's just music"

"I'm surprised that this movie isn't 30 seconds long, with him walking on set and then some police shooting him. That would be a more accurate description of the US."

"Great video and music. I think it's quite obvious what the song means. Not much 'satirical' about it. Pretty literal to me. Being black in America is deadly."

"Music is the perfect medium to highlight the wrongs in society."