Video Analysis Essay: This is America

Introduction

The video "This is America" starts with a man seated, playing the guitar in a warehouse. Many people misidentified him as Trayvon Martin's father, a teenager who was unarmed and killed in 2012. In a real sense, the man is Calvin II, an artist who was Los Angeles-based who posted on Instagram that he "got to be a historical part." Later, the camera finds Glover standing behind Calvin II, whose head is covered with a bag and Glover shoots him. Thus, this action has made many people on social media regarding his stance while holding the gun mimics that of the minstrel character Jim Crow, the origin of the word used in describing the segregation laws of the pre-Civil rights-era. Additionally, the erratic dancing of Glover which is choreographed by Sherrie Silver distracts everything that is happening in the background throughout the video.

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Paired with exaggerations, Glover's movements further the connection to minstrel shows an entertainment form that is popularized in the early 1800s, which mocked the black people in America. The characters of stock were always played by the whites in the face of the blacks. The character of Glover appears to represent how the culture of the white Americans opposes the black people, and he periodically kills the performers who are innocent. As the choir sings joyfully, Glover slips from behind the door in the room begins dancing in front of the choir. He is again given a weapon, shoots all the ten singers and walks away. This imagery evokes the Charleston church massacre in 2015 where attendees of a prayer service were killed by a self-described white supremacist, Dylann Roof.

The Courier and Post spoke to the locals of Charleston about their mixed reactions to the construed violence. One person criticized Glover for taking part in the overuse of "traumatic violence against the blacks to convey an artistic message," but Sharon Risher who is a Reverent defends that the video speaks to how death is always normalized. Moreover, as Glover tells his viewers and listeners to watch him move, the people who are in the background are chased by cops. A police car is parked t the line of sight of the viewers, and a glaring orange suggests that there is a fire burning the warehouse. Nevertheless, the camera glides quickly past young people showing off their phones as Glover says "This is a celly and that is a tool." Thus, cell phones have been used to record the officers choking or shooting the blacks in the past few years. As the video continues, Cavin II, with a bag on his head, plays his guitar as Glover climbs the top of the car. All the vehicles that are pictured are from the late 20th century, in contrast with the modern cars of the 21st century that are luxurious that are often depicted in many videos. Numerous people conclude that the aged cars represent the stalled political and socioeconomic mobility of the blacks in America.

Some point to the vehicle's images in the Los Angeles riots in 1992 that began immediately a jury acquitted police officers of using too much force while arresting Rodney King. Nonetheless, the video ends with Glover being chased down the hallway and to some darkness point behind him, a sunken place is represented, which is a mental prison where the Armitage family matriarch sent the blacks in Jordan Peele. Moreover, the video depicts clearly how blacks have been harmed and trapped by the American culture. The characters of Glover keep the darkness at bay through acting in the boundaries that are imposed by the white people, hence a rich field depth, with Glover's giddy dancing being layered in front of violence.

Symbols the Video References

Jim Crow Pose

Fifty seconds after the video has started, Gambino executes a man who is hooded who was strumming a guitar a few seconds earlier. Numerous posts point out the similarity between the pose of Gambino and the sketches of Jim Crow. Moreover, the shot man is said to look like Trayvon Martin's father who was also shot in 2012 by George Zimmerman.

Death Gets a Police Escort

Throwing a white horse in a music video is always not a move that is groundbreaking. This symbolism showcases a Biblical reference to the end times. Revelation 6:8 depicts death riding a horse that is pale and in the case of the video, a dark cloaked galloping figure is seen on a white horse together with a police escort.

Viral Violence

At 2:28 in the video, the camera pans past a teen's group who are watching the chaos casually and filming it on their phones. This action references the stratospheric rise of the filmed violence gone viral. Additionally, the bandanas over their mouths that are white are seen as a symbol of white supremacist system who is trying to muzzle the brutality of the police.

The Warehouse

Gambino and other characters could have chosen any place than the warehouse, and therefore, the warehouse represents the structure that America is built on. Specifically, a greyish white warehouse represents a structure of white supremacy.

Seventeen Seconds of Silence

At 2:44, the music cuts and Gambino is seen mimicking firing a gun before a joint is lighted with the music coming back in at 3:01. That is, seventeen seconds of silence that represents numerous ways of denouncing violence. Also, the seventeen seconds of silence represents the seventeen people who died in the Parkland, Florida school shooting. Back in February, many groups countrywide honored the lives lost by taking seventeen seconds of the moment of silence.

The Sunken Place

The final scene of the video has Gambino running desperately while being chased down by strangers. The place that is sunken which is portrayed in the video is a concept that is described as the director of the film Jordan Peele, as a blacks' marginalization in America. Peele says that no matter how hard people scream, the system will always silence them.

The Dancing Kids

Gambino has a group of dancing kids behind him all the time, even during the riot. This dancing depicts everything from the black culture appropriation to a violence distraction plaguing the black communities in the United States.

Minstrel Show Face

It is difficult for most viewers to see the symbol that Glover shows when he smirks at the camera. Gambino portrays a goofy face, but a racism nod from the era of a minstrel show. Glover is also aware of the grotesque, cartoonish and dehumanizing way that the blacks used to portray to the audience who were whites.

Fan Fiction

As I continued watching and re-watching Gambino's video for the sake of understanding, I was triggered. However, I also saw the sense of the actions of Calvin II in the video. But is pain art and black death? I had learned earlier in my art school that the expressions of art are subjective, but I felt that nearly all the critiques by the Blacks in the video are meaningful and valid. The depictions of Calvin are of sudden violence and black pain. The more I watched the music video, the more upset I became, and I could not tell whether the effect was desirable or not, but the film becomes more performative with every viewing. Violence against blacks is an action that most people see with such regularity that it becomes even overzealous punctuation in the lives of many people.

Moreover, in some scenes in the video, I actively avoid some parts such as the beatings, police shootings, the whites degrading the blacks in public et cetera. As a black, my mental health becomes in constant danger seeing the violence against us being reflected in the music video for purposes of entertainment, consumption, reflection, and shock-value and I wonder why many praises it. The video showcases that people should push away most distractions of social media and trap music and see the nation for what it is. Calvin is implying that people do not know the world that is living in and he is assuming that it is necessary to watch more violence, Gambino says "Guns in my area, We gon' blow like yeah (straight up, uh)." Additionally, I could not shake the choir being shot and kids dancing in danger. Thus, using a black trauma in selling tracks is something that a black cannot be comfortable with. But Gambino says that "Get your money, Black man (get your money), This is America."