intertextual references, social, cultural, and historical contexts in 'This is America'

‘This is America’ is the title track on Childish Gambino’s 2018 album. Its music video features graphic scenes of riots, suicide, gun crime, and other violence whilst using a fluid format. This could be the artists way of insisting that these events, although appearing at different times during the song, can be linked together in one simple, flowing connection. Façade. Throughout the video, Gambino is the major focal point, distracting the audience from the mayhem occurring in the background by dancing and making comical facial expressions. This symbolises how society looks over the true realities of life in the states by focusing on puff stories.

At the beginning of the video Gambino shoots a hooded guitarist, the gun is then promptly taken away in a red cloth by a well-dressed man; the victim, however, is dragged away and disregarded. This refers to how the American government treats guns with more respect than human life. This process is repeated every time a person is shot.

Firearms are prominent again later in ‘This is America’, when Gambino guns down the choir. This might denote the 2015 Charleston Church Massacre and other gun related terror attacks. In this moment Childish Gambino could be emphasising how mass shootings are not uncommon occurrences and that terror attacks related to race are more frequent. As well as this, before their demise the choir sings “Grandma told me, Get your money black man”. This could indicate the churches reinforcement of material obsessions.

Returning to the aforementioned murder of the hooded man, Gambino takes a stance, just before he shoots, similar to the one of Jim Crow in southern racist propaganda. By doing this Gambino draws reference to the ‘Jim Crow Laws’ of the late 19th century that legally enhanced the support of segregation based on race. The artist may have done this to suggest that there are still scars of theses laws across the US.

After the shootings dancing takes place in the foreground, distracting the audience from the rioting occurring behind. This is actually taken from the South African Gwara Gwara and Blocboy JB’s dance, which could insinuate how as a society we are so eager to adopt black culture but pay no attention to the true injustice they face.

Near the end of ‘This is America’, a man dressed all in black can be seen riding a white horse whilst being followed by a police car in the background. This might be a representation of Revelations 6:8, from the Bible; it reads “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and the name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” (In this case “Death” is represented by the man dressed in black and “Hell” is replaced with the police car) Death was said to be the last of the four horsemen, meaning that the apocalypse had come. By adapting it in this way Gambino is suggesting that it’s the police causing the chaos in the State’s and not black culture as society leads us to believe.

In the final shot of the music video, Gambino is seen being chased by white people, symbolising how white supremacy is still restricting the lives of black people. Also, this scene is visually similar to the “sunken place” from Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed ‘Get Out’. This was the idea that marginalised people are aware of the hostility that encapsulates them but are incapable of preventing it.

Throughout the video, Gambino is shirtless and wearing trousers like those that were worn by the Confederate soldiers, who were known for their violence against people of colour. His exposed torso could be highlighting how the confederate army used to march the slaves in chains whilst wearing nothing but underwear. Similarly, it could be Gambino’s way of stating how black men and women’s skin makes them venerable to abuse.

In conclusion Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’ refers to many intertextual, social, cultural, and historical events throughout the music video and makes such a strong argument that the audience can’t help but be enraptured by it.