ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE HL

MS. MARIE RIGER

‘THIS IS AMERICA’
ANALYSIS
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By Ruheen Kumar

To what extent does Childish Gambino use multimodal elements to

successfully convey meaning in the music video 'This Is America'?

OUTLINE:
INTRODUCTION

Main topic: the severe racial discrimination that the black community faces in the USA. About
the realities of America and how prevalent violence against African-Americans is.

Global issue: Racial discrimination in a country that claims to be all-inclusive.

Text type: multimodal text - lyrics, song and music video

Author: Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover

Purpose: to raise awareness and bring into light the atrocities committed against black people,
as well as the perpetuation of violence which is frequently disregarded.

● To bring about change - he's taking a stand and he wants things to change

● Exposing an issue - making a comment, critiquing of situation

Audience: People who are aware and can understand the historical context
● Primary - people who are well-informed about these situations
● Secondary - the general public - singer's usual target audience - media being used, the
genre of music has a narrow/limited audience
● Addressing American community as a whole - younger audience, open-minded enough
to listen to something that may not align with their own views
● Trying to reach out to the majority - white community
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Thesis statement: How Glover expresses the realities of America for African Americans using
lyrics, visual elements and filming techniques:

Childish Gambino used ‘This is America’ to expose the dangerous realities of America, such as
gun violence, being reduced to racial stereotypes and the dismissal of violence committed
against African Americans, for those in the black community due to systemic racism through his
use of lyrics, visual elements and filming techniques.

DEVELOPMENT

#1 Lyrics:

● Gambino uses the lyrics to convey the materialistic stereotypes that are
associated with the black community through his use of repetition.

● Evidence: “Get your money, black man”

● Explanation/analysis: Materialistic outlook on money in African American culture -

common belief in older generations that money defines success. This is propagated
through mainstream media.

● Evidence: “I’m so fitted…/I’m so pretty” - anaphora

● Explanation/analysis: Materialistic hip-hop culture - how black entertainers are

portrayed in media. Obsessed with their appearance, with getting money because the
way you appear reflects your worth.

● Gambino also uses lyrics to express the inescapability of the conditions of being
black in a predominantly white society.

● Evidence: “I kenneled him…./No proper life to a dog”

● Explanation/analysis: Black people can still be controlled, leashed like a ‘dog’ -

imprisoned and restricted in a white-controlled society, puppeteered. He can never live a
life like others.

● Evidence: “You just a black man in this world/You just a barcode”

● Explanation/analysis: No matter how successful you become, you will always be

reduced to your race. Being black will always be your defining feature - negative
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connotations. This perpetuates the misconception of black people using illegal means to
attain a comfortable, successful life. Another statistic - another guy who died, who can
be bought. Reiterating utter lack of importance. A black man saying this to other black
men - reinforces the narrative.

● Effect on the audience: makes us compare the appearance of black people and how
they live to the reality of how they live - evokes guilt, empathy, and anger towards white
supremacists

● Link to the thesis / main message conveyed by text: America claims to be diverse, yet
still holds prejudices against people of colour, merely because they are of a different race
- they are still inherently for white supremacy and will judge African Americans based
the image they have created for them.

#2 Visuals:

● Gambino uses distracting visual elements, such as the dancing and his facial
expressions, to portray how black people are perceived in entertainment.

● Evidence: students dancing - someone in the background commits suicide

● Explanation/analysis: People fail to see tragedies that occur in the background - media
is used to distract people, so they won’t change a supremacist society that is beneficial
or more advantageous to white Americans.

● Evidence: minstrel shows - facial expressions - allusion

● Explanation/analysis: Historically, black people were presented in a dehumanizing,

cartoonish way to white people - their image is nothing more than entertainment, a
means to make more money.

● Gambino also uses symbols and facial expressions to express America’s

desensitization towards gun violence, especially against African Americans

● Evidence: Red cloth - gun to a student - guns are held in higher regard than human life

● Explanation/analysis: Guns are wrapped in red cloth - the juxtaposition of guns being
handled with extreme care, dead are dragged away recklessly. Red symbolizes death,
violence, danger and blood - possibly representing Republicans who advocate the right
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for anyone to own guns. Very easy for students/teenagers to acquire guns - calling out
America, they are readily handing out guns

● Evidence: Blank face after shooting choir - historical context - Dylann Roof

● Explanation/analysis: Facial expression suggests indifference, lack of empathy -

shooter goes unpunished and feels no remorse. Head tilt - implies that this is just how it
is for African Americans - they’ll just have to get used to it.

● Effect on the audience: Wake-up call - we have been shown historical context and see
this is a perpetuating cycle. It becomes hard to ignore.

● Link to the thesis / main message conveyed by the text: Diversity exists in America -
inclusivity does not. At its core, America thinks the white race is superior. They will
prove it in any way - including violence.

#3 Techniques:

● Gambino uses filming techniques such as camera shots to show the violent
interactions between African Americans and white supremacists in America.

● Evidence: medium shot

● Explanation/analysis: white supremacists in America are very direct with their racism.
High-key lighting - violence against African-Americans is clearly visible, yet still
dismissed

● Evidence: close-up in final scene

● Explanation/analysis: Uses it to address his own stance on the issue. He’s afraid of
being a black man in America. Might be being chased by those who want to punish him
for the violence he committed in the video. He emerges from the shadows - wakes up to
reality. Tight close-up to display how African Americans have to constantly live in fear,
and fall into a widely negative stereotype.

● Gambino also uses the movement of the camera to display the persistence of
racial violence against African Americans.

● Evidence: panning - pan to right - choir sequence

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● Explanation/analysis: Camera pans to right - America moves on very quickly from the
violence, it is disregarded and easily dismissed. The camera pans away before we see
what happens to the bodies - they use black entertainment to cover it up

● Evidence: Gambino dancing on a car - zooming out

● Explanation/analysis: The camera zooms out to show other cars pointing towards
Gambino - creating focus. Everyone is focused on the entertainment provided by black
artists, they fail to see what’s happening around them, in terms of racial violence.

● Effect on the audience: No resolution to the issue displayed - a desire to bring about
change - empathetic, but guilty for not doing enough.

● Link to the thesis / main message conveyed by the text: America puts up a facade of
being all-inclusive and welcoming - entrenched in white supremacy and tradition. It
uses media to conceal the atrocities.

ESSAY
Childish Gambino’, also known as Donald Glover, ‘This is America” is a multimodal text type
that addresses the severe systemic racism and racial discrimination that African Americans face
in the USA. Glover displays the prevalence of gun violence against African-Americans,
purposefully exposing the realities of America and using the song to call for change by evoking
guilt within the audience. The song is directed toward the black community, subconsciously
encouraging them not to subscribe to perceptions imposed on them. It also targets the white
society in America, however, due to frequent allusions to past tragedies committed against
African Americans, we can assume that the primary audience is people who are aware of and are
able to understand the historical context: Glover makes reference to mass shootings, minstrel
shows, Jim Crow and police brutality throughout the lyrics and music video. Nonetheless, the
genre and media being used have a limited audience which is generally younger, though
open-minded enough to accept new social views. Childish Gambino used ‘This is America’ to
expose the dangerous realities of America, such as gun violence, being reduced to racial
stereotypes and the dismissal of violence committed against African Americans, for those in the
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black community due to systemic racism through his use of lyrics, visual elements and filming
techniques.

Childish Gambino uses filming techniques to enhance the message of America’s desensitization
toward gun violence and general racial violence against African Americans. Camera shots are
used to show the violent interactions between African Americans and white supremacists in
America. Most of the video uses medium shots, where we can see Gambino dancing in the
foreground and chaos ensues in the background. However, significant use of the medium shot is
in the choir sequence where we can see the gospel singers upfront and Gambino entering,
without being discreet. He then shoots the 10 gospel singers and walks away. The use of the
medium shot in this scene insinuates that white supremacists in America are very direct with
their racism, yet can still walk away, unscathed. Additionally, the medium shot can also be
inferred to suggest that violent racial discrimination against African-Americans is clearly visible
and highlighted through social media platforms, yet is still dismissed. This is also accentuated
by the natural, high-key lighting that is retained throughout the video. The camera techniques
reinforce the message of the prolongation of brutality against the black community that no one
with real authority is taking action against.

Furthermore, Gambino uses a close-up shot in the final scene where he is running in the dark.
We can consider this to be Gambino’s personal stance on the issue, whereas previously
throughout the video, he was merely relaying events that had already occurred. His face seems
to emerge from the shadows as if he is waking up to the reality of being a black man in America.
It’s a tight close-up which conveys how African Americans are categorized by their race and
trapped in the widely negative stereotypes, such as being criminal, inferior or incapable of
achieving true success, that are imposed on them by predominantly white society. On the other
hand, the close-up creates a focal point for the audience where we can concentrate on the fear
in Gambino’s expression. One presumption that can be made is that he is being chased by those
who want to punish him for the atrocities he committed in the video, hence he is embodying the
fear that he wants the perpetrators of the real events to feel.

Gambino also uses the movement of the camera to display the persistence of racial violence
against African Americans, which is often dismissed. For example, once again, the choir
sequence begins and ends with the camera panning to the right; it moves to the choir, and after
Gambino shoots them, the camera pans away before we can see what happens to the bodies. It
is implied that people move on very quickly from such violent acts, so they don't gain traction in
the media or society, suggesting that America disregards anti-black racism and uses other social
issues or forms of entertainment to cover it up. The perpetuation of their dismissal is
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represented by the panning away from one scene to the next, indicating that it is a vicious cycle
of ignorance.

Finally, near the end of the music video, we see Gambino dancing on a car as if he is performing
on stage. The dance moves are reminiscent of James Brown or Michael Jackson, both black
performers who are representative of black pop culture. Once he is on the car, the camera
begins zooming out to show other cars creating a one-point perspective that allows the
audience to focus solely on Gambino. The image propagates the idea that black entertainment
limits our view; we tend to focus on the performances, completely disregarding what is
happening in our peripheral, in terms of racial violence committed against African Americans.
Furthermore, as the camera zooms out, we see the background, however, there is now a lack of
chaos; people aren’t running, and there are no fires or open cars. Nevertheless, we see the man
playing the guitar that was shot in the first scene of the music video again, as well as a woman
leaning on another car. This movement indicates that the black community is settling into the
roles imposed by the American society, due to the simplicity of the scene and the lack of details
presented. The zoom-out is suggestive of an ending; as if they are coming to terms with what
they are given and there is nothing left to hash out. It leaves the audience feeling incomplete
due to the unfulfilling ending: There was no resolution to the issue displayed and we are left
with a heaviness that can be associated with empathy or a desire to bring about change. There is
an apparent correlation to the thesis statement, where America puts up a facade of being
all-inclusive and welcoming, yet is still entrenched in white supremacy and tradition, hence it
uses media to conceal the atrocities effectuated behind closed doors.

Childish Gambino used multimodal elements to convey the racial discrimination that the black
community faces in America, a country that claims to be all-inclusive. He used lyrics, visual
elements and filming techniques to convey the way black people and black culture is portrayed
in mainstream media, while racial and gun violence is swept under the rug. Glover uses a catchy
song to express a dark message about a persisting problem. It was a clever attempt at reaching a
wider audience, as he spoke up about a controversial topic that would definitely garner
attention. Nevertheless, ‘This is America’ evidently depicts the true nature of America, as
discriminatory and hostile, warning outsiders to perceive American entertainment with a grain
of salt.