Formation – 

For me, this video was pretty interesting because I had never seen it before. There is a lot of symbolism in the music video. Much of it is centered around the treatment of Black Americans especially Black women in America. Throughout the video, Beyonce showcases different struggles that Black Americans have faced. The struggle with Hurricane Katrina for example with the cop car drowning in water was meant to show the struggle that black Americans faced after the disaster. She also shows many impoverished areas in New Orleans that have been affected in the past.

This is America – 

I’ve seen this music video a bunch of times over the last couple of years. Donald Glover puts a lot of symbolism in this video. It covers the incarceration system, gun violence, racism, and gang violence in the United States. For example, there a scene in the video where Childish Gambino is dancing with a bunch of kids smiling. Yet behind them, it looks likes they are in a prison where there are a bunch of cops arresting black people and kids not paying attention and just staring into their phones. It’s a social commentary of today’s youth, but also a commentary on how minorities are being treated by police officers. Regardless of the generation, it still represents how American minorities are still subjected to the incarceration system.