We have talked in class a lot about how important it is to evaluate pieces of pop culture, such as a song, within their historical context. Today, music videos commonly accompany popular songs, but not every song gets a music video. Furthermore, I think it is fair to assume that not every song’s music video is expected to be watched as often as the song is likely to be listened to, and listening to the song will probably happen for most before they watch the music video.

With a song like Childish Gambino’s “This is America,” its music video provides context for the song that is easily missed by solely listening. We talked last week about how entertainment is never just entertainment. I think that music especially can be hard to think about the weight of the lyrics if the tune is catchy. However, I wonder if that is Gambino’s message. In just listening to the upbeat tunes that transcend the length of the song, it can easy to miss what the lyrics are really saying. When coupling it with its music video, which is made for the purpose of showing what Gambinos hopes to associate his song with,  his message rings loud and clear: the reality for Black Americans in America is hidden, missed, ignored, coated over, and so on… Furthermore, Gambino’s juxtaposition of upbeat tunes. supported with dancing and happy expressions, with the actual lyrics talking about what America really is reveals the expectations put on Black Americans to accept injustice and continue on with a smile, in the same way that Reconstruction attempted to reframe slaves as happy in their enslavement, and not ready for full emancipation, hence the need for Jim Crow laws.

Ladan Osman’s essay gives an even more detailed interpretation of the music video in the context of August 2018. She makes references to pop culture, like Vine in describing the casualness of the students dancing behind Gambino, and Grand Theft Auto in describing the commotion of veering cars and people waving objects (a video game that normalizes violence), and an ode to the Charleston church massacre. Therefore, in taking into account the ways in which Gambino’s scenes and music work in the context of 2018, his music video delivers an even stronger message. Looking back at the video from 2021, his message about America is even more relevant as police brutality increases more each day, and as justice continues to be denied, life goes on.