Music video analysis. Childish Gambino -- This is America.

 Nowadays, music videos became a form of art that as well as promoting the art of the singer/band is also promoting itself. So, the fact that now we are getting more and more music videos that are simply just a piece of art itself without music. Nowadays, we can find a lot of different music videos that include not only beautiful pictures but also brings some interte4xtual material and semiotics. In other words some hidden meanings and not only. 

 For the Analysis I used the music video of Childish Gambino -- This Is America. This is a very controversial piece of music and especially of the video.  It contains a lot of intertextualities.  As well as rising a lot of issues this music video also creates a very good Star Image of Childish Gambino. It shows that the artist cares about its country's problems and not only countries but society.  So, the audience and society will see that celebrities and their idols know what is going on in the country and are aware. 

Talking about intertextuality, throughout this music video there were raised a number of issues that American society is facing in day-to-day life.  One of them is the fact that at the beginning of the video he shows America's two main sides -- the more violent one 

to the less violent one, where he dances with the group of students. 

Talking bout the details, right from the beginning of the video Gambino is wearing two gold chains around his neck, which clearly represent America's obsession with consumerism. It is also very noticeable that throughout the video, and especially in the beginning of it he dances with very exaggerated facial and physical expressions. 

Talking about the actual lyrics, right at the beginning of the song Gambino touches upon the fact that nowadays the social media hides real-life issues from society. It becomes clear after the words We just want the money, money just for you. 

Continuing with the movements, it is clear that the group that dances with Gambino and Gambino himself do it in order to achieve two things: 1) not to die, which links to the words in the song Girl you got me dancin', dance and shake the frame, which means that Girl, being America here tries to hide everything under layers of social media and in order to stay safe, alive, you have to be dancing, or more simply, you have to believe in what media says. 2) it distracts the audience from the chaos in the background, which connects with the fact that America keeps hiding what really is going on in the country with the pretty images -- propaganda. 

Touching upon semiotics in the video at some point in the background there is a black-hooded man riding a white horse, which, in the bible stands as the symbol of an apocalypse.

The other noticeable thing is the fact that at the end of each shooting (a total of 3) there is a special person with the red cloth to whom Gambino handles the gun. 

This clearly represents the fact that in America people tend to care more about guns/weaponry than about people's lives.

During one of the last scenes, Gambino is on the top of the old car and he is surrounded by the other old cars, this represents the fact that there is a possible lack of progression in America and that even though everyone is used to see America as a modern country for most people it is another way round.

The very last scene shows us, the audience how Gambino runs away from the crowd and America itself. It is clear that Gambino is scared not only by the use of the colors (only dark) but it is also clear by the fact that the camera zooms in from the bigger space to just concentrating on one person -- Childish Gambino.

The other fact that shows that he is desperate to escape because he is scared is how he stands and looks like in comparasents with the rest of the crowd. Gambino is the only character throughout the video who is topless and he is way in front of the crowd, although there would be definitely at least one person who would reach him but that did not happen, in order to show that he is different to everyone.  

Talking about the genre, it is clear that there is no exact, specific genre. |It is mainly due to the fact that throughout the video there were many different interpretations and key conventions of each of the genres that are connected to the streets. By that, I mean all of the genres that include: 

• pop
• rap

The most common representation of rap and pop that occurred in this music video were the golden chains on his neck 

and the lady that was sitting in the car during the last scenes of the video. 

Both of these details are stereotypical to rap and pop genres, but more to rap. 

The other thing that is pretty intertextual is the fact that normally we get that types of music videos for the pop and rap genres. It is not that popular to have that use of intertextuality in such genres as rock or jazz. these genres tend to have most of the time intertextuality within the text rather than both within the text and within the music video.