Music video theory

 
1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video?
The artists is lip syncing and dancing to the song whilst telling some sort of narrative.

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?
I think that the music video is telling us about what America has become as stated 'This is America'. It is telling us that people can be easily affected by gun crime etc even with their day to day lives. It is now so common that it is tying to tell us that this is now normal. The fact that this involves black people shows that most of these crimes are being targeted at black people.

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson.

Rose suggested that hip hop initially gave audiences an insight into the lives of young, black, urban Americans and also gave them a voice and this music video is a way of Gambino sending his message to people.
Gilroy points to the salve trade as having a big influence of the culture in modern America which suggests that people don't feel like they belong their.
Read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below.

4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?
One of the three interpretations of the opening scenes is a parallel reference to Jim Crow. The dancing throughout the music video was specially choreographed to be distracting so that people don't notice the riots etc in the back. he last interpretation is that he's taking on the police by the lyrics "This a celly/that's a tool" which is a direct link to a recent shooting of an African American man who's cell phone was mistaken for a gun 


5) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line'? 
It gives the picture of the US acceptance of violence and murder that you get from the news in the British media

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