Cookney, DJ

Fairclough, K

University of Salford Institutional Repository

3/26/2019 Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbellyhttps://theconversation.com/childish-gambino-this-is-america-uses-music-and-dance-to-expose-societys-dark-underbelly-96379 1/5AuthorsDaniel CookneyLecturer in Graphic Design, University ofSalfordKirsty FaircloughAssociate Dean: Research and Innovation,University of SalfordAcademic rigour, journalistic flairChildish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance toexpose society’s dark underbellyMay 10, 2018 11.02am BSTChildish Gambino’s new music video for his song This is America was viewed almost50m times in five days. It is a remarkable artistic achievement given that it utilisesfinely-tuned choreography to satirise the role of the black man’s supposedly “joyous”song and dance routine.The release of the video was particularly timely. Encountering the Hiro Murai-directed promo brought some much-needed satisfaction – and sanity – to a weekthat had notably featured a Trump-endorsing Kanye West claiming slavery was “a choice”.After already amassing over 49m YouTube views, This is America has demonstratedthe potential for an artist like Donald Glover – aka Childish Gambino – to usepopular culture to critically address ongoing and deeply-ingrained issuessurrounding race.This is America. Childish Gambino/YouTubeMay 10, 2018 11.02am BSTChildish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance toexpose society’s dark underbellyChildish Gambino - This Is America (O cial Video)3/26/2019 Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbellyhttps://theconversation.com/childish-gambino-this-is-america-uses-music-and-dance-to-expose-societys-dark-underbelly-96379 2/5Not so ‘happy’ after allIt achieves this while simultaneously criticising popular culture for placating audiences. It can be seenas the antithesis of Pharrell Williams’s Happy – a video that achieved its own constant rotation viamore obvious feelgood escapism.Glover’s hard-hitting cynicism can be pitched against Williams’ most buoyant song in a way thatrecounts Public Enemy’s 1990 citing of Bobby McFerrin’s similarly rose-tinted Don’t Worry Be Happyas little more than a distraction within their own call-to-arms, Fight the Power.Perhaps most controversial of all, This is America appears to openly question the entertainmentindustry’s support for what amounts to a continuation of “minstrelsy” (the once highly popular 19th-century “blackface” tradition that relied on damaging racist stereotypes). This aspect was picked up bycreator of the comedy Dear White People, Justin Simien, who observed how Glover even contorts hisbody into the caricatured figure of Jim Crow – a slave archetype who was a mainstay of suchperformances.3/26/2019 Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbellyhttps://theconversation.com/childish-gambino-this-is-america-uses-music-and-dance-to-expose-societys-dark-underbelly-96379 3/5Utilising sharp choreography as part of his own bewitching performance, he leaves nomisunderstanding about where he locates either the origins or the current role of the black man’supbeat song and dance routine.As a video, it immediately appears to have some kinship with Beyoncé’s Grammy-nominated Formation. Both appear to pull us towards the motivation behind the Black Lives Matter campaignbut, more than that, these are both examples of the music video as a politicised event. Formation is afierce commentary on events from Ferguson to Sandra Bland to Eric Garner and Freddie Gray. Thevideo marked Beyonce’s entrance into the political sphere while also ensuring that it is couched inmass appeal.Justin Simien on Twitter. TwitterBeyoncé - Formation3/26/2019 Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbellyhttps://theconversation.com/childish-gambino-this-is-america-uses-music-and-dance-to-expose-societys-dark-underbelly-96379 4/5As cultural theorist Sunil Manghani identified, these videos transcend the format of the music videoitself, resulting in “a combined ‘object’ of music-video-news as it forms and reformulates throughsocial media, news networks, and print journalism”.Glover has now had a “moment” where he has dominated a cultural conversation by presenting workthat is so fully formed in its complexity and accessibility.A satirical danceWhat is so remarkable about the way in which Glover used the form of the music video as a politicisedevent is in the layered and nuanced content with a direct message. Peppered throughout the video arethe traces of various dance styles, from viral video moves to Blocboy JB’s shoot dance, to the SouthAfrican Gwara Gwara. Brought together, the differing origins form something that looks veryAmerican and which Glover appears to comment on directly.Placing the choreography so front and centre seems to be saying that that mainstream culture is allAmerica sees when they see the black community. The exaggerated facial expressions while dancing inthe video, further pointing to the disparaging caricatures of the black man popularised in the JimCrow era.Get Out O cial Trailer 1 (2017) - Daniel Kaluuya Mo…3/26/2019 Childish Gambino: This is America uses music and dance to expose society's dark underbellyhttps://theconversation.com/childish-gambino-this-is-america-uses-music-and-dance-to-expose-societys-dark-underbelly-96379 5/5Beyonce Kanye West Racial issues Music videos Black Lives Matter Jim Crow Donald GloverThe Sunken PlaceAt the end of the video, Glover is seen running in semi darkness being chased by a group of what seemto be non-black people. Like many on Twitter have theorised, it is plausible to suggest that Glover is infact running from the Sunken Place – a concept developed in Jordan Peele’s film Get Out.The Sunken Place represents a system that no matter how hard individuals and groups protest, it willsilence them. As Peele explained:You know when you’re going to sleep and it feels like you’re about to fall, so you wake up?What if you never woke up? Where would you fall? And that was kind of the most harrowingidea to me. And as I’m writing it becomes clear that the sunken place is this metaphor for thesystem that is suppressing the freedom of black people, of many outsiders, many minorities.Glover in effect represents this concept through choreography and visual imagery in just four minutesand four seconds. Like Beyoncé, Glover has offered up a multi-layered political statement and onewhich the mainstream is now grappling with. If ever the music video had a moment, it is right now.Found this article useful? 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Childish Gambino : This is America uses music and dance to expose society’s dark underbelly

http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/50678/1/Childish%20Gambino_%20This%20is%20America%20uses%20music%20and%20dance%20to%20expose%20society%27s%20dark%20underbelly.pdf

Childish Gambino : This is America uses music and dance to expose society’s dark underbelly

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