Childish Gambino Extended Response PDF

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Childish Gambino - This is America Extended Response...

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Childish Gambino’s music video “This Is America” portrays the contemporary issues of gun violence, racism, and the dehumanization of society in times of tragic events. Gambino presents his ideas in the form of a multi-modal digital text which incorporates a variety of modes like lyrics, music, visuals, intertextuality etc. to help add meaning and depth to the ideas in the text which he is trying to get across to a broad audience. This Multi-Modal Digital Text allows individuals to delve into the ideas and themes of the text by means of accessing hyperlinks to other sides that analyze the text, reading comments written by other responders to the music video and engaging in online discussions on various social media platforms with other individuals to explore the text and what it is trying to represent. Through the use of these modes and the ability of individuals to access a number of perspectives on the text, we are able to effectively shape our understanding of this multi-modal text through our own personal, social, historical and cultural contexts.

America’s ongoing problems with guns are one of the most prominent aspects of ‘This is America’. Gambino uses the guns to symbolize historical shootings that have occurred in America. For example, in one of the scenes Gambino shoots a black church choir group. This alludes to the Charleston Church shooting which happened at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States, on the evening of June 17, 2015. After each of the shootings in the text, the guns are carefully wrapped in a red cloth. This could represent American government valuing its guns more than the lives taken because of the guns. The music is also an element that constantly changes throughout the text. Before a shooting it is playful and as soon as a shooting occurs, the music turns intense with loud instrumental beats and the creation of suspense. The use of guns and the symbols created throughout the text have represented the gun violence and added depth to the text through the visuals of the shootings, the intense music, and the symbols used to represent various events in past and contemporary American society.

America has a very deep history of racial injustices towards their African American populations and Gambino has highlighted these throughout the video. Gambino incorporates the use of his body gestures to symbolize these. For example, Gambino incorporates the use of exaggerated movements and facial expressions. This piece of intertextuality alludes to Jim Crow. Jim Crow was Crow was a caricature of a clumsy, dim-witted black slave played by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice in the early 1830’s. Rice performed minstrel routines dressed as a fictional character “Jim Crow”. Rice would paint his body black and use silly and exaggerated movements and facial expressions to mock the looks and actions of a stereotypical black African America living in America. Ironically though, the reality of the nature of black people was much different than the one shown in the minstrel routines by Rice. The introduction of the Jim Crow laws in the 1880’s furthered the racial injustices as it supported racial segregation of white people and “persons of color” (black people) in public transportations, schools, pubs etc. In the video “This is America” Gambino uses this to his advantage as in the starting scene he dances around using the same exaggerated movements and facial expressions as the ones used by Rice in the 1830’s. These movements are highlighted through the medium and close up shots of Gambino. The pants he is wearing are a symbolic representation of confederate pants. The lyrics throughout the song impacted the way I perceived the text. The repetition of ‘This is America’ made me believe that the motif of the entire song is the injustices and harsh reality of America. The violence, racism and so much more came to my head each time Gambino mentioned that phrase. The use of the symbols and body gestures, Gambino has been able to put forth the issues of racism in this text.

Contemporary American society has been dehumanized to the point where in times of a tragic event, we are attracted more to the media and the bright spotlights of famous celebrities rather than the actual reality that is facing us right now. Throughout the video, Gambino himself is the salient image. He is the one thing that our eyes are attracted to and we are not able to see what is happening in the background. This, when one takes time to break down the meaning of the video, it makes us realize that this is a symbol - an indirect symbol that points to us - people living in our present societies too worried about the media and the lives of our favorite celebrities that we don’t take time to reflect on the real life tragedies happening all around us. An example of this is when Gambino is dancing with a group of kids and in the background numerous crimes are being committed. Gambino proceeds to say “This a celly, That’s a tool”. The camera moves upwards to a group of kids sitting on the edge of a balcony recording on their phones. This is a symbol that represents perfectly individuals today. They record and act as bystanders during a tragedy and worry not about what is happening but how many likes or how many views they will get when they post their recorded video. Through the symbols and salience of Gambino, the text is able to express the ideas of a numb society.

The multi-modal digital text, “This is America” attempts to show to a wide range of individuals the reality of contemporary American society. The fact that people are able to watch this video on contemporary technologies such as mobile phones and laptops only increases its effectiveness in getting its message across. The video has the capability of reaching a high number of people and influence their thoughts and allow them to realize the harsh reality of America. The text can create symbols throughout in the form of symbolic objects, movements and phrases. The multi-modal elements such as music, lyrics, visuals etc. add depth to the text. It allowed me to view the text as being a spot on representation of America. This is because, I have seen and heard of various events in American history and when Gambino mentions these through the symbols and multi-modal elements in the text, it allows me to engage in the text. Therefore, the multi-modal digital text “This is America” coveys the issues of gun violence, racism, and dehumanization of society through the symbols and multi-modal elements such as music, lyrics, visuals, and intertextuality and aids in adding depth to the text and the message it is trying to get across to the audience....