FEATURE:
This Is Childish Gambino’s America
IN THIS PHOTO: Childish Gambino (Donald Glover)/PHOTO CREDIT: RCA Records
How a Single Music Video Ignited the Internet and Proves the Format Is as Relevant and Powerful as Ever
__________
IT is a little bit TOO hot today to do any real journalistic pounding…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
but I felt compelled to put my fingers to the keys and express an admiration and shock concerning Childish Gambino’s video for This Is America. Childish Gambino is, as you know, the moniker of actor-and-all-round-genius, Donald Glover: he is dispensing with the sobriquet and, let’s hope, making music under other guises…or, as his regular self. The thing with Donald Glover, mind: he is anything but ‘regular’ and ordinary. The third album from Childish Gambino, “Awaken, My Love!” is, hard to believe, two-years-old now (I swear, it only came out a few months ago?!). The eleven-track record got critics swaying and swooning; it impacted and was a huge hit! Now that Glover has announced plans to put Childish Gambino to stud; many have looked around and wondered where our next hit of passion will come from – now that we will no longer hear from the interestingly-titled-singer-songwriter. Hold right there, you! Like a golden pigeon shot from the sky by a cannon of psychedelic candyfloss – it IS rather hot… - Mr. Glover has shut my mouth and unleashed a new song: the mighty and timely, This Is America. From a black artist living in a corrupt and evilly-ruled nation; the song was hardly going to be a celebratory and proud thing! It is rare to think back and find, in the recess of memory, a music video that made such an instant impact...
I guess Beyoncé, when Lemonade was released a couple of years back, gained plenty of hype and focus – that was more to do with her status and the fact she had an album coming. Childish Gambino’s single has got the Internet exploding and drooling with equal fortitude. I am not sure whether this is the precursor to a final album or a one-off single. Childish Gambino is embarking on the This Is America Tour so one can only assume an album is on its way. One of the reasons so many people have put his name on top for the Twitter trending table is the extraordinary video for This Is America. You only need look at the video (above) to see what all the fuss is about. It is this phenomenal piece that is more performance art and dance than a conventional video. If it consisted multiple locations and something multi-million-dollar and glossy; I am not sure there would be the same level of fever. It is our man Donald Glover, essentially, dancing and weave his way through, what looks like a parking garage; backed and joined by a crew of dancers and extras. The video stays innocently and calmly as we see a black male playing the guitar whilst sitting on a chair. Our hero wiggles his body and starts dancing away as he is joined by choirs and young dancers. The foreground is quite goofy and humorous whilst, in the background, we see panic, cars on fire and police controlling crowds.
VIDEO STILLS: YouTube/Donald Glover/Hiro Murai
The video is, as I said, shot in a large underground compound/carpark, it seems. Everything happens on this one level and the camera does not really move all that much – all the action seems to happen in the single shot; busy and teeming with activity and physicality. Many, myself included, noted how the eye is drawn to the background and the violence and rush you see. One is hooked by Childish Gambino and the dancers: you are split between this alluring and strangely captivating dance and something filmic and dramatic happening behind. Maybe that funny and slightly off-kilter dance is a metaphor for the government’s approach to gun violence and the plight of black America. The song’s messages of gun violence and endless hate are perfectly and potently portrayed in the clip. The camera does a tracking arc where it goes to a level above the ground and shows children, wearing masks, filming the carnage of their phones. By the time the camera swoops back down; we see cars ablaze and a sheer panic. All the while, more intense and popping than ever; our man is unfazed and even more engrossed in his dancing ritual. It is a striking contrast and somewhat flippant response to the desolation and hell that has been unleased. One can theorise and guess as to the messages and symbolism in the video. It is the evocative and brash mingling of light relief and an eye-opening reality that makes the video so strong.
It is amazing to see how it progresses and follows an arc. You might assume such an imaginative and staggering piece is directed by, say, Michel Gondry: it is the sturdy and stunning lens of Hiro Murai that is responsible for what we are seeing. Maybe it is ironic – or not! – that the most startling, relevant and important videos we have seen in the past few years have been from black American artists. You can look back at Beyoncé’s promotional videos for songs like Formation and Freedom; the stuff Kendrick Lamar has released from DAMN. – including its title-track and HUMBLE. Not only are these lavish, meticulous and gigantic creations; they are delivered by incredible black voices who are seeing their people marginalised and overlooked. Of course, the likes of Beyoncé are addressing women and other parts of society who are being forgotten and trampled on. It seems noteworthy seeing these phenomenal artists angrily react to the way America is being run; producing masterful videos that accompany stunning and mind-opening songs. Before we even get to the most memorable scene in This Is America’s video; one needs to take a breath and try and get on top of everything. Even though there is a single location (a large one, mind), the sheer effort needed to put it all together is immense. The foreground choreography is impressive and complex enough: look at what happens in the background and it is, in a sense, its own film! I am not sure how many days and weeks it took to conceptualise and visualise a generation-defining video that has dropped jaws around the world.
It is the depiction of gun violence that has drawn the biggest reaction. In the video, Childish Gambino is shot side-on and pulls, what looks to be a gun up – it is his fingers he is simulating to look like a gun. Everything has slowed and focused – from the frenetic and full-on scenes before – and the hero lights a cigarette and walks to the right of shot…out of the frame and, likely, completing Act II of the video. We return to the opening shot – the black man and his guitar – but the man has a sack tied over his head. Childish Gambino walks over expensive cars and it seems, at this stage, the focus turns to social inequality and racism; the way the white, rich Americans and oligarchies are trampling others; how less-wealthy and prosperous areas are ignored by those in power. It is the scene of Childish Gambino dancing on a damaged car – the runt among the litter of luxury cars – and the camera tracking back that perfectly ends things. The guitarist is still trapped and we see a woman (SZA) sitting on a car to the right of shot. The hero is back in frantic mood and dancing evocatively as the camera pulls away. Just when you think things are over; we have the grand and thrilling finale. Before all of this; we have seen Childish Gambino/Donald Glover as a narrator and someone watching all the violence and terror takes place.
There is a black-out and, when the lights come back on as it were, our man is running for his life. All of the turbulent crap and building tensions of the background have come to the foreground and bearing down on the hero. We see him being chased – a stricken and terrified look on the face – with an assorted crew hounding and honing in on the ill-fated lead. Another twist and narrative has been brought in and brings a fascinating and unforgettable story to an end. The video has accrued over sixteen-million YouTube views and is number-one on its Trending list – I suspect it will be there for another few days at the very least! People are not really talking about new albums and where Childish Gambino is going from here: it is all about the here and now; that striking and biblical video. I mooted before and wondered whether the music video holds sway and importance in this day. We are past the flash and popular cool of MTV and the heady days of music T.V. Now, in a relentless and ever-packed world of streaming and ordinary videos; do we ever see anything that sticks in the mind and challenges the finest videos of all time?! I feel there have been so few in the last decade that could sit on the same planet as the very finest videos of our time.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
That is not the fault of the artists and directors: it is hard breaking ground and uniting attentions at a time when we are more distracted and less focused than ever before. Not only are we shorter of attention and more demanding; the world is more fractured and frightened – we are not really in a frame of mind to herald videos and talk about that sort of thing. There are great music videos released every year: not as many epic and epochal ones as we saw in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Cultures have changed and we experience music is a different way (to back then). There was not the endless teaser campaign and drip-fed promotions ahead of This Is America. Instead, we had a bit of warning and the thing dropped from the sky. It has been shared, discussed and dissected ever since it arrived a couple of days back. I suspect people will take a while to fully comprehend the magnitude and visceral nature of the video. It is such a strange and phenomenal beast. The world has not seen anything as timely and loud as this in a while. At a time when black America is being pushed down and gun violence is at a shocking high; this is a video that has spoken louder than any politician or celebrity. There has actually been a lot of discussion about where the video is trending. It is top of the pile in Europe and other areas but not, until quite recently, in America.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
Maybe that is ironic and the perfect proof of what Childish Gambino is saying: important issues are being ignored and reduce to nothing. I know American viewer and listeners have got behind the song: it has made more of an impression outside of the U.S., it seems. It would be unwise to suggest there is racism and a callousness among some of the people – those the likes of Childish Gambino are rebelling against and holding to account. Maybe the message is too raw and real for people to deal with: perhaps the rest of the world is more aware and determined to highlight the state of a once-great nation. It is not only the plight of the black population and those who are subjected to violence and hatred. In many ways, the video looks around America and underlines the wealth divide and how things – under President Obama – have gone from relatively stable and safe to the point where we fear nuclear fall-out and the wet dreams of an unstable and demented leader. Donald Trump is the unseen, unnamed villain and perpetrator who is watching all of this sh*t happen and letting it go on. There is so much to digest when it comes to This Is America and its astonishing video. The song is almost overlooked in many ways.
PHOTO CREDIT: Unsplash
The lyrics are incredible and perfectly mirrored in the video. It is the way a track as angered and truthful as This Is America has been given a huge pulpit and platform to deliver its message. I am not sure how much the video cost but it was worth every dollar! So much has been achieved with the use of actors, a few vehicles and a perfect coming together of director and star. It is the physicality and fluidity; the way light-hearted and fearful weave and play alongside one another; how the eye is sent to the background and why that is – how much the video seems to represent the way politicians ignore problems and they are like puppets distracting the eye from the truth. As I said before: you can pull the song apart and try and decode its every angle and scene. If you have not seen the video before, I would urge you to go watch it – after reading to the end – and realise why it is causing such a sense of excitement and shock. We have not seen a music video come along that has caused such a reaction and amazed the world the same way as Childish Gambino’s This Is America. It would not be an exaggeration to say we will not see a video as astonishing and powerful come along…
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
FOR many years to come.