Gambino's Symbols In The Video 'This Is America'

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“This is America” is a song that is a collaboration between Childish Gambino and a director he often works with, Hiro Murai. While the video itself seems ridiculous within the first view, after careful watching, you may notice the many symbolic ideas placed in the video. One of the first and biggest symbols in the video is the outfit Gambino is wearing; civil war pants, no shirt, and a chain wrapped around his neck. This outfit can be most closely compared to what African slaves wore during the slave trades of the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. This could also be considered as three different eras of African-American history; the pants being inspired by black civil war soldiers, the bare chest and torso inspired by when the slaves were sold, and the chain around his neck was inspired by 90’s hip-hop …show more content…

Another large symbol is Gambino’s posing, strange movements, and dramatic facial expressions throughout the video. This was a symbol that was inspired by the minstrel character Jim Crow, the origin of the term used to describe pre-Civil-rights-era segregation laws. A great example of this portrayal is when Gambino shoots the guitarist with the bag on his head. While it isn’t clearly explained as to why the guitarist has a bag on his head, I think it is to hide the man’s dying face, as this can usually become pretty gruesome to look at, especially with a shot to the back of the head. Another large symbol is throughout the video, when Gambino’s character periodically murders innocent performers in the video; especially the choir. This may be in reference to the 2015 Charleston Church massacre, when the attendees of a prayer service were murdered by a white supremacist by the name of Dylann Roof. The video ends with Gambino being chased down a dark hallway by a mob of strangers, terror clearly written all over his face. This is a reference to the

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