Childish Gambino’s This is America heralds new era of political music videos – a far cry from the MTV days
Following Donald Glover’s thought-provoking and powerful piece, a recent deluge of videos from Beyoncé, Frank Ocean and Janelle Monáe have explored serious issues on racial and sexual identity
Donald Glover didn’t hold back when creating the music video for This Is America, the most recent single by his rapper alter-ego, Childish Gambino. He didn’t have to.
As its name suggests, the video is emblematic of its time – blatantly political in a way that appeals to social media and its love of dissectible visuals. Consider Glover’s dancing, presumably choreographed to mimic a minstrel character; the murder of choir singers, evoking the Charleston church massacre; and death riding in on a white horse.
“It’s fun to see how people have taken to it, the interpretations,” said Larkin Seiple, the video’s cinematographer.
Political edge isn’t a new addition to the art form by any means, but it’s difficult to imagine the recent deluge of videos exploring racial and sexual identity occurring in the MTV era. Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade” kicked off a recent wave with its emotionally hefty exploration of black womanhood, followed by similarly bold videos by Frank Ocean, Janelle Monáe, Glover and others.
The phenomenon is, in part, the result of political trends such as polarisation and identity politics rising to the forefront of online conversation, and movements such as Black Lives Matter and #Me Too asserting the equality of marginalised groups. But it also owes a lot to the YouTube revolution and the freedom that video platforms grant artists.