Name: Hidden Meanings Behind Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' Video Explained
Uploaded: 2018-05-16T21:01:01.000Z
Duration: 4 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

- Childish Gambino's This Is America has become

complex role of America herself, from violence,

to the use of entertainment as a distraction.

He's playing both the caricature and the ring leader.

walking up to a guitar in an empty warehouse.

He looks a lot like Treyvon Martin's father,

it's actually L.A. artist Calvin the Second.

Gambino comes into view wearing pants and shoes

that Twitter users have linked to old confederate uniforms.

He dances with exaggerated movements and facial expressions.

- The song's first bridge talks about how

Shaking the frame distorts and blurs what's really going on.

the movements and expressions Gambino does

as a reference in minstrel show in the 18 and 1900s,

where white actors would perform in blackface

♪ Listen here you won't let me speak ♪

♪ Don't you know the Suwannee River is a dried up creek ♪

- Many also noted that aside from dances from viral videos,

one specific dance they're doing is the Gwara Gwara,

This could be a possible nod to similarities

between racism in America and South Africa's apartheid.

who's playing America, and they're never injured.

has a tendency to applaud for black culture,

while turning their backs to the issues we face.

Whether the dancing is used to numb the pain,

gain social media followers, or simply survive,

his movements are a literal and figurative

distraction from the chaos in the background.

The hooded man riding the white horse seen here,

The only elements of the video that shock you

out of Gambino's trance like movements is the shootings.

The second verse is preluded with a happy choir,

which was found to be racially motivated.

The guns were wrapped in red cloth with care.

Many online have inferred that this represents

how Red America values guns over human lives.

While all this violence is taking place in the warehouse,

which looks eerily similar to a prison, Gambino says,

The final scenes of the video show Gambino

Twitter was quick to point out that this scene

represents lack of progression and forward movement.

The video ends with Gambino running like hell,

It's as if he's snapped out of America's spell

and is doing everything he can to find a way out.

Are there any other hidden messages we might've missed?

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Hidden Meanings Behind Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' Video Explained

phenomenon

distraction

obsession

slightly