Symbolism In New Childish Gambino Music Video

With the political environment surrounding school shootings and gun violence, celebrities are spreading awareness for this issue, including Danny Glover a.k.a Childish Gambino.

His recent video ‘This Is America’ has a lot of symbolism that reflects how American society views gun violence. He dances in a manner that is reflected of the posing of a Jim Crow character, in portraying what is a stereo-type of African-Americans. He dances before shooting his first victim in a casual manner, showing that gun violence is more natural with emphasis on better care for the gun than the victim.

There is also symbolism in the background characters, after the shooting of the first victim there are other characters that act as means for concealing the body. There is a man fleeing representing a witness, with other acting characters concealing the gun and body.

There are background characters such as a church choir and group of students, showing how gun violence has a common-place in innocent community-based groups. The church choir is shot down to represent the 2015 Charleston church shooting.

After each instance of gun violence in the video Glover dances with a group of students, showing that people continue life normally when life should be interrupted. This shows how violence is normalized in America and many ignore violence, often moving on quickly.

Various background characters portray what Americans to do cope with situations of gun violence, being on their phones as bystanders or rioting and chaos.

With the popularity of Childish Gambino’s music and using music as a platform to spread awareness for gun violence, there is hope to bring more attention to gun safety for the country.