Video of the Week: 'This Is America' by Childish Gambino

I wonder if the hype around this video has died down yet. In any case I like it. It's a complex video with hidden meanings, so it definitely needs to be watched more than once.

According to Insider, in the video Donald Glover plays the role of America herself, showing violence, and the use of entertainment as a distraction.

Twitter users have decided that Donald Glover's trousers resemble old confederate uniforms. The two chains he wears are said to point out bondage and an obsession with status. The exagerrated poses Donald Glover assumes are said to evoke carricature drawings of black people drawn by Jim Crow whose drawings used to be used for reference by minstrel shows.

At one point the people in the video dance the gwara gwara, which is a South African dance. This could be said to be drawing a parallel between race relations in the USA and in South Africa. There is a man on a white horse wearing a hood, this could be construed to be a reference to a horseman of the Apocalypse.

You will notice that the guns get treated better than the people in this video. The part where he shoots a church choir has been said by many to be drawing a parallel to the racially motivated Charleston church shooting.

Overall it's a fascinating video. If you live under a rock and haven't seen it yet, now's the time to do it,