In Childish Gambino’s music video for “This is America”, we are exposed to a number of different themes. However, the main theme I will be analyzing is the use of the costumes he chose to use in order to send a message. There are many different scenes in which we can see alternating costumes and through each, a different message is revealed. There are multiple scenes of violence, crime, and death, which I believe to be his depiction of what America is like today. Through the use of costumes, Childish Gambino is able to strengthen his argument of what today’s America is like.
Immediately, 37 seconds in, we can see Childish Gambino’s costume and can depict the hidden meanings. The first thing that I noticed was that he is shirtless, and my depiction of this was how slaves would be shirtless at times when working on the plantation. The reason for this is when they would get whipped, clothing would have provided the slaves some sort of protection, yet since he is shirtless, it could be a reference to Black people always being targeted by violence. The next thing I noticed was the two gold chains around his neck. Although in society right now, wearing jewelry is a sign of wealth, I think the hidden meaning behind this is how chains shackle people down. How slaves would be chained up and sold, oppressed by these signs of a supposed lavish lifestyle. Moving on to his grey pants, they seem like normal, comfort pants, but upon further examination, I realized that these pants are very similar to those worn by Confederate State soldiers who fought to keep slavery alive
Moving on to 51 seconds in, we are able to get a quick look at the shoes he has on, which are another reference to the Confederate uniforms. More importantly however, we see that the the man who was playing guitar now has a white mask over his head, which I interpreted as a reference to the KKK. At 1:11, we can see some children join him to dance, and they appear to be dressed in school uniforms. I depicted this as how Black children are able to receive an education now without segregation existing in society. At 1:44, we see a church choir singing and dancing in typical church member attire. I perceived it to be how many Black families attend church together and have a very strong sense about religion, but this alludes to the 2015 Charleston Church shooting, a shooting in which a white supremacist short and killed 9 church members.
In this music video, Donald Glover (AKA Childish Gambino) uses imagery and allusions along with the costume designs to get his message across about what America is like right now.
The Future of Fashion 