Music Video: theory

Music Video: theory

There are a range of important theories we need to learn as part of our Music Video unit.

Both our Music Video Close-Study Products contain representations of black Americans. We therefore need to study a range of theories that address the representation of black or minority ethnic people in the media.



Paul Gilroy: The Black Atlantic

Paul Gilroy is a key theorist in A Level Media and has written about race in both the UK and USA.

In The Black Atlantic (1993), Gilroy explores influences on black culture. One review states: “Gilroy’s ‘black Atlantic’ delineates a distinctively modern, cultural-political space that is not specifically African, American, Caribbean, or British, but is, rather, a hybrid mix of all of these at once.”

Gilroy is particularly interested in the idea of black diasporic identity – the feeling of never quite belonging or being accepted in western societies even to this day.

For example, Gilroy points to the slave trade as having a huge cultural influence on modern America – as highlighted by Common’s Letter to the Free.

Diaspora: A term that originates from the Greek word meaning “dispersion,” diaspora refers to the community of people that migrated from their homeland. [Source: facinghistory.org]

Gilroy on black music

Gilroy suggests that black music articulates diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture. 

When writing about British diasporic identities, Gilroy discusses how many black Britons do not feel like they totally belong in Britain but are regarded as ‘English’ when they return to the country of their parents’ birth e.g. the Caribbean or Africa. This can create a sense of never truly belonging anywhere.

Additional theories on race representations and music

Stuart Hall: race representations in media

Stuart Hall suggests that audiences often blur race and class which leads to people associating particular races with certain social classes.

He suggests that western cultures are still white dominated and that ethnic minorities in the media are misinterpreted due to underlying racist tendencies. BAME people are often represented as ‘the other’.

Hall outlined three black characterisations in American media:

·               The Slave figure: “the faithful fieldhand… attached and devoted to ‘his’ master.” (Hall 1995)

·               The Native: primitive, cheating, savage, barbarian, criminal.

·               The Clown/Entertainer: a performer – “implying an ‘innate’ humour in the black man.” (Hall 1995)

https://youtu.be/Ouhdtrmzenw

Tricia Rose: Black Noise (1994)

Tricia Rose was one of the first academics to study the cultural impact of the hip hop genre in her influential book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (1994).

Rose suggested that hip hop initially gave audiences an insight into the lives of young, black, urban Americans and also gave them a voice (including empowering female artists). However, Rose has since criticised commercial hip hop and suggests black culture has been appropriated and exploited by capitalism.

Michael Eric Dyson: Know What I Mean (2007)

Georgetown University Professor of Sociology Michael Eric Dyson has passionately defended both hip hop and black culture – Jay-Z describes him as “the hip hop intellectual”.

 https://youtu.be/q6rBbT2UktU

Dyson suggests that political hip hop in the 1990s didn’t get the credit (or commercial success) it deserved and this led to the rap music of today – which can be flashy, sexualised and glamorising criminal behaviour.

Dyson states: “Hip hop music is important precisely because it sheds light on contemporary politics, history and race. At its best, hip hop gives voice to marginal black youth we are not used to hearing from on such critics. Sadly, the enlightened aspects of hip hop are overlooked by critics who are out to satisfy a grudge against black youth culture…” Michael Eric Dyson, Know What I Mean (2007)


Hip hop debate - full video
This appears to be the full Google debate on hip hop if you want to watch more from where those extracts came from.


Music Video theory - blog tasks

 


Childish Gambino, the musical stage name of writer and performer Donald Glover, has just released a critique of American culture and Donald Trump with This Is America.

Racking up 10m views in 24 hours and already dubbed ‘genius’ and ‘a masterpiece’, the music video is a satirical comment on American culture, racism and gun violence.

Create a blogpost called 'Music video: theory', watch the video again then answer the questions below:

1) How does the This Is America video meet the key conventions of a music video?

It meets key conventions as there is a clear narrative, and message being displayed by the artist. Also it includes a lot of dancing and lip syncing along with all.

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?
It's saying that America enjoys the black culture but ignores the hardships the people face in society. It shows that guns are more sacred to America than human life through mise en scene with the red cloth carrying the gun away. It shows that America distracts its people through dance moves, celebrity lives.

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. 
Hall - There are 3 types of black male: the joker, the criminal, the fields-man. He shows these 3 characters throughout the video through miss en scene.

Gilroy - Not belonging in one place, this is shown in the video as he's moving around from place to place, however still being in America

Rose - 

Dyson - Rap/ Hip-Hop didn't get correct recognition previously so now has reverted to flashy, sexualised rap. Gambino's dance moves are very dramatised yet he speaks about serious topics affecting the world currently.

Read this Guardian feature on This Is America - including the comments below.

4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?
- He is playing the character Jim Crow, who was used in the 20th century to entertain the upper class. He was played by a white man who painted his face black and would act out black stereotypes.

- You get distracted by his dancing throughout the video, which reflects how society doesn't focus on the major world issues and instead on things like dance trends. “Childish Gambino’s dance moves distracted all of us from the craziness that was happening in the background of the video & that’s exactly the point he’s trying to make.”

- He is taking on the police. The line “this a celly / that’s a tool” has a powerful double meaning. It could be referring to when a young black male was shot by police who thought he was armed but he really only had his phone on him. It could also be saying that phones nowadays are being used to document the problems/events.


5) What alternative interpretations of the video are offered in the comments 'below the line'

- "It's Just Music"

- "It's a message about how America needs to change"

0:28 Pants thought to be a part of an old Confederate uniform 0:52 Jim Crow reference 0:55 and 1:58 Red America values guns over human lives 1:29 Brown and white chickens turning their backs to show the racial divide that still goes on in this country 1:33 Kid in the back carelessly blowing money away 1:35 Gwara gwara, an African dance; he also encourages the kids to dance along with him as a distraction from the chaos 1:48 Represents how quick a rejoicing and happy moment can turn violent in an instance 1:56 Charleston church shooting 2:11 symbolization of how the screams and cries of the citizens are quickly silenced by the government 2:15-2:25 Representation of today’s rappers and how they constantly rap about how much money they have and how successful they are; also shown as a distraction from the chaos as the children continue to do popular dances in the background 2:25 “This a celly (ha), that’s a tool (yeah)” on March 18th, 2018 in Sacramento California, Stephon Clark was observed to have picked up a “toolbar” and break a window to a residence. He ran into his grandmothers backyard and was then shot 20 times after an officer yelled “gun, gun, gun.” His grandmother said that she saw him with an iPhone (CELLY) at the time the shots were fired. TOOL is slang for gun 2:28 Kids are shown recording the events but remain silence as represented by the material covering their mouths 2:33 America loves black culture but not as much as they love black people as shown by this very popular dance move which originated from BlocBoy JB’s music video for Shoot 2:44-3:01 17 seconds of silence for the 17 lives lost in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day 2:35 White horse is biblical symbol for the apocalypse or reference to a book entitled “Behold a Pale Horse” by Milton Cooper which includes examples of the government distracting the people; also the police car and the horse are a symbol of juxtaposition 3:20 SZA is represented as lady liberty and how many people are mistaken that the “American Dream” isn’t all what it seems to be 3:34 A man is visible for a short second holding what seems to be water bottles; this may represent the issue in Flint, Michigan that keeps getting pushed to the side 3:35-4:01 Reference to the “Sunken Place” from the movie “Get Out”