War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

War of the Worlds: Blog tasks

Media Factsheet

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds?

War of the Worlds was a science fiction novel written by H.G Wells and was later taken by Orson Welles as a radio play in 1938

2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience?

It was first broadcasted in 1918

3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day?

The New York Times reported the reaction as a widespread panic and caused public fear.

4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction?

'Decades ahead of its time' and the reaction as 'history's first viral-media phenomenon'

5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience?

By mixing a realistic sounding broadcast with a fictional alien invasion in grovers mill, Orson Welles used hybrid genres, New jersey to adapt the novel to a radio show featuring flashes as news was disclosed to build a realistic feeling for the story being told. 

6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show?

There was a threat for Germany.

7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938?

CBS

8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast?

• Radio was new and was seen as a threat to print news so newspapers tried to get rid of radio news.

9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory?

‘Hypodermic Needle Theory’. This states that audiences consume and respond to media texts in an unquestioning way, believing what they read, see or hear. 

10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast?

Gerbner's cultivation theory Could provide a more precise explanation of the viewers behavior in reaction to radio broadcasting as it highlights the long-term impacts of media texts on audiences.  

11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast?

Halls Reception theory is Considering how the War of the Worlds crowd interpreted the text (as either reality or fiction) is helpful. He claims that there may be distinct methods for viewers to read a media text. The audience's dominant or preferred reading is the one meant by the text's creator.

12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this?

New media has also enabled an increased capacity to fool audiences as ' false news ' has emerged and media has been able to boost ' clickbait ' style headlines to trick audiences fundamentally unless they read more on the subject.


Analysis and opinion

1) Why do you think the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history?

It became an important component of media history because even then radios were still fairly new because it was only in 1922 that they placed in households and in the 1930s that they began to popularize.

2) War of the Worlds feels like a 1938 version of 'fake news'. But which is the greater example of fake news - Orson Welles's use of radio conventions to create realism or the newspapers exaggerating the audience reaction to discredit radio?

You could claim that this worldwide scare was began by Welles. It was Halloween, he wanted to have some fun with his business, so he created a realistic tale that made individuals afraid.

3) Do you agree with the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory? If not, was there a point in history audiences were more susceptible to believing anything they saw or heard in the media?

The digital media era has become more likely to share something based on a title or picture rather than a complete story, both in making it more important and in social media in particular.

4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why?

I mainly agree with Gerbner's cultivation theory as I think that ongoing media exposure to someone has a gradual but substantial impact on the opinions and beliefs of the audience, most frequently seen with ' mean world syndrome, ' with ongoing adverse world representation leading individuals to think that the world is a worse place than it actually is.

5) Do you agree with George Gerbner's Cultivation theory - that suggests exposure to the media has a gradual but significant effect on audience's views and beliefs? Give examples to support your argument.

I mainly agree with Gerbner's cultivation theory as I think that ongoing media exposure to someone has a gradual but substantial impact on the opinions and beliefs of the audience, most frequently seen with ' mean world syndrome, ' with ongoing adverse world representation leading individuals to think that the world is a worse place than it actually is.

6) Is Gerbner's Cultivation theory more or less valid today than it would have been in 1938? Why?

Gerbner's cultivation theory is much more applicable today than it would have been in 1938, as the increase of the digital era over the previous twenty-five years has seen the general public become a media-saturated society with much greater media exposure, enabling theory of agriculture to take impact than what older generations would have experienced, with so much absence of media.

Introduction to Radio

Introduction to radio: blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Introduction to Radio' on your Media 2 Coursework blog and complete the following tasks:

BBC Sounds

Read this Guardian feature on the launch of BBC Sounds and answer the following questions:

1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’?

It has half the national market, with dozens of stations reaching more than 34 million people a week. Radio 2 alone reaches 15 million listeners a week and for all the criticism of the Today programme (“editorially I think it’s in brilliant shape,” says Purnell), one in nine Britons still tune in to hear John Humphrys and his co-presenters harangue politicians every week.

2) What percentage of under-35s use the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app?

Younger audiences are listening to more audio then ever before.

3) What is BBC Sounds?

It will bring radio livestreams, catchup services, music mixes and podcasts together under one roof.

4) How do audiences listen to radio content in the digital age?

Listen to it on their smartphones or tablets.

5) What does Jason Phipps suggest is important for radio and podcast content aimed at younger audiences?

The man tasked with making this work is Jason Phipps, a former Guardian employee who joined as the corporation’s first commissioning editor for podcasts earlier this year. He says there is a need to reconsider the entire tone of how the BBC tells stories, shifting away from rigid formality if it wants to attract the precious under-35 audience: “It has to be a warmer, more story-led journey. You need to report the very personal experience of it.

6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?

the BBC was banned from creating online-only podcasts for competition reasons, meaning it is now making up for lost time, Shennan says. To this end a “few million pounds” a year will be given to commission podcasts purely for an online audience.

Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app.

7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer?

Music, news, drama, documentaries, true crime, comedy – if you want it in your ears, you start with the orange button. The app lets you click through to any live BBC radio station, but it also offers you other forms of listening, from podcasts to playlists.

8) How does it link to BBC Radio?

he app lets you click through to any live BBC radio station, but it also offers you other forms of listening, from podcasts to playlists. You want music to cheer you up? Here’s a big beats hip-hop playlist “to keep you moving”. 

9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?

Sounds is easy to use, though I found the programme information a little tricky to access, and the search – as ever with the BBC – isn’t sensitive enough. 

10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?

Beyond Today, presented by Tina Daheley, is an attempt to mimic the New York Times’s successful The Daily programme, and the two shows I’ve heard aren’t bad. The first, about whether the UK has enough money, had too many audio tricks; the second, about an Iraqi Instagram star killed for being too provocative, was very good (though the word “flaunt” should be banned, especially when used to refer to women). It would be nice for the programme to refer to actual breaking news, as in The Daily’s “here’s what else you need to know” end section, but it’s not a bad start. A few days after the Beeb, the Guardian launched its own daily, behind-the-scenes-of- journalism podcast, Today in Focus, which I’ll review next week.

And End of Days, exclusive to the Sounds app, is a gripping tale. I hadn’t realised that many of the Waco cult victims were from the UK, mostly recruited from the Seventh-Day Adventist church. End of Days talks to their families and friends. There are moments when you want more specifics (the first episode is vague as to what David Koresh actually talked about), but it’s a very interesting show.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to create a comprehensive case study for Michael Jackson's Billie Jean music video.

Media Magazine reading: Billie Jean, birth of an icon

Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the case study on Billie Jean - birth of an icon (MM62 - page 20). Answer the following questions:

1) What was the budget for Billie Jean? How did this compare with later Michael Jackson videos?

The budget for Billie Jean was $300,000; in comparison to ‘Thriller’ it was $2million.

2) Why was the video rejected by MTV?

MTV they refused to air the video, arguing that it didn’t suit their ‘middle America’ audience.


3) Applying Goodwin's theory of music video, how does Billie Jean reflect the genre characteristics of pop music video?

Andrew Goodwin outlines the conventions of promo videos in his 1992 book Dancing in the Distraction Factory: Music Television and Popular Culture. He provides a useful framework to begin analysing the video.
Genre Characteristics. The video contains many conventions of the pop genre: lip-syncing, performance interwoven with narrative, dance routines, high-fashion costume. 

4) How do the visuals reflect the lyrics in Billie Jean?

The song is apparently based on Jackson’s experience of fan-girls claiming he or his brothers were the parents of their babies, mixed in with a missing persons story that Jackson had purportedly read in the news at the time. Key lyrics are amplified through the visuals: the song is about a girl, Billie Jean. Although we never see her as a character in the video, we are presented instead with other images suggestive of females in general with whom he never comes into contact – the billboard/ screen with a woman’s face displayed on it, the figure on one side of the double bed at the end. There are more literal links: when Jackson sings the stand out line, ‘Then showed a photo of a baby crying, his eyes were like mine,’ the screen freezes and a frame appears around the artist’s eyes. Elsewhere he does a spin as he sings ‘in the round.’

5) Why does the video feature fewer close-up shots than in most pop videos?

The video assists the star-construction of the artist, not so much through the close-ups that you might expect in other pop videos, but through the focus on the distinctive dance moves (often shown three-fold in the frame) which had not been seen onscreen before. It was shortly after this video was shot that Jackson did the first moonwalk, stunning the audience with his performance of, ‘Billie Jean’ at the legendary Motown 25 concert later in 1983.

6) What intertextual references can be found in the video?

There’s a visual style that begins here, in ‘Billie Jean’, and develops throughout the other promos for Thriller. By the time ‘Bad’ was released in 1987 the King of Pop’s iconic image was cemented in pop-culture history.

7) How does the video use the notion of looking as a recurring motif?

The notion of looking can be seen through the use of the private detective (also an intertextual reference to Noir film and detective fiction). Jackson is being watched and followed; a polaroid camera attempts to capture his image but he’s elusive, mystical. The audience sees his image multiplied using split-screen editing, he is frozen or isolated in a frame-within-a-frame. Towards the end he is spied through a window by an old woman in hair-rollers as he ascends a fire escape to stand, somewhat creepily, at the bedside of a sleeping figure, where he then becomes the voyeur.

8) What representations can be found in the video?

Like most pop music, the narrative element is mysterious; much is left open to interpretation but what
is interesting here is the way that Jackson is beginning to construct a narrative about himself
and establish his identity. What Steve Barron describes as a Midas-touch narrative could, in retrospect be interpreted as the beginnings of the Messiah-complex that Jackson was criticised for later his career. The ‘everything-he-touches- turns-to-gold’ idea in this video is fairly innocuous and it’s sweetly naïve when, in ‘Beat it’, Jackson pops himself between the ringleaders rival brawling gangs, does a little dance singing, ‘it
doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right,’ causing them to come together as a synchronised dance troupe.

Close-textual analysis of the music video

1) How is mise-en-scene used to create intertextuality - reference to other media products or genres? E.g. colour/black and white; light/lighting.

The beginning of the video started of with black and white which creates intertextuality linking with the film noir genre. We can also detect the beginnings of the ongoing theme of being ‘from the streets’. The setting in ‘Billie Jean’ is urban, it is night time, litter blows down dark alleys and fire-escapes. This is the first in a sequence of videos that explored gangs, crime, danger and the supernatural. Although Jackson’s childhood home in Gary, Indiana was more suburban than urban, there’s no denying he grew up in poverty.

2) How does the video use narrative theory of equilibrium?

His narrative of being from the wrong side of the tracks and being ‘not like other guys’ was an important part of his identity, probably throughout his entire career but especially in his twenties. If you have 18 minutes to spare, the extended narrative in Scorsese’s video for ‘Bad’, which depicts Jackson bidding farewell to his Ivy League school mates to head back to the mean streets of his youth, clearly highlights an ongoing identity crisis for this megastar.

3) How are characters used to create narrative through binary opposition?

Rich vs Poor : Michael Jackson

Good vs Bad : The detective

4) What is the significance of the freeze-frames and split-screen visual effects?

The freeze-frames and split-screen visual effects is extremely significant because it suggests that the detective is collecting evidence against Michael Jackson.

5) What meanings could the recurring motif of 'pictures-within-pictures' create for the audience?

The common theme of pictures-within pictures could be proposing that Michael Jackson dependably feels as though he is being viewed and that his protection is being attacked, this is likewise observed through his verses in the song.
6) Does the video reinforce or subvert theories of race and ethnicity - such as Gilroy's diaspora or Hall's black characterisations in American media?

It can be argued that the video somewhat subverts theories of race and ethnicity.

7) Does this video reflect Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference'? Does it reflect other music videos or does it innovate?

I strongly believe that this music video reflects Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference'

8) Analyse the video using postmodern theory (e.g. Baudrillard's hyper-reality; Strinati's five definitions of postmodernism). How does the 'picture-in-picture' recurring motif create a postmodern reading?

Postmodernists guarantee that we live in a media-soaked world – submerged in media items every minute of every day. To such an extent, that the qualification between this present reality and the media portrayal of this present reality has turned out to be obscured, Using Baudrillard's hyperreality hypothesis, we can express that the music video has been built to mirror the 1940, additionally there are various types of intertextuality inside Billie Jean for example Pastiche is used as the crime noir genre has a serious emphasis.

BFI Study Day: follow-up work

BFI Study Day: follow-up work

The BFI Study Day on critical theory was a brilliant opportunity to develop our knowledge and understanding of media theorists.

We covered a lot of ground from gender to semiotics and postmodern theory. Complete the following tasks on your Media 1 Exam blog to follow up our work from the study day:

1) Type up your notes from the day.

Patriarchal Society - Male dominated society.

Gender is a performance - Series of gestures, actions, behavioural and dress codes that construct imaginary 'man' or 'woman'

Denotation - The direct or obvious meaning. 
Connotation - What we can infer from it.
Polysemic - Meanings aren't fixed.
Culturally determined - If you live somewhere with high police corruption, the denotation may be different to you than others E.G. Creates anxiety for you however, makes others feel safe.

Negotiated reading - Audience accepts some elements of meaning, but reflect others.
Oppositional reading - Audiences understand the intended meaning but decide to re-interpret the text to deliberately create an alternative.

Simulacra - Imitation that seems more real than the thing it is imitating.
Hyperreality - 'Mediated experiences' - Intensity that surpasses 'reality'

2) Write a one-sentence summary of the ideas of the theorists Matthew Daintrey-Hall covered (you can use your notes from task 1 here if relevant):

bell hooks: Bell Hooks is a radical black feminist. She believes that women are objectified and gender roles are constructed, not 'natural'.

Liesbet van Zoonen: Van Zoonen believes that in a patriarchal society, women's bodies are sexualised as being vulnerable and weak, whilst men's bodies are sexualised but through their power and strength. This offers male spectators pleasure by making them feel strong. 

Judith Butler: Butler believes that what we think of as gender is actually just performance: a repeated system of behaviours and costumes that are used so many times they become seen as 'natural'.

Saussure: Saussure believed that significance is made inside language in the relations of contrast between its parts, for instance semiotics, He considered society to be an arrangement of organization and social standards that structure an aggregate framework that gives conditions to importance settling on and thus choices and activities for people.

Barthes: Roland Barthes believed that signs we assume are denotations are actually 'dominant connotations' that hide ideologies. He called these 'myths'.

Stuart Hall: Stuart Hall said audiences often do not decode the meanings the way a texts creator intended. Some form negotiated or even oppositional meanings.

Lyotard: Lyotard trusts a totalising social account, that sorts out idea and encounters into a 'terrific 'story' that comprehends our lives.

Baudrillard: Baudrillard says "Hyperreality – a condition where 'reality' has been supplanted by simulacra."

3) Choose one of the films we saw extracts from and watch the whole movie: Captain Fantastic (2016), Pulp Fiction (1994) or Inception (2010). Write a 300 word analysis of your chosen film using theories from the study day (use the exam paragraph structure we were shown on the day - theory introduction, examples from text, why this 'proves' or 'disproves' the theory).

The story of Inception is that the hero, Cobb is a mechanical covert operative (Spy) who as opposed to breaking into an individual's home, office, or significantly personal computer, gets the data he needs by getting into the individual's psyche through their fantasies. Somebody approaches Cobb and needs to contact him yet as opposed to getting data out, the man needs Cobb to embed something, a procedure called "commencement." Cobb is reluctant to do it, however when the man offers to help Cobb return to his youngsters, Cobb concurs. Toward the end, he prevails with the mission, and reunites with his youngsters. Stuart Hall's hypothesis, can be connected to this motion picture, as the favored perusing the chief needs to put crosswise over to the gathering of people is this is definitely not a standard government agent kind film, as it doesn't include thefts and so on, as appeared in this film it is through his brain, this subverts the typical covert agent type storyline, which could allure groups of onlookers into watching it, as it is interesting and unique. Be that as it may, the oppositional perusing for this film is that getting into individuals' brain from their fantasies, could demonstrate the unreasonable idea of this film, which in this way could be a procrastinated on for a group of people, as a general rule you can't go into somebody's psyche and control it. Additionally, as Lyotard trusts that there is a totalising social account, that arranges thought and encounters into a 'fantastic 'story' that understands our lives. He expresses that media writings, have a 'terrific account', in Inception he needs to defeat a test to be brought together with his kids, this leads into the fabulous story of this film, and the utilization of storyline of being brought together with his youngsters connects back to the gathering of people, and how they cherish their friends and family, this makes the fantastic story, and at last satisfies the 'meta-story.'

Common - Letter to the Free

Common - Letter to the Free blog tasks

Work through the following tasks to create a comprehensive case study for Common's Letter to the Free.

Social and cultural context

Read this Billboard interview where Common talks about Letter to the Free, political hip hop and contemporary American society. Use the article and the notes we have made in lessons (also available above) to answer the following questions on the social, cultural and genre contexts for Letter to the Free.

1) What other projects has Common been involved in over recent years?

Common has always been one to incorporate activism into his music, but perhaps one of his most moving works is the haunting "Letter to the Free" from his 2016 album Black America Again. He turned that song into an affecting visual, which he debuted a longer version of at Tribeca Film Festival Sunday night (April 23).

2) What is the 13th Amendment of the American Constitution?

The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the US."

3) What were the Black Codes?

The Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866 in the United States after the American Civil War with the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.

4) Why do people suggest that the legacy of slavery is still a crucial aspect to American culture 150 years after it was abolished by the 13th Amendment?

Some people suggest that the legacy of slavery is still a crucial aspect to American culture because of how traumatising the whole things was for black people.

5) Why was Ava DuVernay inspired to make the Netflix documentary 13th?

Ava was inspired to make the Netflix documentary, in order to draw attention to the fact that slavery still exists in America today.

6) Focusing on genre, what was the most significant time period for the rise in political hip hop?

The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more sophisticated styles, for example the political rise of hip hop.

7) Common talks about other current artists that have a political or protest element to their music. Who are they? Are there any other hip hop artists that you are aware of that have a strong political element to their work?

George and Common addressed the differences in hip-hop as activism now, with artists like Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper, versus when Common's career was just kicking off.

"I definitely have to first say that it was music in the late '80s and '90s that was truly reflective of a movement. It was the movement of black empowerment, black love, consciousness, just being aware. It was all of the above," Common said.

8) What album is Letter to the Free taken from? What was the critical reception for this album? You'll need to research this - the Wikipedia entry for the album is a good place to start.

Black America Again is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Common, Letter to the Free was taken from this album. Black America Again received widespread acclaim from critics.

Close-textual analysis and representation

Re-watch the music video several times to complete the following tasks in specific detail:

1) How does the Letter to the Free music video use cinematography to create meanings for the audience? (Camera shots and movement).

In this video, there is a wide range of long shots used throughout the music video, this could be done to create a clear narrative and realism, as it is trying to make the video as realistic as possible, this then makes sure there is an absence of close ups, but there is some evidence of some medium shots used in this video.

2) What is the significance of the constantly moving camera?

The moving camera could likewise imply how dark Americans were always moving around in America, and never truly got settled, additionally a more profound significance into subjection could proposes how slaves were relied upon to function extended periods and continually moving from spot to put, and in this video the camera is moving at a moderate pace, and that is the means by which it could have felt for the slaves amid subjugation, and the agony that they suffered when confronting circumstances, for example, these.

3) Why is the video in black and white?

This video could be shot in highly contrasting in which to connote the genuine tone of this melody.

4) How is mise-en-scene used to construct meaning for the audience - prison setting, costume, props, lighting, actor placement?

They have utilized a jail setting, to mean how dark individuals feel in America, always caught, abused and so on. It likewise fortifies the generalization where dark individuals are dependably in jail, and utilizing the jail as the focal topic, could demonstrate how they done it deliberately to strengthen the generalization, and bring issues to light on the issue.

5) Focusing on the track, what are the key lyrics that suggest the political message of the song?

Basic is likewise a referencing Ava Duvernay's narrative thirteenth. "Letter to the Free" is the tune Common pitched to Ava, "as an impactful summation of her ground-breaking narrative", and it shows up in the narrative also.

6) What is the significance of the floating black square motif? Discuss your own interpretations alongside Common's explanation of it in the Billboard feature linked above.

The floating black square suggests that black people are trapped in the system and there is no way out of it.

7) How does the video reference racism, slavery and the oppression of black culture? Make reference to specific shots, scenes or moments in the video.

8) How can Gilroy's idea of black diasporic identity be applied to Common's Letter to the Free?

The most striking reference to bigotry in this video, is again through the dark square toward the finish of the video, the building up shot of this spot demonstrates the dark square in a cotton field, which again could demonstrate another way subjugation is being displayed as frequently dark Americans needed to work at fields.

9) What other theories of race and ethnicity can be applied to this video? E.g. Hall, Rose or Dyson.

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

10) What current events in America and worldwide are referenced in the song and video?

Racism in America within the black community.

Music video: theory

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


The This Is America video meets a numerous amount of key conventions of a typical music video. Throughout the music video there was performance element used as Childish Gambino was singing. Furthermore, he was also dancing. The use of mise-en-scene made the music video more interesting to watch and the narrative was being told in a very unique way. The music video used a variety of camera shots in the video. From long shots to tracking shots and close ups.

2) What comment is the video making on American culture, racism and gun violence?

The music video is telling us a message and the message is that there are a lot of things that are wrong with American culture, from gun violence to police brutality and racism. The fact that Gambino used the gun in the video clearly portrays how easy it is to get hold of a gun and kill someone.

3) Write an analysis of the video applying the theories we have learned: Gilroy, Hall, Rose and Dyson. 

Gilroy - Gilroy is especially keen on dark diasporic personality – the sentiment of never fully having a place or being acknowledged in western social orders even right up 'til the present time. Gilroy proposes that dark music expresses diasporic encounters of protection from white entrepreneur culture. As appeared in this video, Gambino endeavors to raise the issue of prejudice, and how they have basically must be accommodating to white individuals in America. Gilroy has additionally examined the idea of "twofold awareness", this is simply the thought individuals have see through the eyes of others-as a rule a white commanded media, this could associate back to the issues brought up in this video about bigotry, and how it isn't followed up on, also this connect to the white-ruled media, and how they reject any sorts of prejudice in the public eye, particularly of an alternate ethnic gathering.

Stuart Hall - Essentially, Stuart Hall recommends that crowds regularly obscure race and class which prompts individuals partner specific races with certain social classes. He recommends that western societies are as yet white ruled and that ethnic minorities in the media are confused because of fundamental supremacist propensities. BAME individuals are regularly spoken to as 'the other'. This connections back to one of the qualities he trusts that is in the american media, 'the comedian/performer', it could be contended that this video of Childish Gambino, could be identified with that, as in this video it could be deciphered that he an entertainer, and to specific individuals they can locate his acting and moving in humerus, and not looking for the more profound importance to this video.

Tricia Rose - Rose recommended that hip jump at first gave gatherings of people a knowledge into the lives of youthful, dark, urban Americans and furthermore gave them a voice (counting engaging female specialists). Nonetheless, Rose has since reprimanded business hip bounce and recommends dark culture has been appropriated and abused by private enterprise. In this video, Childish Gambino is endeavouring to give the crowd a knowledge of how it resembles living in America if your dark, and through this he is attempting to bring issues to light, and as Rose stated, 'give them a voice', as watching this video you can see Gambino is attempting to demonstrate to you what's going on with the American culture, as express as could be expected under the circumstances, to give an understanding of youthful, dark, urban Americans.

Eric Dyson - Dyson recommends that political hip bounce during the 1990s didn't get the credit (or business achievement) it merited and this prompted the rap music of today – which can be conspicuous, sexualised and glamorizing criminal conduct. Dyson states: "Hip bounce music is significant accurately on the grounds that it reveals insight into contemporary governmental issues, history and race. Getting it done, hip bounce offers voice to peripheral dark youth we are not used to got notification from on such pundits. Unfortunately, the illuminated parts of hip bounce are disregarded by commentators who are out to fulfill resentment against dark youth culture… " This can be connected back to Childish Gambino and how a dark rapper, is making a melody with such an amazing message and video to bring issues to light, indicates how powerful hip jump music can be, this demonstrates a difference the thing Rose has recently said about Hip Hop music.


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

4) What are the three interpretations suggested in the article?

1. He's playing Jim Grow.
2. He's duping us with dance.
3. He's taking on the police.

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

One 'below the line' comment that was made is "It's just music"