What’s Wrong with Childish Gambino’s “This is America”?

Childish Gambino (Donald Glover)

Nothing.

I could just post that and some of you would nod, some would look for a “like” button, some would full on hate with furious thunder, etc., etc., etc.

But I will add to that one-word assessment and answer to the question I posed in the title of this post. The song and music video IS in fact, a brilliant work of art. Provocative with cause, invoking images to inflame and horrify, holding up a mirror to taunt all of us – regardless of the color of your skin.

There has been a lot written about “This is America” in less than a week since its debut. In fact, I haven’t seen this much analysis and deconstruction of one film – and I consider it a film so just step back with your bleats of “It’s just a music video!” Yeah, so was “Lemonade.” And your point…? Anyway, the deconstruction hasn’t been seen since the last Star Wars or Avengers trailer. “What is that thing we saw in the far right corner of the screen?” “Could that image portend the second coming of (fill in the blank with an iconic character)?!” So, Donald Glover’s…er, Childish Gambino’s song and video has riled everyone up. It’s got them talking. It’s got them excited. It’s got people exclaiming that it has effectively nudged everything else aside to be the thing we all should be talking about right now.

And that is fantastic.

That’s what art should do. That is what most filmmakers, musicians, visual artists, etc. strive for. We hope to and strive for the ability to get people talking about what we’ve done. We want to encourage the debate. We want it to stick in your head, like an earworm. We want an image, or a line, or a mood, or a topic to return to your headspace in those idle moments because it demands your attention – and maybe even your obsession. That is what “This is America” has effectively done.

“This is America.”

So what could be wrong with it?

Well, anytime something receives a vast majority of people praising it, someone needs to step in and say that it actually sucks. Or it’s bad. Or it’s bad for you. It’s hard to resist the siren’s song to be the man or woman who stands up to the crowd and says the director or musician or writer – like the emperor – has no clothes. That’s about as typical of human nature as it gets. That’s the standard play from the art criticism handbook. We know this and most of us liberally apply the grains of salt to those reviews or impassioned diatribes in person by the self-appointed guardians of what’s allowed or okay or cool.

But there is something else laced within much of the criticism of “This is America” that is also beyond typical and for me, at least, irritating:

The black artist, the brown artist, the Asian artist, the gay, lesbian, or Trans artist, and the female artist is the representative for everyone else in their part of humanity’s Venn diagram.

Every time I see this play out, I think that this is yet one more way that I get the best deal out of being a straight, white, male. Nothing I do has to hold up to some silly-ass scrutiny as representing “all my people.” But Glover/Gambino’s “This is America” does, apparently. “It’s too cynical.” “It’s dangerous because it depicts violence towards black people for entertainment.”

“Oh, hi Jim Crow.”

That last one is a favorite of mine. We’ve seen variations of that one trotted out before. The arrogance of “Of course, I get it, and people that are evolved and educated like me will get it. But those racist rubes, those hateful white people out there are going to look at this as an affirmation of their dreams of violence toward blacks. When we catch them in the act or try to prevent them from acting out, they’ll throw this right in our faces as a defense, And, then what will we do?! What then?! I mean, dear god, think of the children!”

And I call a hearty “bullshit” to that. (Just imagine me with a bullhorn, blasting “BULLSHIT!”)

Seriously. No one came after me when THE LADIES OF THE HOUSE came out, saying that I was likely to inspire copycat stripper cannibalism or that men would miss the intended messaging and think it was just a cautionary tale about following dancers home that didn’t ask for their company. (Of course, that would have been a cool unintended consequence, had that been the case.) And, maybe, you could say that was because hardly anyone saw my film. But if you said that, then that would just be you being mean. And why do you gotta come at me like that?

Horror films don’t kill people. Songs don’t drive people to suicide. And video games don’t breed kids prone to violence.

“Bring out your dead..!”

So stop it. Stop with the hand wringing. Stop with the thought police. Stop with the well-meaning, but misplaced attempt to put a layer of saran wrap over us as we watch films, or a comedy sketch or listen to the radio, or look at an art installation. Engage in the debate, sure. Argue and get all fired up. But don’t kid yourself that you are “protecting” anyone or a group of anyones. FACES OF DEATH didn’t end the world. Neither did anything that Judas Priest recorded. Possibly the Kirk Cameron or Kevin Sorbo religious films fucked people up. Maybe. No, even there I am kidding. Just like this essay, “This is America” has inspired discussion, it has galvanized the thought process for a lot of us. It has held up a nasty looking mirror to the current toxic racial state of our country right now. It IS a horror film in the classic sense. George Romero would’ve loved it. So would Ira Levin. I’ll bet Stephen King digs it. You know Jordan Peele is all over it (especially since the final coda is a nod to GET OUT).

This image looks hauntingly familiar.

So, once again, the answer to the question of “What’s wrong with “This is America”?”

Nothing.

Nothing at all.