“This is America”: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation
As can be seen over the past few years, the media has had a great influence on what Americans believe. When it comes to gun violence in America, the media often displays black people as the aggressors when truthfully, they are the ones most likely to be targeted due to the unspoken racism in America. Even when actions are done in self-defense, the black community is likely to be misrepresented, as seen with the Black Lives Matter protests. Donald Glover, commonly known as Childish Gambino, challenges people to reevaluate their ideas revolving around gun violence and race in regards to the black community. To produce a song that would gain mainstream media attention while also addressing this complex issue, Glover had to take careful consideration of the rhetorical situation and all its factors.
Lloyd Bitzer redefined the term “rhetorical situation” and its supporting terms such as exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer describes a rhetorical situation as a creation of discourse and specifies that the discourse occurs “because of some specific condition or situation which invites utterance” (4). Bitzer also goes into great detail when defining the factors of a rhetorical situation which are the exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence is defined by Bitzer as an issue that can be changed and is marked by a sense of urgency (6-7). Bitzer stresses the importance that “an exigence that cannot be modified is not rhetorical” (6). The audience of a rhetorical situation is anyone can cause a change in reference to the exigence (Bitzer 7). Anyone who views the rhetorical situation is a part of an audience; however, they must have the ability to modify the exigence in order to be a part of the rhetorical audience. The last factor of any rhetorical situation is the constraints. Bitzer defines constraints as being “made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are part of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (8). There are a number of different things that act on an exigence as constraints for every rhetorical situation. Lloyd Bitzer’s descriptions of exigence, audience, and constraints help to illustrate and redefine the term “rhetorical situation.”
Figure 1: Opening Scene (Time)
“This is America”, recorded by David Glover, made headlines with its shocking juxtaposition of scenes of violence and scenes of joy (“Genius Absurdity”). One of the most famous scenes from the video depicts Glover shooting a hooded man in the back of the head while he is strapped to a chair. This is likely in reference to the past when slaves would be lynched; however, Glover is addressing how lynching has evolved into gun violence against the black community. Many people have also made this connection since Glover’s stance is ”reminiscent of Thomas Rice, the original Jim Crow” (Craven). This graphic symbolism and the many other examples shown throughout the video make viewers uncomfortable, which is exactly what Glover intended for it to do. Donald Glover uses “This Is America” as a way to challenge viewers’ ideas on the issue and to show them that the people of the black community are too often the targets of gun violence strictly due to their race.
Figure 2: Glover prior to shooting choir (Time)
While there are many different interpretations of the viral video, “This Is America” has one issue it clearly addresses. The music video brings attention to the issues of racially charged gun violence in America, which serves as the rhetorical exigence of the piece. By addressing this major issue through complex symbolism, Glover forces viewers to reassess their thoughts and actions regarding the topic of racism based on their individual interpretation of the video. Another reason this exigence is rhetorical is that it has a sense of urgency, something Bitzer describes as an important characteristic of any exigence. Many people have already formed their own opinions regarding gun violence and race, some of which have done so subconsciously. Research has shown that “anxieties about insanity and gun violence are imbued with often unspoken anxieties about race, politics, and the unequal distribution of violence in American society” (Metzl). As gun violence continues to rapidly grow in America, the black community is “disproportionately impacted by gun violence” which is why Donald Glover felt the need to address this issue in his song “This Is America” (Everytown Research and Policy). This differs from what most people believe and what the media presents, which is that black people are typically the ones pulling the trigger. In this short video, Donald Glover delivered his exigence to millions of people, and likely changed the minds of many of them as well.
Most rhetorical situations usually have a specific audience they reach. However, the rhetorical audience of this piece is simply anyone who watches the video. While one may argue that this definition of the audience is too simple, Bitzer describes the audience as anyone who can invoke change. With the video’s ability to provoke the thought and emotions of the people who view it, the video allows anyone the ability to reevaluate their stance on racially charged violence in America. Simply by modifying their stance on this issue, anyone is able to make a change in many various ways. Change starts by calling out the media’s common misrepresentation which leads people to have racist opinions on gun violence. These opinions can cause people to act more intensely on them when in a confrontation with a person of color. “This is America” has a very wide rhetorical audience since everyone has the ability to reevaluate their beliefs and their actions based on their beliefs after watching the video.
Many constraints worked against Donald Glover and his team when creating “This Is America”. The first, and most obvious constraint, is time. Most music videos are under five minutes long, including “This Is America” which is four minutes and five seconds. Glover had to keep this in mind when creating the video since most people will not watch a music video over five minutes long. With this short time frame, Glover had to figure out how to incorporate all of the symbolism he had in mind. The constant change of scenery in an effort to fit everything into the four-minute and five-second video shows that he was successful in this feat. Although the video mainly served as a way to challenge viewers’ ideas on gun violence, Glover still wanted people to enjoy the song. Glover had to find a way to send a message while also creating a song that people would like to listen to it on repeat. If people liked the song, this also meant the message written in the song would be spread to more people as well. Donald Glover accomplished this by creating an entertaining and everchanging beat in the background as well as using a popular genre of singing: rap. In 2018, 21.7% of music Americans consumed was rap while pop stood at 20.1%, making these genres the most popular of the year (Statista Research Department). Glover’s popular beat has more of an upbeat feel while the lyrics discuss the idea of partying, which could be described as shallow but is specifically used to illustrate how we ignore racially charged gun violence and try to continue on with living happy lives. The lyrics during the rap beat discuss gun violence against the black community by police officers and the high number of gun violence incidents in black communities. They also draw attention to common black stereotypes non-people of color hold such as that people of color are more likely to break the law, be violent people, and are poor and will do anything necessary to make money. By strategically shifting between these two genres during scenes of violence and tying in complex issues and stereotypes into his lyrics, Glover addresses the issue of racially charged gun violence in America in a way that is intriguing yet entertaining to listeners. These two constraints, a relatively short time length and attractive musical elements, helped to contribute to the number of people who watched the video, adding to the rhetorical audience.
Figure 3: Glover dancing amid violence (Time)
“This is America” has depictions of violence and gore throughout the entire video. The amount of violence that could be depicted for the video to still be shared on mainstream media platforms serves as another constraint for the video. The violence serves to successfully confront people will the realities of racial gun violence and provide real-world references. While it is an important aspect, due to the community guidelines on popular video platforms, the violence had restrictions on how detailed it could be. If the violence and gore had been too detailed or contained too much blood, the video would be restricted only for mature viewers, or even taken down from platforms. “This is America” has over 798 million views which would not be possible if YouTube had taken the video down due to community guideline violations. While Glover could have decided to film a video without violence, it would not have been as popular as it was and he could not effectively get his message across to the people without it. This was one of the most major constraints Donald Glover, or anyone would have when filming a video about the issue of gun violence.
One reason “This is America” received so much national attention was because of the shocking symbolism throughout the video. While some symbols are obvious with their meanings, with others some people don’t even recognize them as symbols. One of the most obvious references in the video is to the shooting at the AME Church in Charleston, SC. In one scene in “This Is America”, Glover enters a room where a ten-person choir is singing along and clapping to the upbeat music while Glover joins in the celebration as well. Quickly, Glovers mood shifts when he is handed a large gun with which he proceeds to turn around and shoot the choir dead. This references the famous AME Church shooting when a white supremacist shot and killed nine black church members. This real-world reference illustrates one of the many examples of black people being the targets of gun violence solely because of their race. This shooting made headlines about the need to address and change the amount of gun violence against the black community. The use of references to sensitive events and topics through the depiction of violence is one of the reasons “This Is America” received so much mainstream attention. Some scenes, such as the shooting of the choir, were shocking to viewers to see these sensitive topics depicted in that way but this was necessary to get people to reevaluate their beliefs on the issue of racially charged gun violence. While many references were obvious, others were much more complex. The more complex references, some of which have been discovered while some have not, left viewers wondering and thinking, causing them to think about the video’s message more deeply. In “This Is America”, Glover addressed the issue of gun violence against the black community by shocking and provoking the thoughts of viewers.
“This is America” received national attention. Many videos and articles have been made analyzing almost every object in the video and it even became a trend for people to film and post their reaction when watching the video the first time. This alone illustrated how the video accomplished David Glover’s goal of it being seen by a large number of people. It is also evident in the articles and reaction videos that Glover challenged viewers’ minds. This widespread coverage also contributed to the conversation surrounding racially charged gun violence, which is exactly what Donald Glover was attempting to do. “This is America” successfully responds to the rhetorical situation through discourse.
Donald Glover addresses the complex issue of gun violence against the black community through the use of sophisticated symbolism and by leaving the video to be uniquely analyzed by each individual viewer. “This is America” created discussion and debate on the issue of racially charged violence in America and how it unfairly targets the black community. Through shocking real-world references and entertaining musical elements, Glover created a song, that when analyzed, brought attention to racially charged gun violence in a way that had never been done before. By successfully addressing his rhetorical situation in each level of exigence, audience, and constraint, Glover produced a nationally headlined music video that received millions of views. In 2018, “This is America” started a much-needed discussion on racially charged gun violence in America and challenged and changed the minds of many viewers.
Works Cited
Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 25, Penn State University Press, 1992, pp. 1-14, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40237697
Craven, Julia. “Donald Glover’s ‘This Is America,’ Through the Eyes of a Jim Crow Historian.” Huff Post, 9 May 2019, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-glover-this-is-america-jim-crow-history_n_5af31588e4b00a3224efcc40.
Everytown Research and Policy. “Impact of Gun Violence on Black American.” Everytown, https://everytownresearch.org/issue/gun-violence-black-americans/. Accessed 7 Oct 2021
Gambino, Childish. “Childish Gambino- This Is America (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Donald Glover, 6 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY
Metzl, Jonathan M. “Gun violence, stigma, and mental illness: clinical implications.” Psychiatric Times, vol. 32, no. 3, Mar. 2015, p. 54. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A405023798/AONE?u=cofc_main&sid=bookmark-AO.NE&xid=6ffbc87c. Accessed 7 Oct. 2021.
Statista Research Department. “Share of Total Music Album Consumption* in the United States in 2018, by Genre.” Statista, Jan 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/310746/share-music-albums-sales-us-genre/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021.
“This is America: Childish Gambino’s Genius Absurdity.” YouTube, uploaded by Make Stuff, 2 Aug 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HfsU07jHis