The sequence in question starts off with Kid Cudi looking down melancholically, followed by a tearful Kanye West being consoled by Michelle Obama. Released in 2018, Gambino’s music video features a number of popular Black celebrities from the worlds of politics and media, such as Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Michelle Obama, Beyoncé Knowles, and NFL player Shannon Sharpe. Drawing on the work on the politics of animation by Eric Herhuth, this post argues that the animation in Gambino’s video provides an interesting fantasy world for the animated representations of the celebrities to interact with one another, their actions creating an important dialogue with the framing social and political contexts. Focusing on the first of these sequences, this blog post analyses animation’s ability as a medium to visually communicate the nuances of climate change, politics, race and hip-hop culture, as put forth by Gambino’s clever storytelling throughout the video. Animation helps to visualise the fantasy spaces within his subconscious, as he relates certain celebrities to the lyrics. The latter is more evident in two parts of the music video, where the animated representation of Gambino seems to be reflecting his thoughts as he walks through the street in the hot sun. We see evidence of animation’s longstanding political function, as well as engagements with the medium’s ongoing relationship to documentary. With the lyrics cautioning against our harmful actions negatively impacting the climate, the use of animation in this music video allows us to comprehend the complex and interlinked messages of climate change, race and politics that Gambino is conveying. However, listening closely to the lyrics, it is clear that Gambino is talking about the dangers of climate change, stating “every day gets hotter than the one before,” and that we’re running out of water and killing the bees. We see celebrities engaging in various fun summer activities in this fantasy community, including Migos playing basketball, Will Smith washing his car, and J Cole dowsing the hip-hop duo of Slim Jxmmi and Swae Lee with a water hose for annoying him with water guns. Childish Gambino’s animated music video “Feels Like Summer ” (Childish Gambino, 2018) places many animated representations of hip-hop artists, actors and well-known celebrities in a fictional Atlanta neighbourhood.
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