Music Video - Common, Letter to the Free Flashcards
What’s the name of the album LTTF comes from?
Black America Again
When was Black America Again released?
2016
What does Black America Again delve into?
Racism, slavery and mass incarceration in America
Language & Representations - what does the lowkey, black & white lighting of the video suggest?
Negative subject matter
Language & Representations - what in the video suggests negative subject matter?
Lowkey, black & white lighting.
Language & Representations - the mise-en-scene depicts a prison setting. What is this a reference to?
Amendment 13
Context - what is Jim Crow?
A blackface Minstrel character and later the law that introduced segregation.
Language & Representations - what in the video lends reference to amendment 13?
The mise-en-scene that depicts a prison setting.
LTTF is a ______ song that documents _____ American _______ and the _______ of ________.
a) protest
b) Black
c) culture
d) legacy
e) slavery
Common is a _____ American _______ _____ who has maintained a ______ and ______ concern in his ______.
a) Black
b) cultural icon
c) political
d) social
e) music
At one of the most charged periods in American history, what is the video presented as?
Common’s contribution to the divisive political and social issues of modern America.
Context - what did Common write with John Legend?
Glory for the soundtrack of Selma.
Context - Common co-wrote Glory with John Legend as the soundtrack for Selma.
What is this?
A 2014 film portraying the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, a key moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
Context - what were the Selma to Montgomery marches?
A nonviolent protest to demonstrate the desire of black Americans to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Context - what does Common’s involvement with the film Selma show?
He is acquainted with the theme of protest in art forms.
Who directed the LTTF video?
Why is this significant?
Bradford Young
He was the cinematographer in Selma.
The video has the camera moving at a _____, _______ pace through an ______ _____ where Common, singers _____ ____ and _____, and other ________ perform the song in _______ spaces in the prison ______.
a) slow, aching
b) empty prison
c) Andra Day & Bilal
d) musicians
e) different
f) rooms
A _____ _____ hovering in the ____ appears _________ the video, which, in a ____ shot, is framed as ______ space in a ______.
a) black square
b) air
c) throughout
d) final
e) empty
f) field
Context - why was the song written?
For Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary ‘13th’ that focuses on the historic legacy of the 13th amendment to the US constitution.
Context - what is the 13th amendment and why is it culturally significant?
Theoretically written to outlaw slavery, it still allows for local & state law reforms that create loopholes, enabling the enslavement of Black Americans through mass imprisonment.
Context - what were black codes?
Loopholes that enabled forced labour as punishment for petty crimes on newly emancipated black prisoners.
Context - focusing on genre, what was the most significant time period for the rise in political hip-hop?
Late 80s & 90s - focused on black love & empowerment and being aware.
What was the critical reception for Black America Again?
Debuted at 25 in Billboard top 200.
Language & Representations - how does the video use cinematography to create meanings for the audience?
(3)
Slow camera movement mirrors ongoing US civil rights movement.
Camera is never still, implying the movement hasn’t stopped & there’s more to do.
Begs question of whether it’s a possibility or a dream.
Language & Representations - how does the slow camera movement create meaning?
Mirrors the slow and ongoing civil rights movement.
Language & Representations - how does the fact that the camera is constantly create meaning?
Reflective of how the civil rights movement hasn’t stopped.
Language & Representations - why is the video in black & white?
To reflect the divide between Black and White America and what keeps them distanced.
Language & Representations - what do the inverted colours at the end depict?
A black sky, depicting a loss of hope & the idea of total freedom & equality being at a loss.
Language & Representations - what in the video reflects the divide between Black and White America?
It’s in black and white.
Language & Representations - what in the video depicts being at a loss of hope?
The inverted colours at the end that show a black sky.
Language & Representations - how does the mise-en-scene construct meaning for the audience?
(2)
Prison setting - correlates to 13th amendment & Black Americans being under captivity, experiencing little freedom compared to White Americans.
Minimal use of props & empty rooms - strips video down to it’s important message & meaning.
Language & Representations - what in the video directly correlates to the 13th amendment & little freedom Black Americans have?
The prison mise-en-scene.
Language & Representations - what strips the video down to it’s message?
The minimal use of props & empty room mise-en-scene.
What are 3 lyrics in LTTF that suggest the political message of the song?
“Southern souls, southern trees we hung from”
“Institution ain’t just a building, but a method of having black & brown bodies fill them”
“Not whips & chains, all subliminal”
How does the lyric “Southern souls, southern trees we hung from” suggest the political message of the song?
Starts off the song by looking at the past and America’s history with racism.
The lyric “_______ ain’t just a ______, but a method of having black and brown bodies ____ them” enforces a political message: looks at ___________ and how it uses ____ to ______ minorities to their _______ (the _________ American _____ system).
a) institution, building, fill
b) modern capitalism, race, exploit, advantage, privatised, prison
How does the lyric “Not whips and chains, all subliminal” suggest the political message of the song?
While slavery has been abolished, America used new methods of oppression that take on a more ‘undercover’ form that is less obvious.
What is the significance of the black square motif?
It is representative of the ‘infinite thing about blackness’ and how it can’t be ‘defined in space or time’.
How the end scene references racism, slavery & oppression of black culture:
______ in comparison ____________ to it.
_________ outside ______ reflects how black culture has been _____ or yet to be ________ (Gilroy - ___________).
Represents a moment of __________ for the black _________ & _______ in America.
a) length, draws attention
b) black square, prison, lost, discovered, diasporic identity
c) reflection, experience, racism
Language & Representations - significance of the black square:
Constantly ______, but not ________ going ________.
Represents the ____________ - the ______ of ______ remains _______ significant, particularly in the _________, where the video is ____.
Seen outside the _______ to show ________, yet _______ from the rest of _______ in a _____, beyond ___________.
a) moving, necessarily, anywhere
b) ‘infinite thing about blackness’, legacy, slavery, culturally, US prison system, set
c) prison, optimism, separate, society, field, suburban houses
Language & Representations - what does the prison setting reinforce?
(3)
Stereotypes, dominant values and cultural expectations.
How do the lyrics provide an intertextual reference?
LTTF - “southern trees we hung from […] tied with the rope that my grandmother died”.
‘Strange Fruit’, Billie Holiday (1959) - “southern trees bear strange fruit […] black bodies swinging in the southern breeze”.
Language & Representations - the song is performed in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.
Why is this significant?
It is a point of rebellion.
Language & Representations - how is a point of rebellion made through the mise-en-scene?
The song is performed in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.
Language & Representations - what is significant about the first time the black motif is shown?
It is in front of a sign that reads ‘no excessive noise’.
Language & Representations - the first time the black motif is shown is in front of a sign that reads ‘_____________’.
This is significant because there is a __________ noise followed by a __________ being picked up.
When that ____ is shown, the sound ____, showing _______ to _______.
The song _____ and the sign _____ while ____ is being made, showing ______ to be ______ as they once were.
a) ‘no excessive noise’
b) background noise, chain-gang rhythm
c) shot, stops, obedience, injustices
d) begins, returns, noise, refusal, silent
Narrative - list the binary oppositions evident.
4
Freedom v incarceration
Black v white/light v dark
Isolation v togetherness
Obedience v rebellion
Narrative - binary oppositions = freedom v incarceration.
EVIDENT:
_____ & _____ filter
______ & _____ mise-en-scene - creates ____________.
_____ sounds & emergence of _____.
______ but ________ shows _______/desire for ________.
SUGGESTS:
_______ in ______ - the ______ from in which is ______.
a) black & white
b) prison, field, new equilibrium
c) eerie, song
d) trapped, natural light, potential, freedom
e) trapped, system, escape, futile
Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is black v white/light v dark.
Explain where this is created (2).
What does this suggest? (1)
Lighting
Editing
Highlights and addressed the symbolic of issues addressed in song.
Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is isolation v togetherness.
Explain where this is created (3).
What does this suggest? (2)
Empty prison mise-en-scene
Positioning of artists alone/in pairs
Lack of typical hip-hop conventions
Rebellion
Greater emphasis on social roles
Narrative - one of the binary oppositions evident is obedience v rebellion.
Explain where this is created (1).
What does this suggest? (1)
Quiet v loud.
‘No excessive noise’ mise-en-scene.
