While society does accept racial labels and distinctions, on one hand, it does not accept policies that have been initiated to create a just society. Therefore, it does not encourage the inclusion of minority groups. This issue has only intensified with the involvement of social media, resulting in subtle transformation instead of elimination of it. Such a dominant social order is maintained under the influence of popular culture and cultural industry sustaining the naturalization of racism when racist ideologies permeate culture to such an extent that we experience them as something natural and normal. With the rise of visual culture and music platforms, such as YouTube, videos have become a powerful tool to oppose these dominant ideologies and musicians have become the ones who establish critical public awareness.
To interpret the music video and explain the above-mentioned problem, the central analysis of my bachelor’s thesis is semiotic analysis, which I supplement with narrative analysis. The findings serve as a criticism of manipulated discourses on African-Americans, racism, police brutality, violence, and the cultural industry which normalizes all of the above.
|
