Failed Parody

The choreography in Childish Gambino’s This is America is tight and controlled, precise movements against images of violence and consumption and distraction. It’s a carefully constructed argument: spectacle versus brutality, performance versus what’s actually happening. Every element supports that tension.

Nicole Arbour’s feminist parody has her doing the dancing, and it’s supposedly making a statement about gender. But she’s not using the video to make a point—she’s using it to center herself. She’s borrowed the form without understanding what made it work, and the whole thing falls apart because of that.

The original is about a system. This is about her noticing the system exists and wanting recognition for it. Those are not the same thing, and you can feel that difference when you watch.

I didn’t finish it.