After its release on Saturday, Childish Gambino‘s music video for “Feels Like Summer” was met with a wave of praise and admiration.
The animated video, with character design by artist Justin Richburg, features cameos from almost every major player in the hip-hop scene, from Drake to Future to Janelle Monáe. Between Migos shooting hoops and Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott playing with blocks, it’s imagery from what the Root called “what has to be the coolest neighborhood ever.”
https://twitter.com/juice_fasa/status/1036137324390895616
But one imaginary moment in the music video is facing criticism for its depiction of Kanye West and Michelle Obama and what they represent as culture symbols. The visual (which starts around 2:05) shows Obama wrapping her arms around West, who’s wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and crying.
Some saw the moment as playing into an exhausted trope of Black women acting as saviors for men.
According to Childish Gambino, Kanye West needs a black woman to save him.
— The Root (@TheRoot) September 2, 2018
Also related, water is wet: https://t.co/ykCBcxpSCI pic.twitter.com/zXN0zotgK1
“Just so you know, it is not the job of Black women to heal or fix Black men,” Twitter user @LegalSojourner wrote. “Black women do not exist to be other people’s mules.”
@donaldglover Just so you know, it is not the job of Black women to heal or fix Black men. Black women do not exist to be other people's mules. #childishgambino #FeelsLikeSummer
— PLAYOFF BETTY ⛹️🏽♀️ (@LegalSojourner) September 2, 2018
This messaging is both confusing and infuriating. Black women have our own issues yet we're supposed to fix everyone else's. Who is there to save us? https://t.co/qubwvQmPzg
— Spoiled & Maintained Wife (@_DaniMontague) September 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/Brasileirizada/status/1036307623228985344
https://twitter.com/GPackChopra/status/1036311866602086402
Others on Twitter interpreted the moment as heartwarming, especially since West’s mother died in 2007 and Obama is positioned as a strong maternal figure.
https://twitter.com/KhadijahSegura7/status/1036245920986353665
People are mad that gambinos video shows Michelle Obama hugging Kanye and they’re taking it to mean it’s black womens job to heal black men and not that Kanye could use a motherly figure in his life since he’s clearly still pretty upset after the loss of his mother
— darío 🇵🇷 (@DarioColon1) September 2, 2018
https://twitter.com/junyabunya/status/1036476976863891456
When the history of media shows us such narrow and stereotypical depictions of Black women, critical conversations about their framing in contemporary art are worth having.
“I’m tired of Black women needing to ‘save’ Black men so they can come to their senses about who they are and the realities of the world we live in,” Twitter user @wasteofdevotion wrote, adding in another tweet, “We all had to struggle and figure it out, don’t lean on Black women to be your savior we’re more than that.”
https://twitter.com/wasteofdevotion/status/1036337233241034752
https://twitter.com/wasteofdevotion/status/1036337665795387393
H/T Twitter Moments