The music video for the song “God Bless Amerika” by Lil Wayne, is a video that is entertainment for people. The video has a deeper purpose as well. In the video, the American flag is reoccurring throughout to symbolize America and its government. Though the symbol stays the same, the meaning of the scenes changes based on the visual elements. The video opens up with American flag to show its importance in the video. 

The first scene shows Lil Wayne standing in front of the American flag. The colors are washed out and his outfit is not brightly colored other than his hat. The American flag is colorful and the viewer’s eye is drawn to it. In the opening seconds of the music video the American flag is already being the one of the main focuses. The flag continues to be shown until around one minute and fifteen seconds into the video. The visual aspects of the characters will show the way they feel about the flag.

The camera zooms in to a close up shot of Lil Wayne and his emotion is being focused on. He has a concerned look on his face; his emotion shows the viewer that the song will be discussing the problems with America.  His gaze switches, he is looking toward the camera or away from it. When he is looking away from the camera he appears to be thinking, his concerned look is still present. When he looks at the camera he is rapping toward the viewers. This shows that he is concerned and wants to tell people about it. The camera also switches between certain people. The groups of people are African Americans that are all ages. The people share the same look of concern. These people are feeling the same way he is and he is speaking for all of these people. There are two people that are not African Americans that are shown, they are police officers that are in riot gear. The shot type starts as a medium shot to show their gear and see that they look serious. The shot switches to a bug’s-eye view, making them look intimidating or powerful. The way the police are shown tells the viewer that the majority of African American’s look at police officers as being powerful and serious. This represents the problem with the government being too powerful.  

The next time the flag is shown, it seems to be up in the air flying from a flagpole. Before the flag is shown, there is a long shot showing many people and Lil Wayne standing in front of them. Although it is a long shot, the viewer can still see that the people shown are showing a look of sadness and concern. The people shown are African Americans and the ages go from children to young adults. The older generations are not shown and what happens in the future would not affect them. Lil Wayne is standing in front of them and representing all their voices. His gaze is going toward the viewers and he is speaking directly to the viewers to bring change. 

After the flag is taken a way the same people are still being shown but the shot type changes. A medium shot type is used with Lil Wayne being focused on. His gaze also changes; he does not look at the camera in this scene. The camera switches shots to show more of his emotion and his gaze. His gaze and emotion show that he still remains worried about the kids and the future. 

When the flag goes up it takes up the whole screen and blocks out the background. This shows that the American flag can cover and block certain things out. This community of African Americans are getting blocked out and when the flag is taken away they are still there. This symbolizes that the people are getting ignored by the government but they are not giving up. The flag is also in the air on a flagpole. When the flag is up in the air it shows that people still respect it. America is still in control and the people are not rebelling against it at this point. It shows how powerful the nation is. Many people are against it but the government still has full control. This use of the American flag shows that the people may be worried but they are not rebelling against America; this goes along with the main point of the song showing that there is a concern about what is going to happen with America in the future. 

The lyrics Lil Wayne chooses shows how concerned he is; throughout the song he is showing disrespect to America. The author says “My country ‘tis of the, / Sweet land of kill 'em all and let 'em die (Wayne 7-8)”.  According to the quote the author believes that America kills people. The author is referencing the song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” by Samuel Francis Smith, he appears to be mocking the song though. The song “America” is a very famous song showing how great America is, while Lil Wayne is showing the flaws in America. The way he is disrespecting shows that he is getting frustrated with America and his amount of concern is increasing. 

The way Lil Wayne is showing concern in the first scene shows that he believes there is a problem with the American society and that he is worried about what is to come. One of the problems is with the government having too much control. The lyrics show that the he is also disrespecting the flag. He is rapping in front of the flag but he disagrees with what is happening in America. He is not the only one disagrees with the flag; the many people shown with him also have the same looks and the same amount of worry. But in the second use of the American flag it is in the air as opposed to just a background. The flag is still supported but the younger African American generations are concerned for the future. The way the flag is shown in both ways is showing the ideas that the African American community does not agree with what is happening in America and they are worried for the future.
