Slowthai Nothing Great About Britain Contextual Analysis

Songs aim: https://genius.com/Slowthai-nothing-great-about-britain-lyrics#about

'The song is slowthai’s take on the current depressed British environment, with plenty of notable British cultural references.'

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/16/slowthai-nothing-great-about-britain-album-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/11/slowthai-i-love-britain-great

His album is about the people in the pubs, parks, shops and estates who don’t normally get written about. “I just want to connect with the people it matters to,” he says. “Build my community of the lost kids who felt the same as me, that didn’t feel like they could fit into anything.”

The setting of this shot, is of a museum, with a single central source of lighting. In this we can see how Slowthai criticises British culture, as traditionally museums have paintings of historical figures, or renders of classic scenes from 'high culture' such as Greek plays. Here Slowthai is subverting expectations of this setting, having himself being representative of under represented, and a suppressed member of society being of a mixed race back ground. This is additionally juxtaposed by the Arthurian simulacra of Excalibur. This therefore sets the tone of the video being critical of the British aristocracy, and institutions such as the monarchy, as the video satirically poses the idea of Slowthai being the rightful heir to the Royal Throne.

Furthermore, lyrically the song draws parallels between the modern youth culture, and Britain's colonial slave trade history , with lyrics such as 'I wear chains like my grandad did in Slavery', here illustrating that the video, and song is both a criticism of the Britain's neglect to address to it's past, but also a celebration of the culture that has come from this supressed socio-economic group. Slowthai demonstrates the how this socio economic group is mocked my the mainstream media, with a parody of 'Britain's Got Talent', illustrating how culturally Britain will exploit these people for entertainment value, but politically, and economically they are overlooked, and looked down upon. This is shown through then Prime Minister Theresa May being a background character to the narrative of the video, this can be seen as irony, as usually it is lower classes who are rarely seen within the mainstream culture, and media of Britain.

The mise-en-scene in this shot, of a council estate, is again juxtaposing the actions of Slowthai, as he mimes the traditional ceremony of being knighted; a traditional that the monarch, will knight an individual for significant contributions to a specific field. Here, again Slowthai is giving represented to an under-represented group, furthermore the connotations of this shot is that this socio-economic should be just as acknowledged for their contributions to the British culture, as those which the elite deem to be worthy as knighthood. Here Slowthai is using this simulacra, and applying it to the under-represented groups. Additionally, his t-shirt mocking Theresa May, furthermore shows the videos intention of mocking the institutions that have historically suppressed Slowthai's socio-economic group, and giving representation to these same groups.

The final shot, returns to the videos over riding message, of representing the normal people of Britain, with the mise-en-scene having a setting of a pub.

I think in my own music video I will implement the similar methods of juxtaposing the representation of Britain by the media, and juxtapose this with the reality that there are many under represented areas, and groups which have been neglected by institutions such as the monarchy, parliament, and the mainstream British media.