In his music video “Earth”, Lil Dicky is able to convey his message of climate change through the visual genre he uses. Shifting from live action to animation, the visual genre is one that is geared towards children and families.
This is shown through its iconography. With the entrance song introducing the scene like an adventure movie, I cannot help but feel nostalgic. It returned me back to my childhood of watching PG-rated family movies such as the Goonies and the Disney Channel original movies. Alongside the background music is also the visual of a magical book which was discovered by a little boy. A big visual indicator that this video follows the genre of Children and Family media is the animation style. Through the influx of cartoon animals, one would almost think that it is a promotion video for the next Madagascar movie.
It is also shown through the structure of the song and video. As the animals are introduced in the song, the lyrics plainly describes the animals’ characteristics. Some obvious examples can be seen during 2:14 - 2:38. The one-dimensional descriptions follow the structure of children TV shows such as Dora the Explorer and Peppa Pig.
Though the video demonstrates a variety of iconographies and structures of the Children and Family genre, it only portrays a few main themes. The most prominent one is the theme of unity. Through the video’s representation of the world’s nations, Lil Dicky conveys the genre’s message of unity. We are all one regardless of where we are from. It also conveys messages about the environment and global warming. Though that representation of that issue in children media is relatively new, it can be seen the children's shows such as Ben 10 and Winx Club.
The music video follows multiple conventions of the Children and Family genre. However, it also subverts those conventions. Through sexual innuendos and profane language, it is clear that the video is not for children. Not to mention that the video might still be blocked from the TDSB G-Suite restriction mode.
It is important to understand that Lil Dicky’s music is considered Hip Hop. More specifically its sub-genre of comedy hip hop with his usage of satire. In the form of a children's medium, Lil Dicky insinuates that his audience’s idea of the Earth and climate change is juvenile. He implies that not enough people are taking action against climate change so he must convince us like we are children.
