On Sunday, Feb. 9, the superbowl was live streamed for the U.S. to see. Fans were excited as Kendrick Lamar, along with SZA, would be performing during the halftime show, yet it seemed to be the exact opposite of what everyone expected, fans and non-fans alike. Previously, halftime shows were loud, impactful and featured a collection of the guest artists most popular songs. In Kendrick’s case, he took a more symbolic approach to his halftime show while keeping the original elements of a halftime show; bringing out the character of Uncle Sam portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson throughout the performance. He did not play many of his more famous songs and threw them out to instead send a greater message. This confused many viewers, including myself.
I, unlike the rest of the viewers, did not actually watch the halftime show live. I was not aware of any symbolic gestures that existed in the performance until Candice DeVore, an IB U.S. History teacher at BVH, began recalling it at the beginning of class. Up until that point, I had only heard the disappointed reviews from other students, along with family members with some suggesting that “Rihanna’s performance was better.”
While Rihanna’s performance wasn’t bad, it was shocking to hear others call Kendrick’s performance inferior. This raised the question of who actually understood the symbolism within the performance. It was more apparent that the adults of today’s society, including but not limited to the staff of BVH, were able to understand this symbolism while watching the performance live. Meanwhile, students were confused upon the symbolism and didn’t catch it nor understand it until it was explained. BVH sophomore, Mikael Serrano gave his take on the event.
“I do not really have a take on the symbolism because it does not correlate with me, as I have not had to deal with those problems or struggles. What stood out to me was the use of Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam and how he was used as a representation of the American government. I thought it was very creative and smart,” Serrano said.
Students learn about it in history, but the adults are the ones who have lived it. Therefore they are able to identify when similar patterns repeat themselves in our current day and age. IB English HL1 and HL2 and English 9 Accelerated teacher Raymond Chhan stated his live observation of the performance.
“One of the big components I think that there is, is the discussion about the rich versus the poor and how the normal everyday citizen has to go play this game. In order to just get by day by day. But then I think another big component is what it means to be a Black American in modern day America, and how the social climate has been more contentious given recent events,” Chhan said.
Students are witnessing societal issues but do not comprehend them to their full extent. However, adults, especially teachers, are able to resonate with this more as they’ve either studied it, experienced it, or witnessed it happening in real time.
“I believe that many students did not understand the symbolism because it was not applicable to them or they didn’t relate to it. I also think that most people do not really look into Kendrick lyricism with his music,” Serrano stated. “I think the message was that the American people do not want to hear about violence or the problems [of the country]. Samuel L. Jackson is Uncle Sam and he is a representation of the American government. He talks down whenever certain angry songs are played like squabble up, however he is praised more whenever he plays calmer songs like when SZA comes out.”
Understanding the symbolism from the music chosen, to the choreography, and the colors used in the performance make it clearer for the audience to understand what the meaning behind it all was. While Serrano had one interpretation, Chhan had another that some teachers seemed to agree with.
“The first big thing is the Black experience in the U.S. [as in] the difficulties and challenges of what it means to be a Black American. You know, in some instances, Black Americans are “too” ghetto. Then in the others, they are expected to act a certain way and expected to fit in. The other end is how difficult life is for the average, everyday American and how the rich and capitalist America is pushing Americans [into] behaving a certain way,” Chhan said.
While the performance of Kendrick Lamar was disappointing to most of his audience, he had his eyes set on the message he intended to set out. His lyrics are used as a narrative, to tell a story. It is notably called a “conscious rap” as Chhan stated during his interview.
“If [people] listen to the songs that he was singing, they can understand the symbolism or understand at least a little bit of what he was trying to do. I think the narration especially was really helpful. Samuel L. Jackson using his position to narrate the different sections [during the] beginning, middle and end and how they targeted a specific message made it really clear. I do think that if people who do not listen to rap or are really judgmental or are extremists–they might not pick up on it,” Chhan said.
