ALT: A month on, Lamar’s halftime show still resonates
Wyn Caudle
A&E Editor
Like many others, I spent part of Feb. 9 watching the Super Bowl halftime show. On my first watch through, I did not understand the message behind the performance. I knew that Kendrick Lamar had performed and SZA accompanied for a portion. I also knew that there was a lot of red, white and blue imagery. I knew that, to me, it felt underwhelming.
Later that night, as I was scrolling TikTok, I got a few videos talking about the symbolism and messages behind Lamar’s halftime show. I found myself down a rabbit hole, and realized that I did not see the messages sent the first time I watched it. So, the next day I went back and rewatched it. I have seen it a few times since and have drawn the conclusion: I missed a lot.
The first thing to note is that Samuel L. Jackson playing “Uncle Sam” in the performance has multiple symbolic meanings. First, Jackson has acted in many movies and portrayed villainous characters in many of them. By having him act as the role of Uncle Sam in the halftime show, there is a subconscious correlation between Jackson and his roles. In a sense, this places Uncle Sam as the bad guy.
The character of Uncle Sam then goes on to criticize Lamar as he is singing “Squabble Up,” interrupting to say: “No, no no no no! Too loud, too reckless, too … ghetto.” This can be interpreted as a symbol of saying that the American people need to calm down in their protest and not be so loud in their opinions because they are hard to control.
Later on in the show, when SZA joins the stage and “All the Stars” is playing, Uncle Sam interrupts again to say, “That’s what I am talking about! That’s what America wants! Nice, calm.” And, as he goes on to compliment Lamar on following what he wants, Lamar interrupts him by starting the song “Not Like Us.” In this way, Lamar is rebelling against Uncle Sam — saying that America can comply and follow the rules, but they can also actively choose to make their own decisions and go against what they are being told to do.
The backup dancers are clothed in red, white and blue, symbolizing the colors of the United States flag. During the song “HUMBLE.,” the dancers stand in an arrangement that looks like the American flag — except that Lamar is standing in the middle, creating a visual divide of the flag. This is representative of the divide in the United States that is seen politically as well as within class division .
The biggest message that I took away after rewatching it a few times has to do with Lamar’s quote near the beginning of his performance: “The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
Lamar presents America as a game that we are playing, and the stage is set up in a way that adds to this imagery. The dancers are the players of this game, and Uncle Sam is representative of people in power telling the players — or those not in power — how they should be playing the game.
I think that many people at home missed the message of this halftime show because we are all so focused on paying attention to the big flashy events that we miss the underlying messages that are hidden within performances. Lamar used his time on the Super Bowl half-time stage — easily the largest American television audience of the year — to send out a message to the American people telling us to recognize what is going on around us and step up for what we believe in, even if it is not what society thinks is logical.
There is a lot happening in our country right now, with the new president who continues to defund policies and ideas that were put in place to protect the rights of everyone in America — and not just the white man. LGBTQIA+ people, including myself, are facing uncertainty in regard to what the future holds in job markets and our education. Our lives. People of color are facing inequity and policy removals that go after protections put in place to stop racial discrimination.
There is a miscommunication, between the American people, about what the president is saying he will do and how he goes about doing it. President Trump limits the ways in which people have power, which is meant to make us feel helpless. I think that Lamar’s halftime show was trying to do the opposite. He was reminding us that we all have power. He portrayed the United States as a game to connect with the American people and tell us that we can control our futures and fates if we choose to.
There are definitely more points to Lamar’s halftime show that I have missed, but these are the things that stood out to me the most. Lamar walked a tightrope in trying to send a message while also complying with the rules of a national broadcast that he needed to follow.
His show was an act of protest that was meant to help remind the American people that we can work together to stand up against oppressive actions. But often the people who need to see that message are missing it and are willfully ignorant of the act of protest the performance was.