Beyonce's "Run the World"- Analysis
Beyoncé is seen as a multi-platinum iconic star who encourages empowerment of feminism through her music videos, one of them being "Run the World". Majority of the western society considers this music video to preach out to women of this era to break through the stereotype by empowering women to show that she can hold the same amount of authority as a man.
There are a lot of symbolism used throughout the music video such as an apocalyptic setting which illustrates war between men and women that's been going on for years in a patriarchal society. But this is the time and era where women will conquer men starting a new revolution for the 21st century. Referring to her lyrics "who run the world... girls", war is seen as a state of masculinity but Beyoncé moves away from that and based on the way her and the other women are represented, its as though they have already claimed their authority. It is quite ironic to see the men dressed up in armors and using shields to protect themselves making them appear vulnerable, as for Beyoncé and her group wearing large golden helm and her removing her armor to antagonise the male army giving them threatening looks implying that they don't run the world giving women to clarify the authority they've won. Furthermore, there was a scene where Beyoncé was holding two chained hyenas which epitomize men to be wild animals who are greedy and lustful that need to be tamed by women. Since hyenas tend to be untrustworthy and two-faced, Beyoncé is sending a message across to let men know that they cannot be deceived with their lies. There were also lions involved where they are sitting around and obeying the group of women giving them an authoritative figure which is seemingly paradoxical where male lions tend to be the ruler of their kingdom but the roles are switched.
It can be said that this music video is a form of empowering women to not be a subject of submission and obedience to men, however the whole concept conflicts with the meaning of feminism. Majority of society are confused with the ideology and true meaning of feminism due to the way it is presented through media. Even though Beyoncé is encouraging women to stand up for themselves, she is going off the whole concept of feminism in "Run the World"; this is because instead of motivating equality between men and women, she has implied that women should overpower and dominate men so the notion of dominance and submission will just be reversed instead of eliminated.
There are a lot of symbolism used throughout the music video such as an apocalyptic setting which illustrates war between men and women that's been going on for years in a patriarchal society. But this is the time and era where women will conquer men starting a new revolution for the 21st century. Referring to her lyrics "who run the world... girls", war is seen as a state of masculinity but Beyoncé moves away from that and based on the way her and the other women are represented, its as though they have already claimed their authority. It is quite ironic to see the men dressed up in armors and using shields to protect themselves making them appear vulnerable, as for Beyoncé and her group wearing large golden helm and her removing her armor to antagonise the male army giving them threatening looks implying that they don't run the world giving women to clarify the authority they've won. Furthermore, there was a scene where Beyoncé was holding two chained hyenas which epitomize men to be wild animals who are greedy and lustful that need to be tamed by women. Since hyenas tend to be untrustworthy and two-faced, Beyoncé is sending a message across to let men know that they cannot be deceived with their lies. There were also lions involved where they are sitting around and obeying the group of women giving them an authoritative figure which is seemingly paradoxical where male lions tend to be the ruler of their kingdom but the roles are switched.
It can be said that this music video is a form of empowering women to not be a subject of submission and obedience to men, however the whole concept conflicts with the meaning of feminism. Majority of society are confused with the ideology and true meaning of feminism due to the way it is presented through media. Even though Beyoncé is encouraging women to stand up for themselves, she is going off the whole concept of feminism in "Run the World"; this is because instead of motivating equality between men and women, she has implied that women should overpower and dominate men so the notion of dominance and submission will just be reversed instead of eliminated.
1. Empowerment of women rather than of feminism, thus encouraging a feminist reading of the text.
ReplyDelete2. or rather a post-apocalyptic setting in which there is a battle for a new order, specifically to dethrone patriarchal order.
3. 'a state of masculinity' is awkward: you mean that war is traditionally thought of as a masculine endeavour. Here the women choose another weapon: coming together (the communal dancing acting as a way of bringing the 'sisterhood' together).
4. Your analysis of the hyena scene is interesting. After the discussion that we had, can you now see another reading?
5. You make your point at the end of the last paragraph but the start of that paragraph is rather confusing.