Formation by Beyonce analysis

Describe and analyse the ideologies conveyed through the representations in this music video (Formation). In your answer, you must:- consider how representations convey ideologies (gender and race/ethnicity)
- make judgements and draw conclusions about how far social and cultural contexts affect the representations.
+ Vernallis and Goodwin's theory 
                                                                                                                           

Beyonce is known to be one of the most influential icons due to her activism in the feminist movement of empowering women through her music. Her music video "Formation", the lead single for her album Lemonade, was released during Black History month a day before her Super Bowl performance in February 2016. The video exhibits various areas of social and political struggles for the black community in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the Black Lives Matter movement during the Antebellum era. Beyonce reframed the demeaning stereotypes towards African -Americans into empowering messages which should be something to be proud of. For example, "I like my baby heir with my baby hair and afros/ I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils"; it addresses the social hate  toward the physical appearance of girls with natural afros and the mockery of her husband Jay-Z's nose( that you don't need to get surgery like Micheal Jackson). 

The music video consists of pre-dominantly female dancers along side with Beyonce as the star image. This can be interpreted as a form of empowering women to stand along side together in unity which contributes to Beyonce's stance and views on feminine power particularly on black women. During the chorus of the video "okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, 'cause i slay", we see an array of black women lined up dancing in sync with each other. Beyonce can be seen as an archor for this formation to form- rather then dictate over the women, she joins the formation to show that she is also an equal regardless of her famous background. She is calling out all the beautiful, strong black women which which can represent how no woman is more significant then the other regardless of where they come from and that they equally move together to uplift each other. However, it could be argued that the way these women that are presented  are quite sexualised due to the tight and exposing outfits and objectifying their bodies, it makes the idea of Beyoncé's movement of feminism quite controversial due to the representations of women being perceived with a sexy persona.          This could be a way of appealing to the male audience through the "male gaze" for visual pleasure of women's curves and exposed flesh. According to Goodwin's theory, voyeuristic shots were used in order to gratify her male audience, also it's pretty common for her music videos to display certain parts of her figure for example in the music video partition. Some of the lyrics are quite sexual: "when he fuck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster", it could be interpreted as Beyonce being sexually dominant in the relationship which moves away from the oppression of women in a patriarchal society. 

 Beyonce challenged racial tension between black minorities by reinforcing some attitudes and values of black culture/ ethnicity. Gilory's post-colonialism played a huge part to the cultural and historical context of Beyonce's music video. Many British/ European empires colonised many third world countries in parts of Asia, Africa and certain American states from the 16th century to the 20th. During the 1800s black slavery was a major issue as this enforced violence and them being treated as property to serve the elite due to their skin colour. Beyonce used some of these historical issues and  switch the roles around which could be a preferred reading that black people are also as important and they should now stand with pride. Her lyrics and video include historically significant black figures such as the King of Pop Micheal Jackson(Jackson Five nostrils) and symbolic figures such as Martin Lurther Kings poster contributing to the black movement. She also made a reference on " You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making...I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making"; Bill Gates is known to be one of the world's most influential person with life changing innovations, Beyonce claims that there is a revolutionary potential for black people to become as successful as him and her. It can also be interpreted that Beyonce is the Bill Gates in the music industry, as she is also seen as a successful/ influential icon by encouraging the Black Movement and feminine power through her works.

Throughout the music video there were consistent  representations of Afro-Caribbean focusing on exposing positive representations which are often seen as negative. The use of the mise-en-scene where black when wear pure, white Antebellum costumes signify the significance of slavery  and class power to show how the roles are switched and that  it challenges the social hierarchy of minority class of black slavery during the 19th century.  By placing these black women in a position of white privileges may sustain a sense of binary opposition between races with a sense of "otherness" and the division based on racial line. There was also a scene where we see Beyonce wearing a black dress and a hat covering her eyes, along with men behind her. The dress would connote the death and would be worn during a funeral, this can be a way of condoling for those who were randomly shoot because of institutional racism in the US. Beyonce noting the history of her culture in Louisiana reflecting  devastating events after the hurricane for the black community. During the scene where we see a boy dancing in front of a line of  white police officers surrendering, then the shot transitioning to graffiti saying " stop shooting us"- the child could connote vulnerability and feel threatened, but it can also represent youths standing out against societies and views by rebellion. The graffiti is used to direct a strong message about racist stereotyping and inequality towards innocent citizens being shot. This sequence also included an arial shot of Beyonce on top of a sinking police can which was also used in the beginning of the music video. The use of this shot of a police car slowly sinking links to the historical context of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where houses and cars are destroyed a perishing away. This represents how black people were left to die  and Beyonce being dragged down by the social values constructed against the black community.