Context-
-lead single of album lemonade
-released a day before Beyonce’s performance at the super bowl final-february 2016
-Album only available via streaming service tidal
-Her work is described as ‘chock full of bright colours or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights, and tasteful retro video models’
-Director of music video-Melina Matsoukas
-‘a good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualized story and should be exciting ans elicit reaction’
Awards-
MTV video music award for video of the year 2016
Grammy award for best music video 2017
MTV music award for best choreography 2016
MTV video music award for best pop video
MTV video music award for best emoting 2019
BET award for viewers choice 2016
Album and label-
-6th studio album
-parkwood entertainment, distributed by columbia records
-Formation met with controversy over release after supper bowl appearance
-After the performance commercial and announcing Formation world tour pre sales began 2 days later
-song release for free on tidal
context- of music video
-set against the backdrop of the flooding in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina
-Racial tension in america
-references of racism and slavery
Binary oppositions-
white vs black
police vs blacks
slavery vs freedom
Hurricane Katrina 29th august 2005-
-31st august an estimated 80% of New Orleans under water
-Quickly deteriorated as it had been apparent that thousands of people had been unable to evacuate or chose to stay
-Many took refuge in the city’s superdrone but without sanitation or proper supplies, conditions inside the crowded overheated stadium became increasingly unbearable
-law and order across the city broke down
-On 2nd september a series of huge blasts, apparently at a chemical plant near the french quarter, racked the city large fires also broke out in several other districts
Historical context-
-Racial tensions in america post katrina- lack of/slow response by administration and G.Bush
-Bush doesn’t care about black people
-In 2005, west appeared before millions on a live television for hurricane katrina relief. As Mike Myers stood dumbfounded beside him the raper extemporised on race, money and aid efforts, finishing with the now notorious accusation ‘Gorge Bush doesn’t care about black people’ west’s outburst helped spur a national debate about the white houses response to hurricane Katrina
Formation-media language
-Images of people in New Orleans. Turned away from the camera black people, dancing, police officer,pastor with a serious expression
-Images of NOLA- community disaster
-clips from a sundance documentry show new orleans disaster footage after hurricane katrina as well as a look at bounce music and the emergece of black groups in NOLA. The film and this video was a clear reminder of two things that music is for everybody
-Short of a historic beyonce arobast of well dressed black men- hidden identity- serious expression which supports the imagery presented prior ro the songs lyrics. low angle camera shot conotes supperiority and power clothing resemble the ancestory of the southern empowerment
-Beyonce starts singing, the cities-discohrenting given the proactive imagry-pile up. The singer aludes to the ‘haters’ and bamans ‘paparazi’ in the songs first two verses ones that are juxstaposed with imagery of black press memebers madly photographing the singer as she poses on the police vheichal talking and her ‘cocky fresh’ rhyming that phrase with a reminder that ‘in so reckless when i rock my givernchy dress im so possesive that i rock his rock necklass’
Formation-media language-2.0
-refers to her star image- givonche at 2015 met gala
-have to wer luxury and designer
-contrasts (constituting/contradicting) to her earler image and narroatinf on new orleans and the event of katrena
-links to lyrics ‘rocking givernchy dress’
-Images of her wearing a lace dress, in a sitting room, intersposaed with shots of her dahter and two other girls- both dressed more conservitivly dressed then she- runnig in a ciircle and equilly sunlit interior that excludes a sense of a negro paradise lost.
-refers to historical moments in southern US known during the plantaina rera-economic slavery
-The elite woman of south wore fabrics in silk, velvet for colder weather , fine linin and muslim
-White was a popular colour in warm weather for women with status
-ideal women of the pre-civil war south has pale skin and a round face. Hair parted down the center and drawn back, with soft loops on each side of the face top accentrate a round face. These loops could be puffed out with a ‘rat’ a small not stuffed with hair gathered during brushings
-jewelery was small sized and rosy gold was the preference in delicate dangle earings and oval horisontal or virtical brooches
-Fabs were a popular accseory of the american south a region of hot , humid summers. simple paddle fans made from palmetto leaves were round and small sized. Six to ten inch folding fans could be painted with pretty designs.
-parasol- a fabric umberella carried on a sunny day to protect a cwomens comlextion from the sun, and offered a kind of portable shade
-The perfect lady
-anlebellum dresses, seem to refrence slavery but contrast heavily with steryotypical ‘pop’ signifier such as tight fitting/revealing costume in some of the dance sections-link to Beyonce as a sex symbol
-red playsuit to compliment the barouque style interior of the south
-jeans attire in a flushed out editied peice-90s video
-Gym clothing in an empty pool in thegym
-Big fur riding in the car
Intertextuality-
-Intertextuality happens when the conventions of one genre are avolved into another , or when specific cultural refrence is made in a media text-film posters ir DVD covers use intertextuality when they mention other movoes made by the same direction
-postmodernism-popular culture-nothing is an original
-Homage-paying respect to something
-pastice-borrow
-parady- humourus
-Antony Baere was most knowm for the controversyy surrounding his voice being sampled in the beyonces 2016 song ‘formation
-Centeral theme(narrative device) introduced- ‘what happened at the new orleans?’-messy mya
-Baire was a rapper and comedian poked fun at his neighberhood
-sample ps homage to a peace of local culture
-quivery is ansued in startiarity fashion with beyonce on top of a cop car in a constructed katrina like flood
-Bares estate sued beyonce for $20 million in royalties and to client bure for the use of his voice from his youtube videos
-Beyonce was also sued for images from the B.O.N.C.E documentry
-Top of the police car-position of power-reflective habs an oversight of the deverstation of NOLA-link with the message ‘conversation about police’
-Contrast and oppositee of what we except;police car- law and order- piunishement observation
-Background of new orleans flooded area
-Moves to news footage of police brutality and a dancing boy
-Formation exsists in a corner of black protest art and my now furelling Beyonce with other balck atrtists who have supported and boosted social justice movments by black americans. Tidal , and myusic service owned by Beyonces husband Jay Z thsat commiting has the exclusive sales rights for formation
-Beyonces work shows that revelution can be beatiful ; protest and celebration are not contradictions when imagining black future that isnt over run by images of black pain and death
-In the concluding sequence , the black child in a hoodie ‘gets light’; his dances is a challenge to, but still in dialogue with a police line in formation. As his dance conncludes as he raised shis hands up in surrender the police line raises their hands up in respomse (should the message be unclear, a quick out to the graffiti with the words ‘stop shooting us’)
Cultural refrences-
-Barthes identified 5 narrative codes :
-prodiretic-action code
-harmenetic-inigma-mystery
-symbolic
-refrential- in Roland Barthes theory of narrative, the refrential code( also known as the cultural code) focouses on the cultural and historical context of the story including the knowledge and assumptions the reader is expected to have about the world and society
-signs leading ro possible meanings/readings
Black experince in america-
-racial ineqality-lone dancing boy ‘stop shooting us’
-police brutality-earlier opening sequence
-voice of messy mya bringing the video into context
-NOLA parrade-church,hair salon, red lobster, culture
-MLK- a man holding up a newspaper is brefily seen martin luther king jr with the words ‘the truth-more than a dreamer’ at this point we are definetly in deep. not just in flood waters, This is a history lesson living on in the present
-flood following huricane katreina
-bounce movment in New orleans
-Antabellum era
-Hot sauce and cornbreads and collard beans/messy mya/big freeda lyrics
Beyonces performance shift-
in contrast of aggression -gestures with her fingers and facial expressions
-Culturally recognizable dance routines less lodaded with political and social messages
-about personal exploration of Beyonces life
-mixed heratige
-relationship with daughter-fre to play and express herself-but plays with darker girls
-sexual life with Jay Z
-lavish lifestyle mall shopping, red lobster
-Black bill gates
bezst revenge is power
-black lives matter contributionjs and charity work
-maternal grandma and Jay Z’s grandma. dedicaytwed again an a song toHutti Puttie and Agnes Dereon
-i slay= star= she gets what she wants-money through promotion
Reality represented in formation-
-Formations declarations of identity are carefully chosen for political weight its radical self-love of cars but the metaphor is a flaring tendon of the troubled alternative that has fulled black stars before now
-It is a rallying cry Beyonce begins to exhort her ladies to get in formation its the sound of a militia being prepared for battles ahead
-The central tension in formation is between its playfulness and the anger underpinning it
-Often a disclosure between Beyonce’s care free values and the powerful images on screen
-‘anti police’
-‘i mean, i’m an artist and I think the most powerful artists are usually misunderstood’ Beyonce told elle ‘but argue who persuades my message as anti police is completely mistaken’
-After the video dropped, police from Tampa to Nashville led protest
-The stunt that now and the performance of formation was in part an ode to the Black Panthers did not help -given the history of panthers issues with the police
Sales & promotions
-Song released a day before the performance at the superbowl
-Promotional material and merchandise go on sale
-Advert on her formation world tour posted after her Super Bowl performance. pre planned and constructed to market the critics
-lyrics-no performance due to issues or events
-Yellow blue to link with surriosity over being too light skinned in L’oreal product endorsement
-‘best revenge is your power you have to wonder about Beyonce’s own politics. The Black Panthers were not gracious, They sent barriers to economic advancement
-Beyonce is a titan of capitalism, her own special economic zone
-Beyonce waited until black politics was so undeniably comercial that she could use it to make a market out of it
-None of the filming was actually done in New Orleans
-All the footage of NOLA came from a 2012 documentary called B.E.A.T
-Beyonces a drop at an of herself trades and was Hurricane Katrina
-‘Inserting yourself into the story narrative is just as insensitive as using Katrina as a conversation starter when you meet a New Orleanian’
-Shes wearing a couture dress that was on the run way not long before
-Profit for Beyonce, that’s always the bottom line at the end of the day
-Formation is just another owe to wealth, luxury and grandeur
Beyonce as star-
-In 2014 farbes declared Beyonce to be the worlds most powerful celebrity. leveled her global brand in su[pport of gender equality through her influential charity
-Beyonce and Jay Z have been doubed the Barack and Michele Obhama of pop culture
-On international womens day 2015, her #Beygood vcharity organisation treamed up with the Cliton fondation to remind us of a harsh reality . ‘despite progress over the last several decades , women and girls remain the magority of the worlds unhealthy , unfed and unpaid’ Queen B’s instagram features homage to fellow cultural icon Rosie Riveter
-Reimagened the traditional constraintts on women in their roles as mothers and wives
-The Drunk in love portrait of her marraige to Jay Z is an example of the fresh thinking that makes beyyonce so suductive : she has refreshed marital commitment in fun and sexy themes giving marraige a new face at once enviable and unfamiliar
-‘shes a fantasy woman for a generation thats obssesed with having it all’ says marez. The central value that Beyonce represents -across her art, entreprencaiship activism
-Feminism is an approach that challenges traditional power structures between the genders, feminists belive that, as media institutions are mostly ran by white , middle-class men, their ideology of this style of person maintaining power is preproduction through thr media
Formation representation-
-a bikini and a sheer shirt
-Knowles must have chosen the cover herself, given that the pop icons visual branding is unabashing sexual in nature. hooks however, argued that the outfit was not Knowles choice
-‘let’s take the ‘age of this super rich,very powerful black female and let’s use it in the service of imperialistic white supremacists, capitalists patriarchy because she probably had very little control over that cover-that image’ hooks claimed. Others on the panel disagreed with hooks On this point , Momost promptly would argue she chose this image, so i dont want to strip Beyonce of choosing this image-on being her own manager.
Beyonce a terorist?
-Muck- having ‘partition’ come out a couple moonths beefore any back came out -when i am writing about sex work and sexual abuse and issues with my body, my sexuality- It was freeing to have Beyonce outhing her body and claiming the space.
-hooks-i see a part of Beyonce that is in fact anti-feminist- that is a terrorist effectivly in terms of the impact on young girls.
-They have been growing more and more bpublic in the last few years.
-Beyonce focouses more on female enpowerment then feminism, opting for less poulization than were placed on her reality.
-Women have to work muchg harder to make it in this world. It really pisses me off that women don’t get the same oppertunities as men do, or money for that matter beccause lets face it money gives men the ppower to run the show. It gives men the power to difine our values and to define whats sexy and whats femminine and thats bullshit. At the end of the day its not about equal rights , its about how we think. We have to reshape our own perception of how we veiw ourselves.
Hooks vs Beyonce-
-Dr hooks essay does not focous as much as morally beyond pain as it does at expossing lemonade as not the lower letter to black woke. it is a unskillful explotation of our monrabiths, the result of ingenious conceptionalisation and slavesless execution that ‘positivly explains images of black female bodies. In her veiw, beyonce is merrely regurtutating patriarchel ideas about the irrational emotion of women, and masquraded that as helping.
-She serves up the perfect glass fused with the precise amount of sweet and soutn, pain and pleasure, heartbreak and happy ending – and for a price of course
Racial hierachys in the music video based on otherness-
poster and gay men
Beyonce wity status as a star who slays against images of bygame south
Working class black girls in New orleans
Beyonce as star and leaderr of women amongst a group of black dancers she also has a diffrent hair colour to them
basketball ‘bemas’- working class black men (steryotypicall dribiling a ball
Anrtabellium era (women in white men in balck)
M.L.K ‘i have a dream
police vs black people
‘stop shooting us ‘ graffiti
The video challenges racial hierachy by subverting expectations-
-Black women (Beyonce) in a position, of power and superiority
-Beyonce as black women eating at red lobster, roiding in helicopters, spending money in shoping malls
-Beyonce as black women becoming the next bill gates
Black dancers and Beyonce in a swimming pool. Black people were mot allowed ina pool when white people swimmed
-Black music articulated disaporic experiences of resistance against white capitalist culture
Black Bodies-
-Formation is both provocation and pleasure: inherently political and deeply personal look as the black and queer bodies who most often barre the burnt of our politics. All shapes and shades of black bodies are signaled here and move- dare we say forward in formation. Even the songs timeline is submissive, wining at how we have constructed our identities from that which we each call our own.
-‘Beyonce’s use of ‘slay’ is an additional embrace of the language of the black queer community and in its repetition, its an incorporation that can slay haters, slay patriarchy to slay white supremacy.
Ethnicity and race in Formation-
– Formation is a protest and celebration, concerned with and in idea with the very particular paradox of the black american identity and experience.
-The images, which are deeply layered and particular to a black southern vernacular and a stable, beg to be cataloged-creole and black american, Merdi Gavas invention, Black cowling, wig shops, socks and sliders, corsets and parasols, piriods, high school basketball, step team moves, Big Freedia and Messy Mya
-Its old and new south. It’s dark and dirty south. Its second line and pentecostal bully ghost south. It is us, it’s for us and it’s not concerned is white people understand.
-defines her role as an artist aligned with activism and black culture aesthetics.
