formation

Question 1

Who is it by and when was it release?

Answer 1

beyonce
2016

Question 2

what is the context of the single?

Answer 2

• lead single of album ‘Lemonade’
• released a day before Beyonce’s 2016 Super Bowl half-time show
• music video has 360 million views and counting on youtube
• released by Parkwood Entertainment, distributed by Columbia Records - 6th studio album
• after superbowl performance, commercial aired announcing Formation world tour, pre-sale to begin 2 days later
• has been nominated in the music video category for a grammy

Question 3

what is the video context?

Answer 3

Set against the backdrop of the flooding in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and includes references to topics of racial tension in America (especially prominent following the hurricane and kanyes comments about george bush), and Racism and Slavery

Question 4

what is the genre of the video, and give a brief explanation of the meaning/context of the genre?

Answer 4

• BOUNCE
• combination of pop, hip-hop, r&b, and dance
• Originated in New Orleans housing projects and neighborhood bard during the late 1980s.

Question 5

when was hurricane katrina

Answer 5

29th august 2005

Question 6

How much damage did the hurricane inflict and where? How many died?

Answer 6

Estimated to have inflicted $125 billion dollars of damage along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama
Over 1390 deaths

Question 7

How much of new orleans was underwater by august 31st?

Answer 7

80%

Question 8

Where did people take refuge, and why were conditions unbearable?

Answer 8

• in the city’s Superdome
• without sanitation or proper supplies, conditions inside the crowded, overheated stadium became increasingly unbearable

Question 9

what kind of music video is formation (according to andrew goodwin)

Answer 9

performance

Question 10

who was messy mya, what happened to him, and how is he relevant to the video?

Answer 10

• new orleans bounce rapper, comedian, internet personality
• shot multiple times and killed leaving their girlfriend’s baby shower
• their voice was sampled in the beginning of beyonces’ formation video, without his permission
• their family sued beyonce for $20 million in royalties to credit him in the use of their voice in the video

Question 11

what type of marketing did beyonce use for the video release? Explain how she used this?

Answer 11

• capitalized on the growing anticipation for her superbowl performance by releasing the single the night before the superbowl
• she then performed the new release at the halftime show
• announced the ‘formation world tour’ at the end of her performance

Question 12

what platform was the album exclusively released on?

Answer 12

Tidal

Question 13

Give examples of levi-strauss’ binary opposites theory in the video?

Answer 13

• white vs. black
• police vs. blacks
• slavery vs. freedom

Question 14

How does bell hooks’ theory relate to formation?

Answer 14

challenges the theory as it gives power to black women (and people) who are typically under represented or represented negatively because of their ethnicity
however
hooks says that feminism is the struggle to end patriarchal oppression and the video presents images of empowered and independent women

Question 15

what did bell hooks refer to beyonce as?

Answer 15

anti feminist terrorist
she even says that beyonce’s ‘image is a construction of a slave’

Question 16

how does paul gilroy’s post-colonialism theory relate to formation

Answer 16

• challenges the theory by placing a black woman in a position of power and dominion, therefore subverting ideas of white western norns and culture being superior
• but may perpetuate a sense of binary opposition between races by perpetuating Gilroy’s sense of ‘otherness’ and a clear divide based on racial lines.