Beyoncé Formation
To what extent was the ‘Formation’ video designed, was it to promote a political/cultural agenda....
Formation was fully made to promote a political and cultural agenda. She uses a lot of references to slavery and how black people are treated in society to make a statement against the government. As seen in the shot of the young black boy dancing and the police aiming guns at him. This is important because it shows the troubles that black youth have to deal with. Things so simple as dancing can cause suspicion which shouldn’t as it’s a harmless act. There are a lot of cultural aspects in the music video. One of these are the links to slavery, as a lot of the clothing choices used are links back to slavery and what white people would wear. This shows power as she is showing a black woman wearing the clothes.
Or was the video created to generate publicity and make money?
It was also made to generate publicity and money. These topics in the last question can be controversial so it will bring a lot of publicity to her song e.g. the newspapers, TV and even people in power will see it. This publicity also generates a lot of money for her as more people will listen to and download the song. There is not much I can talk about in this question.
Which images/ sequences have been selected to construct her on-screen persona? E.g. her representation as a person of strength and power?
The images in the music video which show her power is when she is wearing the clothes that link to slavery as it shows she is more powerful to overcome the fear of what happened to African Americans. Also, shots where she shows a lot of skin portray power as it how she doesn’t care what other people will think about her and how it is her body and she can show how much she wants of it.
Which images /sequences have been constructed to sell records and gain fans, rather than offer any meaningful insight into her personality/ beliefs?
Shots of her with skin showing will sell her more albums as people will find her attractive and will end up liking her stuff. Other than that, there isn’t much in the music video that will make her more money and gain more fans. It is more of a controversial music video to get people talking about her and how she is standing up for what she believes is right. This will obviously gain her more money and fans.
Does the representation of Beyoncé in the video reinforce and possibly condone the objectification of women? Explain and give examples. E.g. the dance sections where she wears short/tight or revealing outfits as well as some of the sexualised lyrics.
It does, and it doesn’t condone the objectification of women. Obviously, she is wearing revealing and tight clothes which obviously allows people to sexualise her, but it doesn’t mean she wants people to do that to her. It allows people to do it, but it doesn’t mean that what she wants people to do when viewing the music video. There isn’t anything else in the music video that means she wants people to sexualise her in any way.
Discuss the video in terms of the Bell Hooks – Feminist Theory.
The Bell Hooks theory is important in this music video. As Beyoncé makes a statement showing that it isn’t just white women that are desirable to the audience. She does this by showing a lot of skin in her revealing dresses and also wears tight clothes to exaggerate certain parts of her body. She does sexualise herself in this music video conforming to this theory. This seduces the audience for a brief time. This is important because Beyoncé is so powerful, by doing this it will have an influence on a lot of women and younger girls who see her as an idol.
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