formation (beyonce) media language (WIP)

what shows a performance shift in the music video? (2 points)

• beyonce’s aggressive gestures with fingers and expressions

• culturally recognizable apolitical dances

at the start of the video beyonce is shown in an uncharacteristic modest outfit. significance?

emphasizes serious topic of new orleans flooding

why is beyonce shown sitting on top of a police car?

represents black people taking back power from their oppressors

explain the lyrics -

“yall haters corny with that illuminati mess/paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh” (2 points)

• relates to real critiques and allegations

• relates to video’s imagery of black press members photographing her

what is the significance of the messy mya “what happened at the new orleans?” sample at the beginning of the song?

pays homage to local culture and mya who was killed in 2010

how does the messy mya voiceover lead to a discussion of gender and equality?

gives a voice to the unheard (queer people)

what is the significance of beyonce’s performance shift?

risks her image to make a statement about race in america.

intertextual references in the formation music video? (2 points)

• shots from “the b.e.a.t doc” - reference new orleans bounce subculture

• bounce music - by independent lgbt rappers

signs with deeper meanings within the video? (5 points)

• dancing boy, “stop shooting us” graffiti - racism

• church, hair salon, lobster - black culture

• man holding newspaper - MLK jr

• floods - hurricane katrina

• antebellum clothing - slavery

significance of the lyrics - “i like my baby heir, with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils”, and beyonce’s hairstyles through the video? (2 points)

• challenges featurism that beyonce and her family face

• promotes black self-love, especially for girls.

meaning behind showing black men as police?

equality winning over the systemic racism of police

how does the “black bill gates” lyric link to a deeper meaning?

it relates to black female empowerment

what does the boy dancing in front of police officers reference? significance? (2 points)

• police brutality

• protests violence through dance. shows revolution can be beautiful.

theory shown in the scenes with the boy dancing in front of police?

binary opposites

beyonce and jayz’s contributions to BLM? (4 points)

• released 2013 documentary

• bailed BLM protestors out of jail

• donated to BLM

• set up survivor foundation for hurricane katrina victims

what is the significance of the shots of beyonce wearing an outfit with a wide brim hat? (4 points)

• hides identity

• gives a serious expression that supports the lyrics

• low angle - superiority

• southern aristocrat clothes

explain the lyrics -

“i’m so reckless when i rock my givenchy dress, i’m so possessive that i rock his rock necklaces” (3 points)

• references star image/givenchy dress at the 2015 met gala

• ode to wealth

• contrasts katrina narration

what is the significance of the antebellum dresses worn in the video?

based on slave owners’ dresses - corsets bind like how slaves were chained

how does the video play into barthes’ semiotics theory?

dresses have slavery connotations, challenged by the black fem empowerment

how does the video play into baudrillard’s postmodernism theory? (2 points)

• it challenges ideas that nothing in media is real - uses images close to reality

• it was released just before super bowl performance marketing or social commentary?

how does the video play into bell hooks’s feminist theory?

the video could be message about gender or could feed into female oppression

how does the video play into paul gilroy’s ethnicity and postcolonial theory? (3 points)

• acknowledges society’s racial hierarchies and binary oppositions

• challenges hierarchy via a powerful black woman

• perpetuates binary opposition, shows clear racial divide