1 2 3 COZ I SLAY

1. Beyoncé
Formation 2016

2. Beyonce's formation is seen as being a major political influential video that bring to
light the issue that is the still ongoing mistreatment of the black community in
America and is a political cry for black women to take pride in themselves and
stand tall.
Meaning behind the video

3. The Super bowl 2016
During the super bowl halftime beyonce was said to have smoothly and effortly
“stole” the spotlight away from Coldplay and Bruno Mars.
Her performance of her song formation was heavily influenced on the black
panther movement of the sixties and was the singers way of contributing to the
ongoing battle with the black lives matter movement currently going on across
america and reaching around the world. It was said that her performance was like
a political cry out for all black women to have pride in New Orleans.
Quote “Beyonce marched onto the football field, clad in skintight leather and
Michael Jackson style gold military gold sashes, with a posse of impeccably
choreographed female dancers dressed like 70s Black Panthers, it was time for an
early bath for chris martin's band”

5. Hurricane katrina and Bounce music
Hurricane katrina was an extremely destructive hurricane the plagued threw the
USA in 2005 in response to that some of the people of new orleans that were
affected by this destructive hurricane response in the only way they knew how,
through music.
Bounce music - the bounce is characterized to be similar to a call and response
style of Mardi Gras chants and dance, It is said to be frequently hypersexualised.
It is normally done over triggerman beast, which are beat that are sampled from
other sources. Bounce music started up in the early 1990s in New Orleans. The
Bounce sound was seen to recycle and imitate the “drag Rap” sound; frequently
using synthesizers and drum machines. Bounce is said to be more of a georphical
sound that is only found in New Orleans.

6. A short Documentary was made in 2012 about the bounce music called THE
B.E.A.T that was directed by Abteen Bagheri, and produced by Chris Black.
Small controversy began to swirl round the singer in regards to her music video for
the song, formation( the same song that was performed at the 2016 super bowl) as
it was said that the singer had used footage from the Bounce documentary without
permission from the filmmakers.

7. Andrew Goodwin and Beyonce

8. The beyonce Formation music video there are
elements from it that follows the typical conventions
of a Promo (music) video that coincides with
Andrew Goodwins theory of such.

9. In the video it relates back to issues messages and event that stand true today.
There are references to the new orleans flooding,brought on as an effect from Hurricane Katrina 2005 ;
which GREATLY devastated new orleans. The references to this laying in the shots of beyonce laying
upon a cop car submerged by water and the shots of houses submerged by water.
Further references are linked to the racial
tensions that are an ongoing battle America
that relate back to the Black Live Matter
movement (BLM), this is shown through the
use of shots the boy in black dancing in front of
the armed police guards, which can be seen
and relate back to some of the peaceful
political protests for the BLM.

10. With in the music video there are also intertextual references to other medias
When you see the lone boy dancing, it is actually a
reference to when a lone man Broke out into dance in
the middle of the baltimore riots* in 2015 which was
caused by the hospitalization and death of Freddie
Gray a 25 year old African American and was a cry for
the end of police brutality in america against black
citizens.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/michael-ja
ckson-baltimore-protests?utm_term=.ii7K60oBJP#.mnj
X2oEGeQ
There are also references to a bounce
documentary named B.E,A.T that talks about
the bounce music in the new orleans.
https://vimeo.com/58423297

11. The mise en scene in the formation video help set the tone for the music video; expressing a political
statement in the for of a music video
In terms of the costumes beyonce is seen sitting in what looks like an old victorian new orleans house,
dawning an antebellum dresses surrounded by others in similar atier. The antebellum dress was a dress
that was worn by the southern bells of new orleans during the antebellum era* the dresses were typically
worn by the unmarried women in the plantation owning southern upper call of society
The antebellum era was between 1783-1861 and was
also known as the plantation era during this time
during the american revolution despite the efforts of
some slavery was still very very prominent and many
high class households still had slaves and many of
them work on plantation farms due to the need for
economic rise in the US.
During her video she also takes to dancing in a house of
the same Victorian Antebellum style in a red costume

12. Andrew Goodwin-
The style of music video that Formation falls into is a performance music video which is common among
most Trap and Bounce, which falls in to its genre characteristics. There are multiple shot of beyonce
dancing and lip-syncing to the song.
You can argue the music video has a narrative but
I would say that the video has an overarching message, that
relates to the political significances that music video has in
relation to the BLM movement. Whi8ch can be seen in the
sequence of the young boy dancing in front of a line of armed
police.

13. Relationship between visuals and lyrics and visuals
and music
● On the line “I slay” she (Beyonce) caresses the under of her chin with the back of her hand relating
the words “I slay” to her self indicating to the audience that this line is directed at her. ( shows a
relationship between the lyrics and the visual)
● On the beats during the break at the beginning of the song Beyonce is
seen wearing a large hat wearing and black dress and gold
accessories, on each of the beats her head flicks up not showing her
eyes, but being accented by the large hat on every beat. ( shows a
relationship between the visuals and the music)
● On the line “Ima Star” there is a shot of Blue
ivy (Beyonce's first child) giving the camera a
small cheeky smile and popping her right
shoulder.

14. Notion of Looking - objectification of women
When looking the notion of looking and the objectification of women there aren’t many that can be seen as
notable.
An example of some parts of the video that can be classed as objectifying women :
● The shot of beyonce sitting on the chair in the short antebellum
style legs spread open.

15. Representation

16. Gender
Gender- formation in terms of Gender representation breaks away from what you would be considered the
norm in music videos, the women in this video seemed to be insured with a sense of independence and
female empowerment. Rather thAN having all the women draped over the men or being and object to look
at while taking the back seat and inevitably becoming a background prop; the men are the secondary
genre in the video standing in the back while the woman (Beyonce) in centre stage and powered. ( there
are no set gender role that are displayed in this video)
A shot that also helps with the positive representation
of women on the is the shot of beyonce standing on
top of the police car arms extended outwards, by her
standing like this it suggest a strong sense of power
and self confidence.

17. Race
Race- the racial representation in the video also links back with to videos political standpoint and relation
to the BLM. All the actors and people that you can see in the video are of an ethnic background from the
men to the women. This wouldn’t seem like a major element to take from the video as there are many
music videos that have an all Black or Ethnic minority based cast, however most of these videos are
RnB,Rap or Grime based and are prodemently men.
In the formation video all the women are of
an ethnic minority, and while you do see
diversity in the cast o f dancers or actors in
music videos in the media, when it comes to
music videos for female artist it is very rare
that you see and all black or ethnic cast of
women presented.

18. Race
Race- the racial representation in the video also links back with to videos political standpoint and relation
to the BLM. All the actors and people that you can see in the video are of an ethnic background from the
men to the women. This wouldn’t seem like a major element to take from the video as there are many
music videos that have an all Black or Ethnic minority based cast, however most of these videos are
RnB,Rap or Grime based and are prodemently men.
In the formation video all the women are of
an ethnic minority, and while you do see
diversity in the cast o f dancers or actors in
music videos in the media, when it comes to
music videos for female artist it is very rare
that you see and all black or ethnic cast of
women presented.

19. Age
Age- age representation within the video is seen to be pegged to no age Beyonce having women of all
ages in the video, which can be seen as breaking away from the norm of what we see in a music video of
having a group of people perceived to be the same age.
In the formation music video Beyonce has her daughter Blue Ivy feature in a few shots among two other
children

20. Patriarchy
Patriarchy- in terms of whether or not the video falls into a patriarchy the video seems to counters the idea
of sociality falling under a patriarchy, having the men being the dominant character and “ruling over” the
women and women being secondary to that. At the same time the video doesn’t seem to have a relation
to patriarchy but leans to strongly counter it with its depiction of strong independent women standing on
their own to feet.

21. Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey theory states that music videos and the media we consume if directed,produced,
photographed or in anyway controlled by a man then that produced will subject the in that medium to the
male gaze. The male Gaze being the idea that the audience's view would be from the heterosexual males
point of view.When it comes to whether or not the Mulvey's theory can relate with the formation music
video, it can be said that in small parts it can.
From this shot of beyonce the
camera is looking down on her from
a high angle view - which can
connote a feeling of the vulnerability
and can also be seen as the the
audience looking on on her and
praying on her milliously and
sexually.
In this shot the is a line of
women crouching down in a
way that can be seen as slightly
provocative and sexualised,
facing away from the camera.
However i believe that the video for the
most part highly counters tis theory, as
the majority of cast in the music video
are women but are depicted more in a
way that tries to pull away from this
idea of women being the object of and
for men, and rather has them standing
strong and independent.