2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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.
6. 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.
