Beyoncé's music video for "Pretty Hurts" depicts the pressures women face to attain unrealistic beauty standards set by society. It shows contestants in a beauty pageant obsessively trying to make their bodies conform through unhealthy and extreme methods. Throughout the video, Beyoncé's character becomes increasingly frustrated, feeling that no matter what she does she cannot achieve the perfection demanded of her. In the climax, she smashes her trophies in anger at the suffocating expectations. The video uses its narrative and visuals to powerfully convey the dark realities behind the façade of beauty pageants.

1. BEYONCÉ ANALYSIS Alice Fisher

2. LYRICS
The Lyrics in the song reflect on the pressure put onto women to have outer beauty
within society. The norms set by society are too high and cause young women and
teens to become self conscious with their body because they deviate from what is
seen as ‘perfect’. For example ‘Blonder hair, flat chest, TV says bigger is better, South
beach, sugar free, Vogue says Thinner is better’, this serves as an analysis of a female
body image and society obsession with physical perfection.
Beyoncé sings about the expectations for women and that what they should be
worried about is how you present yourself and about feeling confident with your body
‘it’s the soul that needs the surgery’. This is also seen through the first versus on the
song ‘Mama said, you're a pretty girl, What's in your head it doesn't matter, Brush
your hair, fix your teeth, What you wear is all that matters’.
The music video links back to the lyrics of the song as she plays in beauty pageant as
Miss Third Ward. The link between the video and lyrics show what goes on behind the
scene of these pageants and how most individuals may feel. Beyoncé and other
women is the shot are seen trying to fit in dresses too small for them, looking at
themselves in a mirror at their weight, throwing up after eating, being measured and
taking pills etc. This allows the audience to see the deeper meaning behind what they
lyrics are trying to tell them. By doing and taking these things are what people think is
important and a way in which they can be seen as being perfect by society. The lyric
‘we try to fix something we cant fix ‘ suggests that whatever we do or however hard
she tries to be perfect she cant as there is always something that she wont like or
society wont like.

3. MUSIC
The tempo of the song varies, the start opens with an acoustic which
the camera follows Beyoncé as she prepares herself to walk out onto
the stage and show her talent. The story continues on, with the music
playing fading around two minutes in to the music video. However
there are a couple of shots taken when Beyoncé is seen in the water,
where the reply to the question ‘what is your aspiration in life?’,
replays as an echo effect. The music tempo increases after four
minutes in, of which Miss Third Ward replies is to be happy. This new
pace links to the anger and frustration shown in the video, whereby
Beyoncé has realised that she isn't happy and that society is knocking
her down. Beyoncé's character is seen rubbing her makeup off and
then smashing her trophies off the shelves. This shot helps the
audience gage information about life in eyes of society and fame,
which can feel suffocating and depressing. However it can also be
seen as a way of escaping the critics.

4. GENRE/ MISE EN SCENE
A pop music video generally has performance aspects in it, as well as shots that are of the
singer or bands dancing around. However they can also have a story with a meaning behind,
as seen by Taylor Swift in Bad Blood. The conventions of a pop music video deviate from the
music video of pretty hurts. This is because women are generally sexually objectified, which
shown through costume and camera shots. Pretty hurts goes against this as Beyoncé and the
other women are given most prevalence within the video which weakens the male dominance.
The costumes and makeup can be seen as quite dramatic . The various outfit and prop
changes allow the viewer to experience what they are going through and the emotions
expressed by facial and body language. Many of the costumes Beyoncé is seen wearing are
exposing her body in front of a number of people to be judged. There is also a shot which
shows Beyoncé wearing an all in one suit with a waist trainer linking back to this meaning
behind the song lyrics and title ‘Pretty hurts’.
The props used in pretty hurts such as the wigs, mirrors, makeup, etc. all appear to be ways
in which the women and hide under or a way in which they can judge or be judged by.
Therefore this could suggest that even though they are smiling they are hiding who they really
are because they have this on-going aim of wanting to be beautiful and confident, but
confident in makeup and wigs destroying themselves due to society's standards.
Her facial and body language in the video reveal to the audience that at some point you reach
a breaking point, which can be a convention in a pop video. Beyoncé's video portrays this in a
long shot of her character, grabbing her trophies and smashing them in anger of trying to be

5. CAMERA WORK
The camera work enforces the meaning behind pretty hurts by showing
shots of desperation by the contestants. These shots show the audience
the attempts to become skinnier and what life is like for beauty pageant
contestants behind closed curtains. Not only does it show this but it also
displays Beyoncé’s character outside the glamour and music world. This
is shown on several occasions where the contestants look at Beyoncé
with a disapproving manner. Whilst the other characters have seem to
have gotten used to the routine, Beyoncé appears to be struggling with
the diet and guilt, or losing weight which juxtaposes the concept of
natural beauty.
The majority of footage is taken in a long and wide shot allowing the
view to understand the work and extreme efforts people go to, to look
perfect. Fans on the outside seen beyonce as a definition of perfection
however in the music video and the lyrics that are being heard tell the
audience that she feels otherwise. ‘Pretty hurts , we shine a light on
whatever's worst, Perfection is a disease of a nation’. Many of the close
up shots show the characters smiling or faking a smile whilst the wide
shots show the struggles. However up to a point the close up reflect the
real expression being presented, this is when Miss Third Ward has came

6. EDITING
Pretty hurts is a narrative story line. Miss Third Ward and
the other women are given most prevalence over the male
characters shot in the music video. The equal camera
time amongst Beyoncé and the other woman could help
suggest that she and the audience are not alone in
feeling the pressure of society's harsh and unrealistic
standards.
As the pace of the music speeds up so does the editing
with supports the conventions of a pop music video.
There is a reverse editing effect when Miss Third Ward is
flexing and struggling in the water, this enables the
audience to engage with Beyoncé as her character in the
video and relate to how she is feeling.
 Continuity editing is used throughout the music video
allowing it to flow with the music and fit the pace set by

7. INTERTEXUALITY
Intertexuality focuses on the ideas that are taken as
inspiration from other music videos or stories then put
together and adapted to produce an original idea.
Pretty Hurts was written by Sia about:
 The rules set by society pressurising women turning
women into someone they are not.
Promoting self empowerment and feminism.
 Originally Miss Third Ward was going to win the beauty
pageant however the thought of letting someone who is
stereotypically not seen as beautiful in the eyes of society, a
white albino woman would break the ideas of what the classic
beauty standards are. Suggesting that you don’t have to be
perfect to win but whatever you put forward you may still
lose.

8. NARRATIVE/ PERFORMANCE
The music video of Pretty hurts is narrative based, following
a story about the beauty pageant in the eyes of the
contestants. This allows the audience to have a clear
understanding of what is expected as a women in society
and the pressures upon most women. In the video Beyoncé
and the other contestants are constantly being watched and
judged by the way they look. They are being told what they
need to fix and improve. This relates back to reality as
media like magazine of which teenager read and social
media explain tips and tricks to get the ‘perfect’ look.
However this message about the pressures isn’t just directed
at the target audience, it is about the life as a star like
Beyoncé. How even as a star has to face the paparazzi who
are hiding around trying to catch her off guard where she
isn’t seen as confident and strong. The video of pretty hurts
expresses these feeling through anger (throwing the
trophies), self –consciousness (looking in the mirror or

9. STAR AND BRAND IMAGE
Beyoncé is known for promoting strong, independent women. Songs
like Diva, Run the world (girls), Grown women, Flawless and Yoncé
encourage self acceptance and confidence within women. They are feel
good songs.
Beyoncé is a women of power within the music industry. To many of
her fans she is known as ‘Queen B’. The reasoning for this is due to
her confidence and success in her music career. As a solo artist
Beyoncé has released many albums and songs which have been
successful and have gotten her on number one of the charts.
As the music industry is changing which is due to new technology and
software like apps and websites, it has made it harder for artists like
Beyoncé to survive these changes. Nowadays there are online websites
that allow you to exchange music for free, which is illegal however
most 95% of music is illegally downloaded. However Beyoncé has
found ways in which she can survive and keep on top of things. An
example of this is when she secretly made her fifth album, self titled,

10. VOYEURISM
There are many shots which attract the attention of the male gaze. For
example the close up of Beyoncé spraying her body suit, bringing the
males gaze on to her lower body, her curvy figure and the bunny ears
hair band is often seen by men as sexualising, therefore objectifying
women as sexual objects making her be seen as a woman of desire
rather than a real life human. Men are normally given prevalence and
are portrayed as having dominance over women. This can be shown
when Beyoncé shows her talent to the four judges which happen to be
men.
The use of different costumes that could be seen as provoked are
looked over, mainly because of the story behind the video. However
Beyoncé promotes self confidence and strong women, the idea that
women can do what they want as well as being able be have ambitions
as much as men. Beyoncé wants women to be seen as equal and
treated equally, supporting feminism. ( Beyoncé's song ‘flawless’
explained the situation in further detail).
The general relationship between lyrics and visuals closely link
together. An example can be seen when a dotted line has been drawn
around Beyoncé's face, this implies that she is wanting surgery like a
face lift or Botox, to improve her looks. ‘ Aint got no doctor or pill to
take the pain away, The pains inside and nobody frees you from your
body…. Plastic smiles and denial can only take you so far, then you