Analysis

1. Characters- Throughoutthe videowe are shown
several charactersthatare portrayedas “beauty”
pageantscompetingagainstone another.All girls
are heavilymade upwithmakeupandwearingwigs.
Thisadds to the fake image thatthese girlscompete
in.The ideaof a beautypageantishyperreal,
because inrealitygirlsdon’tlooklikethis.All the
girlsthat appearon stage are all oversmilingwhich
contrastsfrom whenthere backstage arguingand
fightingwithone another.Additionallywithscenes
of Beyonce makingherself be sick,showsamore
seriousside tothe storyline.WithBeyonce
appearinginthe videothathas sucha strong
message “prettyhurts”,ablesheryoungeraudience
to relate toher,about todaysgenerationsstruggle
of the waywe ‘should’ look.
Narrative Events- At the start of the videowe immediatelyknowthatitissetas thoughwe are watchinga real beauty
pageant.We are thenfrontedwithextremelyheavilymade upgirlswithlittle clothing,additionallywiththe traditional
sashesanda numberwe getthe impressionthatthese girlsare notimportantandthat there justa number.Thislinks
back to the message inthe story“prettyhurts “. At the endthe winnerisreviled,whichiscleartothe audience thatshe
has had plasticsurgery.Beyonce showsthroughoutthe videothe strugglesof today’sgenerationthathasto fita perfect
image.Whenaskedwhatshe wantsinlife she replies“Happiness”.Thisstatesthatnomatterwhat youfix withyourself
it will nevermake youhappy.Anotherline thatstandsoutinthe song”Tryna fix somethingbutyoucant fix whatyou
cant see,it’sthe soul thatneedsthe surgery.”
Iconography- There are many iconicpropsused
throughoutBeyonce’smusicvide;forexamplethe
scalesandthe mental waistbeltare all iconicissues
of the decease bulimia. The girlsare all stoodina
line infrontof a mirror“fixing”themselvesbefore
theyenterthe stage. “Brushyour hair,fix your
teeth.Whatyou wearisall that matters.”Is direct
linkstothe girlscompetingthatare inthishyper
real worldof perfectingthemselves.Beyonce istold
to breathe inand loose weightbyhercoach.All this
issuesare issuesare isgrowingmore popularwith
youngergirls,andwiththe decease.Another
symbolicpropiswhenhercharacter at home Is over
exercisingonthe bike tobecome this“perfect”
image. Thiswhole musicvideobringsalive the real
struggle of beautypageants.
Setting- Throughoutthe musicvideothere are
several differentsettings.Tostartwe are at the
stereotypical pageantstage where we have the
hostcallingoutthe girls.Nextwe have the
backstage roomwhere the girlsgetready.This
setsthe scene well,asall the girlsare panicking
runninghectic.There isalsoa shot of the judges
on the table;thisisstereotypical of the genre,
withthe contestantbeingjudged.Toaddto that
we thenhave a scene of Beyonce inher home
environmentonherbike,withametal waist
trainerroundher waistwhich statesagainthe
pressure thatthe girlsare facedinthe worldof
beautypageant.Thisshowseveroutside of the
contestshe still focusesonherappearance to
anotherextreme.
Technical and AudioCodes- In the musicvideocrosscuts
are usedto showdifference andchange inthe characters.
For example, one scenewillbe of Beyonce oversmiling
thennextvomitingandthenoverexercising.Thisshowsto
the audience all thisfacial expressionisanact, whenreally
she isunhappy.There are several longshotusedtoshow
the petite girlsina line standingperfectlystraight,this
exaggeratesthe settingtothe audience,andhowfragile
the girlsare to the real world.Additionallylongshotsare
usedof the girl’sfacestoinferhowmuchsurgerythat they
have had done.“It’sthe sole thatneedsthe surgery”This
implieshowunhappythe girlslife isinapageantworld,
that the plasticisa coverup.Whenthe videostartswe
enterwithhighkeylightingtoshowhowthe pageant
worldlooksfromthe outside,togirlsthataspire.Although
whenwe go backstage the lightingisdarktoshowthe
moodchange and howunhappythe girlsreallyare.We
alsodear diegeticandnon-diegeticsoundthroughoutthe
video.The diegeticsoundisthe presentertalkingtothe
girls,thenthe musicplayinginthe backgroundisthe non-
diegeticsound.The message behindthe videoshowsto
girlsthat lookat pageantgirlsas role models,reallyhave a
negative darklife thatisn’tportrayedinthe lightitshould.