The Music Video Beyonce

Beyoncé uses “Formation” as a continuation of the story in “Freedom” by making a statement about working hard to obtain what she wants and pride in her roots, particularly her southern black heritage. She alludes to how far she has come when she says she rocks her Givenchy dress (citation). Here, she is calling attention to how far she has come and the fortune she has earned by referencing her Givenchy dresses, a luxury brand only someone well off can afford. However, she did not forget where she came from and references her heritage in the second verse when she says “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana” She is

One of the most prominent visuals in Lemonade is the setting of New Orleans, Louisiana. In current times, New Orleans is most closely associated with the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2004, in which a strong hurricane devastated the city and left many killed, injured, or homeless. There was national criticism of the government’s handling of Katrina, stating that the government took too long to respond to the crisis due to the city being mostly populated by blacks. However, this is not the only aspect of New Orleans that is central to Lemonade’s narrative. The video also shows staples of the old American South during the time of slavery, such as plantation homes and slave quarters. In this setting, Beyoncé indulges a fantasy of an all-black utopia dominated by women, who dress up, take photographs, and

All, of the dancers in this music video are African-American, and it is very clear. None of their hair is straightened, they are all in Black Panther-esque outfits, and they are “unapologetically black.” The concept of this video is head-on addressing systemic racism. An obvious example is the dancers but there are also many more. For one, the opening scene, as referenced earlier, includes Beyoncé herself standing on a police car flooded in water while a clip saying “What happened in the New Orleans?” plays in the background. This artist is using her platform to bring attention to the hurricane in New Orleans and how there was little to nothing done by police there. She is calling out the system in this video.

analysis and inspiration. Something that jumps out during this video that needs analyzing is the racial stereotypes. In the unit two reading, it talks about a problem within hip-hop music videos. The videos supposedly put out bad messages and “perpetuate” stereotypes upon themselves. Fans of hip-hop say that “hip-hop music is a reflection of the realities of life in much of black America” (Caliendo 35). Although this music video has characteristics of stereotypes, they don’t seem offensive. Big Sean, Kanye West, and John

Beyoncé recently released her music video on Saturday February 6, 2016. Beyoncé 's "Formation" video forms messages in text and visuals that fits today 's social issues. They call attention to the audience mainly for women and Black America. This piece of rhetoric creates meaning in society by giving us events and visuals to help the

She dances in a colonial house’s hallway; while drawing reference to several southern states, while displays that she loves herself and her origin. She illustrates to the audience they should be proud of their ethnicities and celebrate their origins and draws focus on the many people devastated in New Orleans. Sometimes, throughout society there is pressure to alter ones skin tone, nose, or hair to conform to the while Anglo-Saxon expectations of beauty. In this video, Beyoncé makes it clear that she’s not interested in this from embracing her ethnicities and Southern

Hot and humid weather, hurricanes, Mississippi river, jazz, delicious food, famous vacation place, and relatively high proportion of black people. These are all that I’d heard about New Orleans before I came to this city. A month has passed since I arrived to New Orleans, and I experienced more than I’d knew. But still, although I was aware of the fact that what I had experienced until now are not everything about New Orleans, I was surprised when I learned about the new aspects of New Orleans through the service work, class, and the lecture of guest speaker.

Although the critically acclaimed album titled Lemonade received positive feedback for the way its visuals captured the struggles of black Americans, specifically black women, there is one song off the album that obviously emphasizes the adversities they are facing. In the beginning of the first verse of Freedom (featuring Kendrick Lamar), she uses the imagery of storm to reference her struggle towards being free. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the song, she continues to use words that are synonymous to disaster and generally negative.

On February 6, 2016 Knowles released a song and video known as “Formation”, endorsing the #BlackLivesMovement and embracing her own blackness. “Formation” is an unapologetic message that identified the roots and history of black power, as Black History Month approached.This music video also gives her audience an insight that includes, imagery of the affects of Hurricane Katrina and the evolution of black culture and femininity. This allowed her viewers to visually understand the cruelty and immorality of police brutality; however, Knowles demonstrates the

This is a documentary that highlights the events that surround hurricane Katrina. It lays a focus on the state as well as the federal government response to the disaster and tries to identify why the reaction was inefficient and slow. This video begins by showing how the government had prepared for this hurricane. It shows that various bodies in the country issued warnings on relation to Katrina. Some of the warnings issues stated that the hurricane will be the largest ever witnessed in the country and that New Orleans will be inhabitable. The first duty of the authorities was to evacuate residents of New Orleans.

Storytelling in New Orleans cannot be forced into a single definition. It is a compilation of a myriad of cultural artifacts, all of which incorporate storytelling. The history of storytelling in New Orleans can be found in the early settlers of the region, the infamous legends and folklore that surround the city itself, and the people who sought out the city as a muse for their stories, such as William Faulkner. The living culture of telling stories continues in today’s world through food, celebrations like Mardi Gras, and storytelling events such as Bring Your Own. Unfortunately, the story of New Orleans is currently being pigeonholed into this one singular account of what New Orleans is about. With all of these various cultural

Beyoncé’s choice of lyrics in the song “Formation” reflect a cultural reclamation and celebration of being multiple things: an African-American of any sex, a woman of any race, and specifically a black woman. These multiple messages are allowed for by lyrical content that ultimately asks members of all these marginalized groups to “get into formation” in singing an anthem for empowerment. “Formation” begins with a few words from Messy Mya, a YouTube personality who was murdered in 2010 and was known for his overt satire regarding violence against the black community in New Orleans. This sets the stage for the political message the following lyrics portray. “The intersection between hip-hop and politics has empowered a generation of youth to believe that they not only have rights but maybe even an obligation to make a difference in their world” (Alalman, p. 42, 2011). Expressing self-feelings, thoughts or views through music can make a change in the world, which is what Beyoncé does through her music. The actions in the song is further reinforced in the music video, through African American women fighting for respect on the streets, creating a sense of devotion in the audience. Moreover, the artist openly addresses the culture of open social hate towards black features “I like my baby hair with baby hair afro, I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils”, to which she responds by accepting them as special traits to be cherished and not ashamed of. By embracing all these pejorative

When Hurricane Katrina slammed onto the gulf shores of Louisiana in 2005, few people understood what impact the storm would have on the city of New Orleans. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Katrina caused an estimated $108 billion dollars of damage, displaced 250,000 residents and killed over 1800 lives, most being African-American and the poor ( Downey, 2011). To present a sociological view of how Hurricane Katrina affected the people of New Orleans, one must first understand how the people of New Orleans lived before Katrina caused its mass destruction. The focus of this paper will be to uncover how race and class affected the people of New Orleans pre-Katrina and how post-Katrina has altered their cultural

In J. Cole’s music video “She Knows” he tells a story through a juvenile young man's point of view, who is also the visual motif. The video begins with the young man stealing money from his parents. Starting with his title the viewer becomes curious as if this is the thing “She Knows”; and by default “She” being the young man's mother. The message of J.Cole’s video is predominately captured in two different scenes. The first being when the young man's mother gazes at him as he is being dropped off at school and the second being when the young man gazes at his mom, he walked into his house after school and found his mom with another man. Although both scenes add to the overall meaning of the video, they each does have a meaning of their own.

Me!Me!Me! is a music video and animated short that was created for the Japan Animator Expo in 2014, but was released in the US in 2015 through Vimeo with English subtitles. The song in the video was made by the electronic music artist Teddyloid feat. Daoko, a Japanese singer. The audience of this video would be all fans of anime and electronic music, i.e. presumably young people who proactively use electronic devices. The video is set in three main sequences, each revolving around the main character, a young teenage boy. It follows his dreamy haze of his break-up, and his interactions with idealized, semi-human females. My interpretation of this video was that this young man lost all meaningful relationships in his life because of his unrealistic expectations of women due to pornography and the representation of women in popular culture, and how his addiction to these forms of media only made it worse. The purpose of this video is to highlight the issues with unnecessary sexualization of women, escapism and addiction, as well as heartbreak and regret. This author’s intent was to prove director Hibiki Yoshizaki was an amazing storyteller and animator, and for the video to gain attention and views, through the use of hyper-sexualized imagery. This is shown in the video by the depiction of women inside his mind as two conflicting personalities, his loving girlfriend, and nightmarish girls who, as the video description states, “attack and ravish” him, and the environment they