Beyonce famously released the song 'Formation' alongside its music video in 2016 the day before she was set to perform at the Super Bowl. The music video later went on to win a grammy for Best Music Video. It is a controlled, performative piece which celebrates black culture and femininity while also addressing prominent issues in America such as police brutality and systematic racism. The video is edited with quick cuts and packed with different scenes, subliminal messages and references to black culture.
The first words be hear are 'what happened at New Orleans?', a reference to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina where the predominantly Black Neighbourhoods of New Orleans were left unaided and submerged by water. This is depicted in shots in the video. In particular, the establishing shot shows Beyonce on top of a sinking New Orleans police car, surrounded by submerged houses in what appears to be a lower class community. Despite this setback, she preaches that she is successful 'I see it, I want it' and tells her fellow black women to 'get in formation' and that 'you might just be the next black bill gates in the making'. The message is clear, despite the challenges of being a black woman in modern America, success is still achievable to them because 'best revenge is your paper'.
The police car is also significant of Beyonce's stance towards her government and police brutality. She makes various references to the issue of police brutality throughout the video, such as a wall with graffiti that reads 'stop shooting us' as well as a wall of SWAT officers facing a black child dancing in a hoodie, who then all raise their hands in surrender. At the end of the video, Beyonce lays on the police car as it sinks into the water. These messages have various links to issues with police brutality, such as how wearing a hoodie can be seen as threatening, despite the child doing nothing but a harmless dance. The graffiti is subliminal but a prominent message- the killing of black people by police must end. The end of the video signifies the black community loss of faith and respect for their police as the car literally sinks beneath Beyonce.
The video uses a variety of quick cuts and camera angles to overwhelm the audience with a mixture of important messages alongside performative dance which is stereotypical to a Beyoncé music video. Various forms of Mise-en-scene are used as we see Beyoncé in various different costumes, hairstyles and settings, sometimes performing and sometimes not. We are also introduced to other characters, for example her daughter, Blue Ivy, wears a traditional dress as she dances in a playroom alongside two other young black girls. The video represents various genders and ages across the black community, depicting a variety of elements of black culture.
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