Formation representation Flashcards
Voices sampled
At beginning, Messy May’s voice is sampled. He was killed by police for partying - using his voice will be familiar to Beyonce’s audience and raises awareness of police brutality to black people - BLM, George Floyd
Big Freeda’s voice is sampled half way through. He is a gay, black man. Shows Beyonce is an Allie of the LGBTQ+ community, which is a underrepresented group, and empowering black people
Gilroy post colonial theory
subverted as Beyonce presents herself as a black female in a position of power and success
Van Zoonen
Although she is presented as dominant, the costume codes do sexualise Beyonce and her fellow dancers - tight leotards
Intertextual references
BEAT documentary clips are shown - police flashing lights and bounce music
MLK newspaper - Shows racial discrimination has been happening for a long time
Her heritage and features
she is proud of her features that mainstream media has shamed - she refers to her mother and father origins. References her afro and a J5 nose.
Quotes
‘Slay’ - confidence
‘If he f me good… cos I slay’ - if a man pleases her sexually she’ll treat him to a nice dinner = has money and can be the dominant one in a relationship
‘Ladies lets get in formation’ - black women are most powerful when united
‘I got hot sauce in my bag, swag’ - references her culture and is proud
‘N word’ - reclaiming power that was taken
‘Creole’ - draws attention to negative historical practices of dividing black communities
‘I see it, I want it, I take it’ - confidence and in charge
Opening shot
Beyonce is sitting on top of a sinking police car = dominance and confidence is connoted through wide spread gesture code and low angle shot. Sinking car = failure of police’s reaction to flood in New Orleans
Black people shown as dominated by police but Beyonce shows she has dominance over them instead
Slavery references
Antebellum dresses - wealth and reclaiming power and showing what black people can achieve
Juxtaposition of historical clothing with black people wearing symbols of wealth highlights historic way of which black people were enslaved - change
Wealth
‘if he f me good… cos I slay’ = she’ll treat her husband if he pleases her sexually
Gucci dress and leotard = success and wealth -may appeal to aspirers who see her as a role model
Subverting femininity
Flips off camera - aggression and passion
Swear words - challenging stereotypes of women as submissive
Young children
shows discrimination is still happening today but the fact they’re smiling and dancing shows there is hope for the youth and change is emerging
Hair
Shot of Beyonce wearing braids and a shot in a wig shop - embracing black culture and ways you can express yourself through different styles and colours of wigs
police brutality
At beginning, Messy May’s voice is sampled. He was killed by police for partying - using his voice will be familiar to Beyonce’s audience and raises awareness of police brutality to black people - BLM, George Floyd
Shot of young boy dancing in front of riot of police - he vulnerable and isolated yet confident. low shot of police shows police as powerful and dominant - binary pop to young boy. The boy raises his arms and in response, the police do too. It jumps to shot of a wall written with ‘stop shooting us’ - shows victimisation of black people
why shown in this way
Beyonce is a black woman - may have experienced racism or discrimination so wants to raise awareness
2016 - formation was released and Trump was running for president - raising awareness of consequences?
Wants to show herself as a political artist wanting change
