Beyoncé - Formation emotional response essay
How does "Formation" use media language and representation to create emotional responses in the audience?
Beyoncé, like many other artists, uses her star image to communicate information which may be otherwise overlooked. In "Formation" this is evident as she attempts to pioneer the abolishment of racism and sexism. She encourages the audience to feel emotion when either watching the music video or just listening to the song as conveying the message is of paramount importance. The emphasis on these problems within the music video has inspired people to grant her the award for best music video in 2017. Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics is shown as most of the ideas are denoted and connoted through signs.
"Formation" begins with Beyoncé portraying her star image, and crouching atop of a police car half sunken in a large pool of dirty water. This is accompanied by a male narrator asking "What happened at the New Orleans?" These words amplify the image on the screen, emphasising the horror and destruction caused by the New Orleans floods. These words could also be an impersonation of members of the public due to their lack of knowledge about the situation as there was seldom any news coverage and help from the government. The audience can denote that it is a very important and defining situation because of a popular celebrity being an advocate for it. This allows the audience to feel sympathy for the residents of New Orleans after having seen Beyoncé fight for the cause. However, this could be a negative as it may influence some to lash out at the government and news for thinking it was not worthwhile.
Many argue that the reason for the lack of aid towards New Orleans is purely because of the predominant black culture. This creates outrage among the audience, as they momentarily resent the government and services for being heartless and for discriminating against them because of their race. Most of this uproar would come from black people who know this as it is their skin colour that is being segregated. This reinforces Paul Gilroy’s idea of ethnicity and postcolonial theory. Beyoncé incorporates actors who are all black, as well as wearing black to further reinforce who the message is being sent from. Beyoncé also wears a black sun hat, shielding her eyes. This can be seen as a metaphor, where the government perhaps purposefully blocked their vision when looking at the New Orleans destruction. This has contributed to the Black Lives Matter movement, as it highlights the extreme discrimination towards black people, and on such a large scale.
Beyoncé also has the video revolve around feminism and women's rights and power. She attempts to abolish women's objectivity as well as show the individual power and united. This reinforces bell hooks' feminist theory as Beyoncé is trying to end patriarchal oppression. This would make any female viewers feel empowered and proud, as well as happy that someone is publicly addressing this problem. David Gauntlett's theory of identity is also apparent in the video, as the feeling of empowerment within women allows them to feel proud of their gender to construct their specific female identity. This makes Beyoncé very appealing as she is able to appease nearly all types of people.
Overall, Beyoncé's primary focus is to progress in creating equality in both ethnicity and gender. This video can be argued as the first encouraging music video towards total abolishment. However, some may argue that Beyoncé is only doing this so to further increase her fame, and that she does not genuinely care, but wants to attract positive attention towards her.
Beyoncé, like many other artists, uses her star image to communicate information which may be otherwise overlooked. In "Formation" this is evident as she attempts to pioneer the abolishment of racism and sexism. She encourages the audience to feel emotion when either watching the music video or just listening to the song as conveying the message is of paramount importance. The emphasis on these problems within the music video has inspired people to grant her the award for best music video in 2017. Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics is shown as most of the ideas are denoted and connoted through signs.
"Formation" begins with Beyoncé portraying her star image, and crouching atop of a police car half sunken in a large pool of dirty water. This is accompanied by a male narrator asking "What happened at the New Orleans?" These words amplify the image on the screen, emphasising the horror and destruction caused by the New Orleans floods. These words could also be an impersonation of members of the public due to their lack of knowledge about the situation as there was seldom any news coverage and help from the government. The audience can denote that it is a very important and defining situation because of a popular celebrity being an advocate for it. This allows the audience to feel sympathy for the residents of New Orleans after having seen Beyoncé fight for the cause. However, this could be a negative as it may influence some to lash out at the government and news for thinking it was not worthwhile.
Many argue that the reason for the lack of aid towards New Orleans is purely because of the predominant black culture. This creates outrage among the audience, as they momentarily resent the government and services for being heartless and for discriminating against them because of their race. Most of this uproar would come from black people who know this as it is their skin colour that is being segregated. This reinforces Paul Gilroy’s idea of ethnicity and postcolonial theory. Beyoncé incorporates actors who are all black, as well as wearing black to further reinforce who the message is being sent from. Beyoncé also wears a black sun hat, shielding her eyes. This can be seen as a metaphor, where the government perhaps purposefully blocked their vision when looking at the New Orleans destruction. This has contributed to the Black Lives Matter movement, as it highlights the extreme discrimination towards black people, and on such a large scale.
Beyoncé also has the video revolve around feminism and women's rights and power. She attempts to abolish women's objectivity as well as show the individual power and united. This reinforces bell hooks' feminist theory as Beyoncé is trying to end patriarchal oppression. This would make any female viewers feel empowered and proud, as well as happy that someone is publicly addressing this problem. David Gauntlett's theory of identity is also apparent in the video, as the feeling of empowerment within women allows them to feel proud of their gender to construct their specific female identity. This makes Beyoncé very appealing as she is able to appease nearly all types of people.
Overall, Beyoncé's primary focus is to progress in creating equality in both ethnicity and gender. This video can be argued as the first encouraging music video towards total abolishment. However, some may argue that Beyoncé is only doing this so to further increase her fame, and that she does not genuinely care, but wants to attract positive attention towards her.
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