Representation
- 2. Gender Gender- formation in terms of Gender representation breaks away from what you would be considered the norm in music videos, the women in this video seemed to be insured with a sense of independence and female empowerment. Rather thAN having all the women draped over the men or being and object to look at while taking the back seat and inevitably becoming a background prop; the men are the secondary genre in the video standing in the back while the woman (Beyonce) in centre stage and powered. ( there are no set gender role that are displayed in this video) A shot that also helps with the positive representation of women on the is the shot of beyonce standing on top of the police car arms extended outwards, by her standing like this it suggest a strong sense of power and self confidence.
- 3. Race Race- the racial representation in the video also links back with to videos political standpoint and relation to the BLM. All the actors and people that you can see in the video are of an ethnic background from the men to the women. This wouldn’t seem like a major element to take from the video as there are many music videos that have an all Black or Ethnic minority based cast, however most of these videos are RnB,Rap or Grime based and are prodemently men. In the formation video all the women are of an ethnic minority, and while you do see diversity in the cast o f dancers or actors in music videos in the media, when it comes to music videos for female artist it is very rare that you see and all black or ethnic cast of women presented.
- 4. Age Age- age representation within the video is seen to be pegged to no age Beyonce having women of all ages in the video, which can be seen as breaking away from the norm of what we see in a music video of having a group of people perceived to be the same age. In the formation music video Beyonce has her daughter Blue Ivy feature in a few shots among two other children
- 5. Patriarchy Patriarchy- in terms of whether or not the video falls into a patriarchy the video seems to counters the idea of sociality falling under a patriarchy, having the men being the dominant character and “ruling over” the women and women being secondary to that. At the same time the video doesn’t seem to have a relation to patriarchy but leans to strongly counter it with its depiction of strong independent women standing on their own to feet.
- 6. Laura Mulvey Laura Mulvey theory states that music videos and the media we consume if directed,produced, photographed or in anyway controlled by a man then that produced will subject the in that medium to the male gaze. The male Gaze being the idea that the audience's view would be from the heterosexual males point of view.When it comes to whether or not the Mulvey's theory can relate with the formation music video, it can be said that in small parts it can. From this shot of beyonce the camera is looking down on her from a high angle view - which can connote a feeling of the vulnerability and can also be seen as the the audience looking on on her and praying on her milliously and sexually. In this shot the is a line of women crouching down in a way that can be seen as slightly provocative and sexualised, facing away from the camera. However i believe that the video for the most part highly counters tis theory, as the majority of cast in the music video are women but are depicted more in a way that tries to pull away from this idea of women being the object of and for men, and rather has them standing strong and independent.