Beyoncé's Formation Video Analysis

For many years now, Beyoncé has been thought of as the queen of pop and hip hop music. Since her split from her former girl group, Destiney’s Child in 2003, Beyoncé has been releasing songs that speak to female empowerment, feminism, and issues of race. Her song Formation, along with the corresponding music video, debuted on February 6th, 2016. Many have considered Formation to be an anthem of 2016, speaking about the issues of race that are often glossed over in pop culture. Formation uses both visuals as well as lyrics to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, and the controversial topic of police brutality in America, the city of New Orleans, post hurricane Katrina, and also touches on body positivity and the representation of people …show more content…
Black characters in TV and movies who embody negative stereotypes, or who change and alter their appearance to look “more white” (straightening their hair, skin lightening, ect.) have been prevalent for a very long time. It is thought by some scholars that the more negative stereotypes and anti-black narratives that black youth are exposed to, the more likely they are to accept these stereotypes as true and suffer from a negative body image about their skin colour . This is why positive representation of people of colour in the media is so important. The Formation video displays many different body types and skin tones, as well as black women with their natural hair, in different forms (afros, braids, corn rows, ect.). Beyoncé and her husband have been criticized by the media in the past for their daughter’s afro textured, “nappy” hair. Beyoncé rebuttals this by singing the lyrics “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros”, while her daughter dances along to the music. This affirms her, as well as her daughter’s pride in their natural appearances. This positive representation of black bodies in popular media is vital. Media has a dramatic impact on how people see themselves, and in youth’s identity development . If we want these identities to be healthy and positive, then more media like Beyoncé’s Formation video need to be supported by the …show more content…
The video touches on many topics, all focused on issues that African American people face today. From the subject of the black lives matter movement, to New Orleans, post hurricane Katrina, to body positivity, Beyoncé’s video for Formation is highly political and could be considered controversial. It covers issues that many others refuse to touch. Beyoncé takes a stand and uses her video as a way to show these imperative issues to the