Music Videos - Revision

Component One A Representation And Media Language 

Why did the producer represent people, issues, and events in this way? What choices did they make and why?

Unseen text: Another music video with similarities and contrasts, it will be relevant aka representation media language context.

Knee Jerk Reaction

New Orleans

Ethnicity, both videos have a more or less all-black cast. (Police in 2 shots in Formation). Symbolic Annihilation, used to comment on black issues and black representation.

Beyonce represents New Orleans and the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, This Is America shows the oppression through violence ad police brutality. These are both challenging reactions.

Both videos used to portray a message / allegorical (Especially This Is America).

Floating on a sinking police car, news broadcasts etc. "Stop Shooting Us" graffiti on the wall.

This Is America - Police Cars being mobbed, executions of black people etc. Choreographed background akin to that of a riot.

A re-presentation where a group issue or event is 'shown again' by the producer. By using media language to represent certain groups, the producer can both reinforce and challenge hegemonic norms. I am going to argue that both videos challenge the representation of African-Americans in modern day America.

Plan:

Formation:

Dress code - quite typical dress codes for the time, such as african american basketballers, the 90's denim style etc.

Hair - Most people in the video sport afros or similar hairstyles. This is black pride iconography, as the video encourages people to be confident in their own genetic traits.

Symbolic Annihilation

Stereotypes

Mise-En-Scene of police and authority

Rebellion

Suggestions of violence and oppression

Video VHS effect - symbolic intertextual reference to police brutality captured on dashcams

Shots of Hurricane Katrina, representation of racial conflict

Bell Hooks - Feminism is for everyone - Formation: power, unity, and strength of black women

Paul Gilroy - post colonialism - hierarchies of power still exist today

Racist Stereotypes exist

Intimidating mode of address - Beyonce and her lyrics are dominant over men, showing a takedown of traditional hegemonic values.

MLK Jr. in a newspaper picture, he is an empowering figure in the black community

This Is America:

Stereotypes - Entertainer compared to murderer - segregated into one of the two choices
Erratic dancing and exaggerated facial expressions

Symbolic Annihilation

Stereotypes

Mise-En-Scene of police and authority

Rebellion - mobs in the background

Formation Context:

From the Lemonade Album (6th Studio Album)

Won many awards - nominated grammy, Platinum in the US, Gold in AUS and CAN 

150+ Million Views

"Best Song Of The Year"

Hurricane Katrina

Came out day before the superbowl

DAC Intro:

Representation is the re-presentation, or the notion that an idea is "shown again" by producers for a media product. By using media language and technical codes, producers can encode different meanings, this can create stereotypes, or it can challenge them. In this essay, I will argue for the representations that are produced by the music videos for Beyonce's "Formation", and Childish Gambino's "This Is America", and specifically how the African-American issues are represented, and how this correlates to America as a whole, in the form of a cultural zeitgeist. "Formation" is the hit single released by Beyonce in 2016, a day before her guest appearance at the 50th Superbowl. The song, from the Lemonade album is certified Platinum in the U.S.A. and certified Gold in Australia and Canada. I will also be looking at "This Is America" by Childish Gambino, a music video which was awarded song of the year, and currently holds over 500 Million views on YouTube.

Formation: 

Newspaper at 3:30 - "The Truth" paper, "More Than A Dreamer" with the image of Martin Luther King Jr. Empowering representation for black people as a whole, his "I have a dream" speech was inspirational at the time and even today. 

New Orleans historical context - Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005, passing through Florida and Louisiana, but New Orleans was especially affected. Beyonce is seen sitting and dancing on a sinking police car, presumably in the wake of the hurricane.

Historical Dress Code - Shows the rich history of black people, and Beyonce as well, as she grew up in Louisiana. Specific shots - 90's - 2000's style dress codes with the VHS tape effect. Long shot of her and some backup dancers in a hallway. Old New Orleans 'voodoo' dress (Black costume)

Long shot of Beyonce standing on a police car. Challenges typical hegemonic dominant values, as she is essentially above the authority - subversive representation of a black woman, she is strong and powerful. Standing up to authority and black people. Narration of what happened in New Orleans as this shot happens.

Role Reversal - White people are usually seen as the de facto group of people seen in media, this video is subversive because it presents white people as the minority, they are the police in 2 shots, and are all seen as the same, as a blanket generalisation. 

Video represents a wide range of African American people within mise-en-scene challenges symbolic annihilation theory.

African Americans are being oppressed, suggestions of police brutality and the angled shot of the police shows them in power, as an unidentified 'enemy'.

The symbolism of the Antebellum dresses era costume demonstrates Beyonce's manipulation and ownership of the black slavery narrative. By being positioned as a slave owned Beyonce is arguably placed into a position of power, however the polysemic image is potentially controversial for her audience. In Formation, the producer primarily represents black women as being of a lesser hierarchal status than white people, Long shot of Beyonce stranded on top of a police car demonstrates both her powerlessness and her vulnerability in the face of authority. Her 'Formation of women dancing in a car park demonstrates the lack of financial capital.

This Is America:

Childish Gambino does a 'Jim Crow' pose, seen on some of the blackface posters in the past. (When he is aiming the gun at the man).

Exaggerated dancing and facial expressions, as well as the backup dancers act as an allegory for America - the dancing and spectacle is a facade for the deeper riots and corruption underneath the surface of America.

Opening shots of 'This Is America' shows a man strumming a guitar, as Gambino strides up to him and shoots him, black fear in America. This is also represented with Gambino running away at the end, like he has to escape.