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Beyonce formation protest song analysis
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t seems to me Beyoncé’s “Formation” is lacking formation.
Beyoncé’s “Formation” starts with a strong opening with an ode to Messy Mya, a YouTube personality who was murdered in New Orleans and it raises the question, “What Happened after New Orleans?” The video had a lot of thought put into it. The fact that Beyoncé, in the video, is sitting on top of a sinking police car representing New Orleans and the terrible Hurricane Katrina effects adds an element of unity, and activism to the video. The video overall is great. I love Beyoncé’s work but the problem comes when you separate the lyrics from the video. The lyrics are baffling to say the least. She starts with a strong message then goes downhill to “Slay trick, or you get eliminated”. One
or two lines of track about awareness and black pride do not make a theme. Most of the song is about her bragging like always. 75% of the song is about her having sex, looking great, expensive clothes, ignoring her haters, and how much life she gives her fans. ”. It doesn’t make any sense to the message she was trying to give. Beyoncé knows what drives a large part of her fan base; her fabulousness, fierceness; and a desire to see her as wholly representative of black culture. I have no doubt that she is proud of who she is and gets sick of rumors about her and the fact that so many people like to take unfounded shots at her at times, but Beyoncé could have a came a lot better or even saved all the bragging for a separate song and stuck to the theme of the message of the song.
In Verhsawn Ashanti Young’s article titled, “Nah, We Straight: An argument Against Code Switching,” he makes his objectives clear as he argues against people Right to their own language. The author questions the advantage of standard American English as opposed to other types of English. He refers to those aspect as code switching, which he believes can lead to racist thinking. Code switching, according to Young, calls out for one way of speaking to be omitted in favor of others, based on one's rhetorical situations. The author points out that students are required to translate from Afro-American English or Spanglish to standard English and not the other way around, which is concerning. Youngs method to get around this segregation is the usage
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is a documentary film, directed by Goran Hugo Olsson with footage compiled by multiple Swedish filmmakers and journalists. The film provides an alternate and compelling view of America during the Black Power Movement—from 1967-1975. All the footage is from 1967-1975 and features iconic black figures, such as Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and other activists, artists, and leaders pivotal to the movement. Commentary is provided by black figures from the past and present. The film documents a plethora of issues associated with the Black Power Movement including the anti-Vietnam war efforts, the Black Panther Party, and the War or Drugs—and features the aforementioned black
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) is a 1 hour and 40 minute documentary that observes the black power movement in American history. This film is directed by Swedish director Goran Hugo Olson and has detailed footage that was shot during the 1960s and 1970s by Swedish journalists. The footage largely focuses on the black power movements. The film allows viewers to not only grasp a better understanding of this movement but allows us to understand why this movement appealed to Swedish journalists. The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 includes vintage interviews with Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, and other prominent leaders during the Black Power Movement. The documentary also contains contemporary audio interviews and commentaries from various entertainers, artists, activists, and scholars, including but not limited to: Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, Melvin Van Peebles, Erykah Badu, Abiodun Oyewele, and Questlove from The Roots.
My personal choice memoir was The World is Moving Around Me by Dany Laferrière, it was a memoir about the Haiti earthquake. Throughout the memoir Laferrière conveys not only his emotions, but his peers. His choice of words and phrases made this novel not only about the Haiti earthquake, but the country of Haiti and its people. His fixed descriptions show this event didn’t only move him physically, but mentally. Lastly, Laferrières connection to the people out side of Haiti, specifically the United States is key to show the world wide impact.
... song entitled “Formation”. The filming took place in Los Angeles, but features references to Hurricane Katrina, with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a flooded street and later cuts to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face on it with the title “The Truth”. Later a young hooded boy dances in front of a line of police officers with their hands up before the video cuts to a graffitied wall with the words “stop shooting us “ tagged on it, at the end of the video the police car sunk with her on top. Not only did this song, bring awareness to the 10th anniversary of hurricane Katrina it also brought awareness to police brutality, racism, and the “black lives matter movement”. I stand with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, the people of New Orleans and the countless others who are pushing for a change in the way minorities and the lower class citizen are treated.
He was tired of George Bush ignores the real problems that were going on at that time. Thousands of people died. Lil Wayne knew that this song would bring more attention to the disaster that was going on in New Orleans. Today in 2016, 10 years later, after hurricane Katrina, singer Beyoncé brought more attention to the city of New Orleans with her song entitled “Formation”. The filming took place in Los Angeles, but features references to Hurricane Katrina, with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a flooded street and later cut to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr. face on it with the title “The Truth”. Later a young hooded boy dance in front of a line of police officers with their hands up before the video cuts to a gratified wall with the words “stop shooting us “ tagged on it, at the end of the video the police car sunk with her on top. Not only did this song, bring awareness to the 10th anniversary of hurricane Katrina it also brought awareness to police brutality, racism, and the “black lives matter movement.” I stand with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, the people of New Orleans and the countless others who are pushing for a change in the way minorities and the lower class citizen are
“Over There” is a song written by George M. Cohan in 1917. Nora Bayes, Enrico Caruso, Billy Murray, Arthur Fields, and Charles King were among many who recorded the song. It was written as a propaganda piece encouraging young American men to join the army to fight in World War I. The song was incredibly popular, selling over two million copies of sheet music and one million copies of recordings by the end of the war. Cohan, the writer, was eventually even awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his work on this song.
As it opens with imagery reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, an event that devastated the black communities in the areas affected. The delayed assistance in New Orleans by the U.S. government stirred some controversy that led many to question how much America really cares about its black communities. Nonetheless, Beyoncé’s video is full of imagery that is associated with black culture, including historical references to black communities in the south. But what is really important about “Formation” are the lyrics. With lyrics like “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana, You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” and “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” Beyoncé is undoubtedly declaring her pride for her blackness as well as defending her child Blue Ivy who has always been scrutinized for the way her hair looked. Thus, this song is obviously geared toward the Black community which is obvious due to the lyrics and the imagery in the music video. To put it plainly, this song is a proclamation of Black pride and shouldn’t be thought of in any other way. However, after performing it at the Super Bowl people of other ethnicities became aware of the song and became offended by her performance as well as the lyrics. Controversy arose as people pointed out her backup dancers were dressed similarly to the Black Panther
bell hooks is trying to convince her readers that the display of black female bodies in Beyonce’s Lemonade does not aid in shifting or masking the sexist narratives and construction of black female identity (page 3).
On the night of December 13, 2013 Beyoncé, released her fifth self-titled album on iTunes. The album caught many people by surprise because Beyoncé did not set a date for the album, nor did she use any promotion; she did release a video on her Instagram asking her followers if they “were ready”. The buzz spread through social media like wildfire. With no promotion or warning, Beyoncé album took the world by storm and made it for her audience and critics to take in the album and its contents. Many people loved the album for not only its catchy songs, but also the growth and “looser” conservative Beyoncé.
I decided to expand on my Week 5 Post All About That Bass. Our assignment for that week was to analyze Meghan Trainor’s song All About That Bass and to give our opinion on what message we believe the song lyrics and video provided the public with. The second part of our assignment also involved watching “It’s Not About the Nail” and the Dave Barry article that addressed stereotypes about gender and what affect they might have on individuals.
It has been played in many other countries and is listed in many major hit charts in those countries. It became one of her best-selling singles. Beyoncé has been singing about women’s independence since she was in the hit group “Destiny’s Child”. Many of her songs support women’s lifestyle and keep cheering up girls with her powerful and expressive vocals (Armstrong). In addition to her songs and lyrics, her beautiful appearance fascinates many female audiences and influences from teenagers to grown-ups as if she was a role model. A negative side of the video is that the video gives the impression that men are always to be blamed and women are always “victims” of the relationships, which is not
Although “Thriller” is beloved as a classic 80’s pop music video, it manages a successful dive into the social and political issues that make zombie flicks so great. Pulling from a history of work on zombies, Michael Jackson packs so much history into such a concise package. Through using the texts of Amy Devitt and Kerry Dirk we are able to uncover Jackson’s experience and social commentary in “Thriller”. He simultaneously writes a hit song, revolutionizes music videos, and still remarks on the societal problems of the early 1980’s. However, the story goes much further than that of a number one hit. “Thriller” owes its success to an important cultural figure that looms as large as
Patti Smith 's, Just Kids, embarks on her journey towards freedom and breaking away from any of her family tradition that she felt she may have had to follow as a child. It was the fifties, and at that time, the role of women was nothing short of performing female tasks. Smith recounts the moments in her childhood where she would feel resentment towards her mother, as she watched her perform female, motherly tasks, and noted her well-endowed female body (Smith 5). To Patti Smith, it all seemed against her nature. The heavy scent of perfume, the red slashes of lipstick, revolted her. She wanted to be different, to create her own self-image. Ironically enough, it was through her androgynous image, that Patti Smith was able to capture the attention
The song that I choose to do this assignment on is Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Fight the Power was written in 1989 and quickly became a street anthem for millions of youths. It reflects with issues dealing with both the Civil Rights Movement and to remind everyone that they too have Constitutional Rights. This particular song is about empowerment but also fighting the abuse of power that is given to the law enforcement agencies. It gave citizens of the U.S a more modern outlook on the many struggles that not only the African American community is up against but the other minority groups as well. The song’s message was eventually supposed to bring people together and make the world a better place, even though some teens saw it as a way