FORMATION CASE STUDY

THEO ANDREWS
PRODUCT CONTEXT
• FORMATION IS THE LEAD SINGLE FOR BEYONCÉ'S ALBUM LEMONADE,
WHICH WAS RELEASED A DAY BEFORE BEYONCÉ'S PERFORMANCE AT THE
SUPER BOWL IN 2016. THE VIDEO WAS DIRECTED BY ,MELINA MATSOUKIS
AND WAS RELEASED THE SAME TIME AS THE SONG. THE MUSIC VIDEO
HAS WON SEVERAL AWARDS INCLUDING THE CLIO AWARD FOR
INNOVATION AND CREATIVE EXCELLENCE IN A MUSIC VIDEO AND HAS
BEEN NOMINATED IN THE MUSIC VIDEO CATEGORY AT THE 59 TH GRAMMY
AWARDS. THE VIDEO IS SET WITH THE BACKDROP OF THE FLOODING IN
NEW ORLEANS AFTER HURRICANE KATRININA. THE VIDEO ALSO DRAWS
IN THOUGHTS ABOUT RACIAL TENSIONS IN AMERICA AND DRAWS
HISTORICAL PARRALELLS THROUGH REFERENCES TO SLAVERY.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• THE VIDEO IS FILMED IN NEW ORLEANS AND IS SET IN THE AFTERMATH

OF HURRICANE KATRINA. THIS PLACES THE VIDEO IN CONTEXT FOR THE
READER AS IT INFORMS THEM OF THE TONE OF THE VIDEO, WHAT THE
THEME OF THE SONG MAY BE ABOUT AND SO ON. HURRICANE KATRINA
SEVERELY AFFECTED THE BLACK COMMUNITIES OF NEW ORLEANS, AND
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT RELIEF EFFORTS DIDN’T FIX THE ISSUES
THE AREA HAD, BEYONCÉ MAY BE MAKING A STATEMENT ABOUT THIS
THROUGH THE LYRICS AND VIDEOGRAPHY IN THE VIDEO, AS THERE A
SEVERAL REFERENCES TO OTHER ISSUES SUCH AS THE BLACK LIVES
MATTER MOVEMENT.
MEDIA LANGUAGE

THE MUSIC VIDEO HAS A DIVERSE AND VARIED RANGE OF MESSAGES AND POTENTIAL
MEANINGS TO BE DECODED BY THE READER. THIS IS MOSTLY EXPRESSED THROUGH
THE USE OF SEMIOTICS. FOR EXAMPLE ONE OF THE FIRST FRAMES DISPLAYS BEYONCÉ
SAT ON TOP OF A POLICE CAR WHICH IS PARTIALLY UNDERWATER FROM FLOODING.
THIS IS PERHAPS A REFERENCE TO THE INJUSTICES THE BLACK COMMUNITY HAVE
SUFFERED BOTH AT THE HANDS OF HURRICANE KATRINA AND THE POLICE. THE VIDEO
WILL INDEFINITELY HAVE AN ENGAGED AND UNENGAGED AUDIENCE, AS MANY OF THE
CULTURAL REFERENCES REQUIRE A HIGH LEVEL OF MEDIA LITERACY AND
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE. FOR EXAMPLE THE FRAMES WHERE A CHILD IS DANCING
INFORNT OF RIOT POLICE, MAY BE TAKEN LITERALLY BY AN UNINFORMED AUDIENCE,
AND IN ANOTHER WAY BY AN INFORMED AUDIENCE.
• THE VIDEO COULD BE SEEN AS CONTRADICTORY AND CONFLICTING, AS DARK
THEMES ARE IN THE VIDEO ALONGSIDE SEEMINGLY JOYFUL SCENES OF BEYONCÉ
DANCING “IN FORMATION "WITH BACKING DANCERS”. MESSAGES ARE SENT
THROUGH SEVERAL DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF THE VIDEO SUCH AS CAMERA
ANGLES, MOVEMENTS AND PROPS. ONE NOTICEABLE MESSAGE IS SENT THROUGH
THE USE OF CLOTHING. FOR EXAMPLE THERE ARE SHOTS WHERE BEYONCÉ IS SEEN
TO BE IN TYPICAL “ANTEBELLUM” STYLE CLOTHING FROM THE 1700’S. SHE IS ALSO
ALONGSIDE OTHER AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN. THEREFORE I BELIEVE THE
CLOTHING IS CONNOTATING A STATEMENT ABOUT RACE AS IN THE 1700’S THIS
CLOTHING WAS OFTEN WORN BY UPPER CLASS WHITE PEOPLE, BEYONCE IS
THEREFORE MAKING A STATEMENT BY DRESSING BLACK WOMEN IN THE CLOTHING.
• THE VIDEO SWITCHES BETWEEN AGGRESSIVE MOVEMENTS AND
GESTURES, TO MORE RECOGNIZABLE JOYFUL DANCING. I BELIEVE THAT
THIS IS INNKEEPING WITH AN UNDERLYING MESSAGE THROUGHOUT THE
VIDEO OF MAKING GOOD OUT OF A BAD SITUATION. THIS CAN BE SEEN
SEVERAL TIMES THROUGHOUT THE VIDEO SUCH AS WHEN BEYONCÉ IS
DANCING ON THE POLICE CAR IN THE FLOODED STREET, OR THE CHILD
DANCING IN FRONT OF THE LINE OF RIOT POLICE. CONTRAST IS ALSO
SEEN IN OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE VIDEO, SUCH AS THE
CINEMATOGRAPHY AS OTHER PERIODS OF TIME ARE REPRESENTED IN
THE VIDEO SUCH AS A DANCE SEQUENCE FILMED ON AN 80’S/90’S VHS
CAMERA. BEYONCÉ AND THE BACKGROUND DANCERS ARE ALSO
INTERESTINGLY ALWAYS DANCING “IN FORMATION”.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
• SEMIOTICS- ROLAND BARTHES THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF THE VIDEO WHICH ARE
CONNOTATING CERTAIN MEANINGS SUCH AS THE SHOTS OF STREETS AROUND NEW ORLEANS MAKING THE
READER ASSOCIATE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STREET WITH MESSAGE AND MEANING OF THE
VIDEO.
• JEAN BAUDRILLARD- YOU COULD ARGUE THAT THE VIDEO IS A DISTORTED VIEW OF REALITY AS ELEMENTS
SUCH AS THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT SEEM REALISTIC AND RECOGNIZABLE, HOWEVER OVER ELEMENTS
SUCH AS THE MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR OF THE PEOPLE IN THE VIDEO IS UNREALISTIC. POSTMODERNISM
CAN BE FURTHER BE APPLIED HERE AS THE VIDEO PAYS HOMAGE TO SEVERAL DIFFERENT ICONIC
HISTORICAL ELEMENTS SUCH AS THE 80’S AND THE 1700’S. POSTMODERNISM CAN FINALLY BE APPLIED
ONCE MORE AS SOME VIEWERS MAY QUESTION BEYONCÉ'S GOOD INTENTION’S OF BRINGING TO LIGHT OF
SOCIAL ISSUES BETWEEN BLACK PEOPLE AND THE POLICE AND THE DAMAGE DONE BY HURRICANE KATRINA
TO NEW ORLEANS AS THERE ARE ECONOMIC FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCED THE CREATION OF THE VIDEO.
FOR EXAMPLE IT WAS RELEASED THE DAY BEFORE BEYONCÉ'S SUPERBOWL HALFTIME SHOW, WHICH
WOULD HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLY LUCRATIVE FOR HER.
• FEMINIST THEORY- BELL HOOKS. THIS THEORY CAN BE USED AS A
STIMULUS TO WHETHER BEYONCÉ IS EMPOWERING WOMEN, OR
CONTINUING THE STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION BY THE WAY SHE IS
PRESENTING THE WOMEN IN THE VIDEO. IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT
BEYONCÉ IS SUPPORTING THE MOVEMENT AS THE WOMEN ARE SEEN TO
HAVE THE POSITION OF POWER IN THE VIDEO INSTEAD OF MEN, AND ARE
CELEBRATED AS PEOPLE INSTEAD OF BEING OBJECTIFIED BY MEN.
HOWEVER IT COULD BE ARGUED BEYONCÉ COULD BE ONLY
ENCOURAGING SEXISM, AS THE DANCE MOVES AND CLOTHING IS STILL
SEXUALIZED.
• POSTCOLONIAL AND ETHNIC THEORIES- PAUL GILROY. THERE ARE BINARY
OPPOSITIONS CREATED IN THE VIDEO SUCH AS THE PEOPLE VS THE
POLICE. THE VIDEO ALSO CHALLENGES SOCIAL RACIAL HIERARCHY BY
PORTRAYING BLACK WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF POWER THROUGH USE OF
ELEMENTS SUCH AS CLOTHING. THIS SUBVERTS THE TRADITIONAL WAY
THAT THEY ARE PORTRAYED IN THE MEDIA.