Formation (Beyonce) Flashcards
What genre conventions are evident in Formation?
The video blends elements of R&B, hip-hop, and pop with music video conventions such as direct address, performance, and stylised cinematography. It also incorporates cinematic and documentary-style visuals.
How does Formation use intertextuality?
It references Hurricane Katrina footage, Black Lives Matter protests, and Southern imagery, creating cultural and historical allusions.
What is the significance of costume and mise-en-scene in Formation?
The costumes reference antebellum fashion, Southern heritage, and contemporary Black culture, symbolising the intersection of past and present identities.
How are camera shots used to create meaning?
Close-ups emphasise Beyonce’s power and defiance, while wide shots of flooding and police confrontations highlight social injustice.
How is editing used to create meaning in Formation?
The video uses rapid cuts and jump cuts to create a fragmented, disorientating effect, reflecting chaos and disruption. Slow motion is also used to emphasise moments of power and defiance.
How is Black identity represented in Formation?
The video celebrates Black culture and identity, showcasing natural hair, afros, and Black beauty standards. It also addresses racial injustice.
How is gender represented in Formation?
Beyonce embodies a powerful, assertive female figure, challenging traditional gender roles while also embracing sexuality.
What is the significance of the child dancing in front of the police?
It symbolises resilience and defiance in the face of systematic racism, with the police raising their hands in surrender being a powerful reversal of power dynamics.
How does Formation subvert or reinforce stereotypes?
it subverts stereotypes by celebrating Black Southern culture and wealth, while also addressing police brutality and racial inequality.
What historical event is referenced in Formation?
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (2005), highlighting government neglect of Black communities.
How does Formation reflect the Black Lives Matter movement?
The video depicts police brutality, systematic racism, and Black resistance, aligning with the movement’s messages.
How does Formation comment on race relations in America?
It critiques racial inequality, celebrates Black culture, and demands recognition of Black struggles and resilience.
How does Stuart Hall’s theory of representation apply to Formation?
The video challenges dominant representations of Blackness, offering a complex, resistant portrayal of Black identity.
How does bell hooks’ theory of intersectional feminism apply?
Beyonce presents herself as both a feminist and Black activist, highlighting how race and gender intersect in experiences of oppression.
How does Formation reflect David Gauntlett’s identity theory?
It offers audiences diverse representations of Blackness, enabling viewers to identify with and draw empowerment from its cultural imagery.
How does Paul Gilroy’s theory of ethnicity and postcolonialism apply?
The video explores the legacy of slavery, systematic racism, and Black resistance, linking past oppressions with contemporary struggles.
How is editing used to create meaning in Formation?
The video uses rapid cuts and jump cuts to create a fragmented, disorientating effect, reflecting chaos and disruption. Slow motion is also used to emphasise moments of power and defiance.
What is the significance of the opening scene with Beyonce on the police car?
It symbolises the Black community’s oppression and resilience. The car sinking into the floodwaters of New Orleans evokes the neglect Black citizens faced during Hurricane Katrina.
How does Formation use iconography?
It uses Southern imagery (e.g., plantation house, antebellum dresses) alongside contemporary Black culture (e.g., hot sauce, braids), creating a visual blend of history and modernity.
What lighting techniques are used in the video?
Low-key lighting is used in darker, more dramatic scenes, while natural lighting enhances realism in outdoor shots, such as the scenes with children.
How are police officers represented in Formation?
They are depicted as symbols of systematic oppression. The scene where they raise their hands in surrender critiques police brutality and reverses the power dynamic.
How are symbols of wealth used in Formation?
Beyonce is seen in luxurious settings (e.g., the plantation house, expensive outfits), which can be interpreted a reclaiming power and challenging the historical oppression of Black people in such spaces.
How does Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics apply to Formation?
Signs such as the police car, flooding, and raised hands carry connotations of racial struggle, resistance, and defiance, creating symbolic meaning.
How does Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality apply to Formation?
The blending of real footage (e.g., Hurricane Katrina) with stylised, fictional scenes creates a hyperreal portrayal of Black struggle and resilience.
How does Formation reflect Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity?
Beyonce’s powerful, sexualised, and assertive performance challenges traditional gender roles, showing femininity as performative and powerful.
How does Formation reflect Steve Neale’s genre theory?
It combines and subverts genre conventions, mixing music video tropes with political and documentary-style visuals, creating genre hybridity.
How does Formation create Binary Oppositions?
It contrasts images of wealth and power (e.g., Beyonce in luxury settings), with images of struggle (e.g., Hurricane Katrina flooding), highlighting racial and social inequalities.
