Janelle Monae Turn Tables

Question 1

What awards has Janelle won?

Answer 1

Women in Music Rising Star Award and they have received 8 Grammy
Awards.

Question 2

What film did she star in?

Answer 2

Hidden Figures, a box office success about black women
mathematicians who worked for NASA, and
Moonlight, which won the Academy Award
for Best Picture

Question 3

What was Turn Tables nominated for and when?

Answer 3

An Oscar for Best Original Song in 2021

Question 4

What record label is she signed to?

Answer 4

Atlantic Records, Sony Music Publishing but also has their own independent label Wondaland
Arts Society

Question 5

Who wrote Turn Tables

Answer 5

Monáe, Nathaniel Irvin III, and George A. Peters

Question 6

Who produced turn tables?

Answer 6

Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Roman Gian Arthur

Question 7

Why did she write Turn Tables?

Answer 7

Turntables is a protest song that was initially written for the 2020 Amazon
documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, which focuses on the issue of voter suppression and the fight for democracy.
The film’s subject is the 2018 elections for the Governor of Georgia. It drew attention to the tactics used to suppress voting rights to ensure the election of the Republican candidate Brian Kemp at the expense of Stacey Abrams, the black Democrat candidate.
In the documentary, the tactics used to suppress the voting right of minorities were exposed.
During the run up to the election, 1.4 million under-represented minorities disappeared from the electoral roll and 300,000 Georgians were incorrectly deemed ineligible to vote.

Question 8

What does Turn Tables refer to?

Answer 8

action needs to be taken to turn things around and tackle injustice across society

Question 9

How is it a narrative performance video?

Answer 9

The artist in performance sings directly to camera, involving the audience in the story and leading them through the narrative. The involvement of the artist in this style of music video allows them to establish their star persona

Question 10

In what ways is it a protest song?

Answer 10

A strong beat that Monáe describes as similar to a march and a powerful, uplifting chorus, typical of a power ballad

Question 11

How is clothing used?

Answer 11

different cultural codes are established through clothing styles and colours, suggesting
the inclusivity and diversity of the community.
For example, the young girl and the black womens’ hairstyles carry cultural connotations.
Monáe themselves wears a 1940’s army uniform relating to national identity

Question 12

How is setting and iconography used?

Answer 12

the music video locations move between archive footage locations, surreal settings and iconography and the ordinary home of a family having breakfast.
The setting of the family living room shows a young girl with an iconic, cultural hairstyle
watching the archive news footage through a VR headset.

Question 13

What does the mise en scene communicate?

Answer 13

A positive message that the scenes she is witnessing on the screen are consigned to history and she will not have to live through them as things will change.
The lyrics state:
Got a new agenda
With a new dream
I’m kicking out the old regime

Question 14

How does the iconography link to the lyrics?

Answer 14

The iconography in the music video has very literal connections with the lyrics, such as
the turntable at the start, whereas other examples of iconography are more surreal. For example, Monáe dragging the statue of the warrior queen out of the sea and then standing beside it, reinforcing the idea of minorities standing up to injustice. Similarly,the juxtaposition of the American flag with the lyrics:
America, you a lie
But the whole world ‘bout to testify
suggesting that America has let down its people.
Simpler but important messages are communicated through iconography, for example the young girl having a choice over the dolls suggests that inequalities extend to the toy industry.

Question 15

What expressions and gestures are used?

Answer 15

gestures of protest in the archive footage, including the iconic and
globally recognised Black Power raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics; these are replicated in the more contemporary images of protest. Similarly, the upbeat atmosphere of the music video during the chorus sections is reinforced by waving, smiling and dancing, which are recognisable signifiers of positivity

Question 16

What technical codes are used?

Answer 16

The establishing shots of the beach at the beginning and end of the music video constructs the idea of freedom. The final shot of Monáe with the warrior queen statue, combined with the audio of the sea, leaves the audience calm

Question 17

How does she create an upbeat feeling and engage with the audience?

Answer 17

Use of close-up shots of Janelle Monáe in the music video and their determined
expressions

Question 18

What does the long shot of Monáe with their back turned and gesticulating to the American flag connote?

Answer 18

the idea of the flag as a symbol of oppression for some areas of American society

Question 19

What does the long shot of the smiling face of the young girl when she picks up the doll, connote?

Answer 19

It represents her culture, is positive and uplifting in its simplicity

Question 20

What effect does the canted angles hve?

Answer 20

The canted angles combined with fast editing towards the end of the video as the music builds creates a sense of disorientation reflecting the need to disrupt the status quo.

Question 21

How do they convey the feeling of inequality across America?

Answer 21

The bird’s eye view shots of the Black Lives Matter protests and the colourful Pride march

Question 22

How is the ideology of the music video reinforced?

Answer 22

The editing cuts between the black and white archive footage, the contemporary news clips and the performance of the artist in various settings, establishing a cohesive message reinforcing the ideology of the music video through visual signifiers

Question 23

What audio features and what is the significance?

Answer 23

As well as the song itself, the music video starts with the voice of black American writer James Baldwin from 1968 and featured in the 2016 documentary film based on his work, I Am Not Your Negro: ‘I can’t be a pessimist because I’m alive… I am forced to believe that we can survive whatever we must survive…’ It is used here to remind audiences how
long the suppression of minority groups has been happening.

Question 24

How is the narrative non linear?

Answer 24

Monáe combines elements of the past, present and the future; they use the archive footage to highlight the injustices of the past and those still perpetrated in the
present but, through the inclusion of happy children, looks to more positive future. The
different narrative strands featuring as a series of clips are held together by the artist performing the song and engaging in direct mode of address with the audience, thus forcing them to engage with the issues.The artist acts as the storyteller, a typical convention of music videos.The repetitive lyrics of the chorus reinforce the
narrative:
No stoppin’ ‘til
Turn, turn, turn (turn)
We can’t wait for it
Turn, turn, turn
Yeah, the tables ‘bout to turn

Question 25

What is the juxtaposition in the narrative?

Answer 25

The narrative moves between reminders of the injustices dispensed out over time to minority and subordinate groups, to more positive statements about how change can happen.

Question 26

what are the visual signifiers of voter suppression?

Answer 26

images of black people casting their votes and Stacey Abrams speaking.

Question 27

How is media language use?

Answer 27

I’m simply watching, examining, and wanting to highlight all of the people who are onthe frontlines fighting for our democracy, fighting against racial inequalities, fighting against white supremacy, fighting against systemic racism, and systemic oppression

Question 28

What visual signifiers are used to denote injustice?

Answer 28

American flag and the raised fist, connote more complex meanings according to the context in which they appear and can achieve the status of myth through a process of naturalisation.

Question 29

What is the structure?

Answer 29

The form has a repertoire of familiar elements regardless of the music genre.This music video employs the codes and conventions of the narrative/performance form, cutting between the chosen archive clips, the constructed narrative and the performance of the artist. Music videos have a set time, the length of the song, to construct meaning and therefore use recognisable conventions, including clothing and iconography, to convey messages rapidly

Question 30

How is it representative?

Answer 30

Janelle Monáe is an influential artist who has played powerful roles on screen and in their music videos.
As a musician, they tend to blend and bend genres in their music, including rap and jazz; these music sub-genres typically cover themes related to the experiences of Afro-Americans.
Monáe uses the conventions of the music and its historical roots to explore social inequalities and the suppression of minority groups. As a black, female and nonbinary artist in this genre, they are also concerned to project a positive representation of gender and, in particular, black women through their music:A lot of us live this experience. This is not something we get to turn off and turn off. This is life for us. This is a life for our family. This is a life for our friends. This has been the life for our
ancestors. (https://variety.com)

Question 31

How does it represent gender and ethnicity?

Answer 31

Turntables constructs a version of realityusing real locations and believable characters combined with actual protestors, sports personalities, leaders and politicians who have
spoken out and taken action against oppression. One example is Muhammad Ali, who throughout his life challenged white supremacy, segregation and all forms of racism. This is combined with a more surreal aesthetic using the music video form to engage the audience with the issues. Theparadigmatic choices of visual and technical codes work together to convey a point of view about society

Question 32

What is the cultural iconography?

Answer 32

uplifting shots of groups dancing and singing together and interesting, iconic shots of young black women.

Question 33

What is a key message?

Answer 33

To challenge underrepresentation and misrepresentation of certain ethnic groups

Question 34

How does the video reinforce similarities and not cultural differences?

Answer 34

The representation of ethnic groups as victims and the notion of ‘otherness’ is avoided and replaced by more positive representations of power through protest.

Question 35

What is the social, poliical and cultural context?

Answer 35

Audiences who may feel under-represented may be empowered by the messagesencoded in this music video. The music video explores issues related to the
experience of living in contemporary America as a member of an under-represented social group

Question 36

What political issues are alluded to?

Answer 36

r the killing of George Floyd and the Families Belong Together campaign, whose aim was to reunite immigrant families separated at the US-Mexican border by a policy initiated during the Trump administration