Representation of Black People (African-Americans) In Formation. Flashcards
What lyrics challenge ethnic stereotypes of African- Americans?
‘I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros’
‘I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils’
- these lyrics are representing the stereotypical appearance of black people (afros) specifically black children like the ones in this part of the music video, the Jackson Five nostrils, relating to the black band, and Michael Jackson who changed his nose, subsequently changing and altering his natural black appearance.
- Here, Beyonce is celebrating/ embracing African- American/ Black beauty, and saying not to straighten their natural hair to make it ‘whiter’.
- This is challenging common ethnic stereotypes in the Media of ‘black beauty’ being seen to be not as pretty as ‘white beauty’.
What costumes are featured in Beyonce’s Formation that challenge black ethnic stereotypes?
- The scene with the young black children shows them all in white costumes and the girl in the middle wearing a white veil, this emphasises their beauty and innocence.
- This links to Beyonce challenging the ethnic stereotypes in the media of ‘black beauty’ being underneath and inferior to ‘white beauty’.
- It also links to Beyonce challenging the ethnic stereotypes of black people as being quite troublesome, naturally criminally inclined, violent, angry etc. The colour white connoting to the idea of purity and innocence presents this.
Which Formation lyrics reappropriate derogatory black terms and challenge stereotypes?
‘My daddy Alambama, Momma Louisiana
You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bamma’
- Bamma and negro are both derogatory terms for black people, and the places that they come from ‘Alabama’ and ‘Louisiana’ are predominantly African- American regions.
- the term ‘bamma’ itself relating to the slave trade and the mixed- raced people in Southern Louisiana and New Orleans, made up of kids of colonial men and enslaved women.
- However, these terms are put over an image of a painting of a black woman dressed in a fancy dress and hat in a posh frame, which is challenging these racial and ethnic stereotypes of black people being inferior and poorer and actually representing them as rich, elite, affluent and privileged- a representation usually held by richer, posher white people.
Lyrics in Beyonce’s Formation that challenges ethnic stereotypes.
‘You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making’
‘I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making’
- These lyrics along with the low angle shot of Beyonce shows her (her financial success and fame/success) and black people as powerful and successful (comparison to innovative and highly successful Bill Gates).
- Links to black people nowadays being as rich and affluent and successful as white people. This challenges ethnic stereotypes of black people, much like the last point, that they are usually shown as less successful and poorer, however Beyonce is showing that black people can be as successful as white people, presenting ethnicity of African- American’s as being elite, affluent and wealthy.
Lyrics that link to black rights and represent black ethnicity as hard working.
‘I dream it, I work hard
I grind ‘til I own it’
- Links to the cultural context of Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, makes explicit intertextual reference to civil rights activist MLK Jr.
- This reference reminds the audience about the civil rights movement and its impact on black identity.
- It presents black people as hard-working, powerful and as peaceful and educated protestors and those who overcame oppression, not like how black people are usually presented through stereotypes in the media- uneducated, angry, violent, illiterate.
What example is there in Formation of Media Language representing African- Americans/ Black people as a United front against white hegemony/oppression?
In the swimming pool scene, there is a wide- angle long shot showing all the women stood in a long line and repetitive costumes, where each of the women wears the same costume. This constructs a sense of united identity against black discrimination and white hegemony.
The lyrics that go beside it with a direct mode of address: ‘okay, ladies, now let’s get in formation’ links also to the representation of women, because women are putting on a united front in the face of male oppression and the view of female passivity and women as sexual objects.
How does the scene with the young boy and the policemen represent black people/ African-Americans?
- The shot is an over the shoulder shot, shown from the young boy’s perspective. Giving us an insight into his tiny height and reiterates his extreme youth, especially as compared to the tall and butch policemen that are towering over him and looking down at him. Also, him putting up his hands, followed by the police putting up their hands is a use of symbolism by Beyonce to show her message she is putting across to society, as it is saying that they need to ask for peace and the need for communities to come together with police.
- This represents black people and African-Americans as being law-abiding, innocent and harmless, challenging the black stereotypes in the media of them being: angry, naturally criminally inclined, violent, barbaric etc.
- This links in social/cultural contexts to Michael Brown and the Black Lives Matter campaign, Brown was shot to death in Aug 2014 by a police officer while apparently walking, unarmed, from a convenience store to his grandmother’s house, because he was Jay walking in the middle of a quiet street. The official response to Brown’s death has been rejected as insulting and inadequate by many African- Americans, the grand jury didnt press charges on Wilson and the response led to protests from black African Americans who saw this as yet another example of police brutality on black youth.
The BLM campaign was an activist movement originating in African American communities that campaign against violence and racism to black people, from police, the US Criminal Justice System and authority figures.
How does the last scene of the Formation music video represent African Americans/ Black people?
- The last scene shows Beyonce literally sinking a police car, by lying on top of it. This is reinforcing the power of black bodies, because she is lying down, she isn’t even trying and she is sinking a car. This presents African Americans/ black people as powerful.
- It also has a suggestion of self- sacrifice/ martyrdom for the cause of black rights/justice. Presents African Americans as selfless and compassionate, not how most past media texts would present them as being- primitive, barbaric, uneducated etc.
- The police car sinking in a flooded street links to the New Orleans Flooding, and the fact that during these tough times for the predominantly black city, President Bush and the US Government gave a slow and uneven response to the disaster and failed to protect and serve citizens in the aftermath. This led to the claim that Bush didnt ‘care about black people’.
There were also lots of racist responses to the disaster; mainstream media depicting black storm victims as looters rather than survivors, while also drumming up hysteria about supposedly crime-prone New Orleans residents taking refuge in cities like Houston.
Here, Formation is taking a stand against the terrible depictions of black people in the Media and the unfairness/ discrimination they receive.
Are African Americans/ Black people constructed/presented as different or ‘other’?
- No, they are not constructed as ‘other’, it is seen as the norm in this music video, there are not any white people in the whole video, apart from the police. However, this is used to show/accentuate an obvious binary opposition in this scene and to show a uniting/peace treaty between the two sides.
How are White People constructed in Formation?
- The only white people in the music video are the policemen, and as I said previously this is to show a direct binary opposition between black and white people and to show that there should be a uniting/ peace treaty between the two sides.
- The only white people are wearing their uniforms as costumes and it is very obvious that they are figures of authority, this is presenting the mass of white people in positions of power in the American Justice System and that Beyonce is projecting her view that there is a huge imbalance and unfairness towards black people.
What other social/cultural contexts are there relating to the history of African- Americans and Black People?
The use of Antebellum Era dresses/ costuming in the old-fashioned, period drama style scenes makes reference to a period of time when slavery existed in the south.
However, these elaborate, beautiful dresses, hats and fans would not have been worn by slaves, instead would have been worn by white women who most likely employed the slaves.
The re-appropriating of these costumes reflects messages about black identity and black power.
On the other hand, it also reminds audiences of this past event and shows that the discrimination of black people/ African Americans still occurs even in modern times.
