
One of the main issues today in the United States is gender equality and how people still view males as the superior gender. There are protests against feminism, social media sites that make fun of it, and the thought of having a woman for president causes much of the country to go insane. The background dancers in Beyoncé’s “Formation” video seem to portray what women in this country should be doing, standing together and uplifting one another. Beyoncé is a well-known feminist and activist for Black Lives Matter, and she uses this song and video to showcase that. The main line of the song in this video is “okay ladies now let’s get in formation.” Though this line may just be something that people sing and dance to without really thinking, it also has a deeper meaning and shows what the song is about, and what Beyoncé supports. The background dancers in this video stuck out as being one and standing together for what they believe in. 

The first scene where the dancers had meaning in this video was at the minute mark 1:24. All of the dancers are sitting in lines and viewers see them from a slight bird’s eye view. The dancers are so still they almost appear to be dolls, and viewers see them at this angle to make it seem that they are smaller than the rest of us. This is the first scene that viewers can realize women are not always treated as individuals, and sometimes people only care about their bodies. This goes along with the anti-feminist ideal that women are objects and should be treated as such, and it is also belittling women. All of the background dancers during this scene are wearing the same thing, and they pan across the screen so you can see many of them all looking the same. The dancers also show power, because there are so many of them, and they create what looks like a border. This could mean unity for all women and standing up for what is right, but it could also mean they are just there for show and for men to enjoy the view. This scene could be a setting for the later scenes, building up how women are treated differently than men and how later in the video, they will all fight back.

The 1:39 minute mark is when we first see the background dancers actually dancing, rather than just sitting in lines. This is when the song is really building and it can also mean that women are gaining more strength. The dancers all appear to be very powerful and are completely in sync with Beyoncé, which symbolizes unity and being confident. This is also the part of the song where Beyoncé talks about where she came from and her parents, as if she is getting mad about how blacks have been treated and she is now fighting back. 

At minute mark 2:18, as the camera is zooming in on Beyoncé, the background dancers are sitting with perfect posture and fanning themselves. The dancers are all spread out around the room and do not appear to be interacting with one another. The focus is solely on Beyoncé, even though everyone in the view is doing the same thing. This goes along with the Black Lives Matter ideal and can somewhat represent the time period of slavery, or the upper class New Orleans society. I feel as though there is slight irony with this scene because all slaves were black and it would have been the white people who were always looking proper and fanning themselves. The Creole elite also show that the closer someone’s skin tone is to white, the better social class they were, which would also make this scene ironic. This scene could be positive for Black Lives Matter because they are all saying they are successful now and white is no longer the superior race in the United States, or it could also slightly show that not much has changed in the United States. Although racism is not as bad as it used to be, it still happens and this scene could just be a reminder that we aren’t as different from the slavery time period as we say we are.

At minute mark 2:31, the background dancers represented what I think is the worst part of society today. All of the dancers were forming a line and for a second, the view appears to be from a camera or a television screen. I think this shows that no matter where we go or what we do, we are always being watched and judged. It caught my attention because it is so different than the rest of the video, which is filmed normally. This scene shows video footage of another camera screen and that stuck out to me as how harshly society is judged today. Women especially have to put on these perfect faces and often times won’t even leave their house without their makeup on or hair done. This scene just proves that everywhere we go, it seems as if someone is watching and judging.

Throughout the rest of the video, the song keeps building and the dance scenes get more elaborate. The background dancers are always in unison and do not stand out from each other, they represent one. They are seen around the room fanning themselves, all in gray outfits dancing together, creating lines and circles as one, and from the view of another camera. These are all symbolic of what women are seen as and what they should represent, which is standing together and uplifting one another, not bringing each other down. Beyoncé used this song to get the point across how blacks are treated and how women are treated, and that a lot needs to change.

These scenes from the “Formation” video provide a much deeper meaning than what viewers see. By always having all black, female background dancers it really shows how much of a feminist Beyoncé is and how she stands up for what she believes in. Beyoncé is such a powerful person and uses this video to show her power. Having the background dancers all be in uniform and having so many of them shows women uniting. This video creates a powerful message for all viewers and can be portrayed in many different ways.