In Beyoncé’s music video for the song Formation, the reoccurring use of a monumental visual motif constructs the meaning of the video and helps convey the overall theme that is expressed. The motif that embodies the video is when Beyoncé is on top of a police car in a heavily flooded area in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that ruined many towns and truly destroyed areas in New Orleans, was the overall reasoning for Beyoncé’s video. Also, that the problems that occurred almost 11 years ago between the poor areas and law enforcement as well as other relief organizations. These problems are still relevant in this present day and age in the United States. Beyoncé is shedding light on how ridiculous it is that the problems like the handling of hurricane Katrina situation are still very present and relevant, and affect a large amount of people. This image shows the true overall message that is conveyed in the music video, and shows that the poor parts of the city of New Orleans, a very important port city in the United States, were left behind by outside aid and will truly never recover from this devastating natural disaster. 

This motif depicts the message perfectly that the poor sections of neighborhoods were left out of the aid that was given to the rest of the city of New Orleans. There were many poor towns that were left in the exact same environment in which Beyoncé is in on top of the police car. The town is very rundown and seems as though it has not been touched since the disaster happened. A powerful element is that the weather is beautiful in the image, there is not a cloud in the sky and the storm has since passed by. This element helps to show that the help that was promised and expected never came to certain poor areas. It is very apparent that the natural disaster not affecting the area currently and this is what the people have been left to deal with. This shows how there was no help offered to this area that was obviously in dire need of any, and all help available given to the area. The entire town is underwater and has no signals of life, it looks like a real life swimming pool in the middle of the town. This visual text is directed strait at the outside forces and the lack of help provided by organizations that are set up to give aid to heavily affected areas of natural disasters, specifically hurricanes. This is apparent through the abandoned police car that Beyoncé is standing on in the middle of the water. However, not all of the focus is on the police force, but on all of the forces and aid that didn’t help the poor areas of New Orleans. This is a powerful moving message of the ongoing struggle of racial and social segregation. 

Beyoncé projects this message to a much bigger crowd then just the forces in New Orleans and the organizations that never helped. She wants to bring attention to all of the social injustice around the United States in the present day and age. The poor areas getting left out of the help they deserved is part of the on-going battle between poor communities and law enforcement everywhere in the country. This visual text demands people to look more closely at how certain situations have been handled in the past by law enforcement in regards to poor areas. Furthermore, the text is asking you to take a second and look at all of the injustice that is occurring in this country, and to become more informed on this topic for the greater good of society. It is very apparent that this certain part of the neighborhood is very poor. Many of the buildings are worn and rundown meaning that there has not been much money invested into the city and no new businesses have targeted this specific area. The main symbol that is used is the police car in the water with the words New Orleans Police on the top of the cruiser. This is direct criticism of how they left at a time in which this town needed them the most. The viewer feels bad for this town and how it is just left out to dry in a time of dire need. When I watched the video for the first time the entire scene seemed bizarre and imagining this was how some of the towns were left after the disaster set the realization of how wrong it was.  The motif forces people to imagine towns left in this state with everything ruined and is immediately angry at how no one helped regardless of the whereabouts of the particular area. All of the viewers need to realize that this social injustice is relevant throughout much more than just this situation, and all should take action to fix this problem. Realizing how poorly this situation was handled, truly helps to promote a higher standard of living and more social equality throughout the entire United States.

This whole motif allows the viewer to interpret many aspects of the current situation. Obviously the area is truly flooded and underwater, but certain assumptions help connect Beyoncé’s true message to every viewer. The first real assumption is the town is not very well supported financially. The buildings in the back are very run down and the whole town looks as though it has not been updated in a very long time through just the few buildings in the background. This helps to show which types of towns were left underwater and not in the best condition after the disaster. Assuming all of this, the final theme is connected from Beyoncé that this whole situation was entirely wrong and social discrimination.  All of the organizations and police forces were very conscious of who they decided to aid and who was left to suffer. The outlying factor is that the communities could not respond properly and say they were not aided even if they wanted to. It took a star like Beyoncé to send a message and shed light on this issue for any of this to get any attention, and for many people to realize how inhumane and wrong the handling of this situation was.

The bottom line is the way the government as well as other organizations handled the destruction to the city of New Orleans was truly unfair and represented the on-going struggle of racism and social injustice in the United States. This was shown directly through visual image, which is one very effective and successful image as it attracts a great amount of attention. Beyoncé executes showing the theme perfectly and makes everyone who views this to stop and look at how the whole situation was handled. Also, to how it could have been handled in an effective manner to truly assist everyone who was in need. The organizations and law enforcement discriminated against certain poor areas who deserved the help that other wealthier areas got, and this shows that there is a terrible battle with social injustice. This illustrates how much work we have left regarding these situations in the United States and how much we need to improve to make the country an equal place for all citizens. 
