
Beyoncé is one of the most famous artists in our culture today. She was born in Texas and is very proud of it. She is the most nominated woman in Grammy award history. In Beyoncé’s latest album, she attempted to create a “visual album” and judging from her song “Formation” she did an excellent job. Beyoncé uses her music video “Formation” to discuss police brutality, her black heritage, and attempts to shed light on the women’s rights issues that plague the country today. 

In the first couple scenes of the music video, Beyoncé sets the scene. The very first image is her sitting on a waterlogged police car. It then turns to a man with a light up grill, the back of a police jacket, some New Orleans neighborhoods, a preacher and some homes that are flooded. This puts us, the viewer, actually in these troubled neighborhoods with police lurking. In the final scenes, Beyoncé shows a young child in a black hoodie dancing in front of a line of police officers. When the boy finishes, the officers respond by putting their hands up with the boy still in front of them. In this image, Beyoncé is sending a message about recent violence with police and African Americans. She is referencing the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” movement. In this image, the boy is wearing a black hoodie as a reference to what Trayvon Martin was wearing when he was killed. The very next image is just a wall with graffiti on it that says “Stop Shooting Us.” This image is pretty self-explanatory but clearly makes a strong statement, especially with the white wall and the black graffiti. In one of the final scenes, Beyoncé is shown again on the police car, but this time the car is sinking. This image was created as a statement Beyoncé was trying to make. She wants people to see that the car is representing the moral integrity of the police force, and that their moral judgment is sinking. She is trying to show how she feels the people who are supposed to be put out to protect people are actually losing their way and are creating more harm than good in the sinking of the vehicle. 

Beyoncé does not just talk about police brutality, but also talks about her heritage. Beyoncé is proud to be a not only African American, but an African American woman. The first example of this comes when three young African American children come on the screen, one of them being Beyoncé’s daughter, Blue Ivy. Blue Ivy proudly stands up front and shakes her shoulders when Beyoncé says she likes “Her baby heir with baby hair and afros.” This is a direct reference to a historically black hairstyle, the afro. Then comes the image of Beyoncé and a few other women all dressed up in old southern clothing. They are in what seems to be a plantation house, but instead of being afraid, they are proud to be there. You would think that if you were Beyoncé in this situation, you would be trying to get out of there as quickly as possible, but Beyoncé is happy to be there as if now she’s the one in charge. Finally, Beyoncé comes on the screen with several men behind her. They are all wearing black and Beyoncé throws up two middle fingers. In my opinion, in doing this, she is saying I don’t care what anybody else says, I am who I am. She is showing off the fact that she is a strong African American woman and nobody can take that from her.

The most obvious theme from “Formation” is Hurricane Katrina. In the very first scene, Beyoncé is seen on a police car floating in water. Additionally, an image of a house in the flood is shown. Both of these are clear references to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated and still devastates the South. She does not include this imagery for no reason. She uses the devastation caused to help secure her main points. Firstly, she uses the hurricane to point out her issue with the women’s rights. She does this in a brilliant way by showing how devastating the hurricane was when it occurred. One can see how this ties into the brutal treatment of women at the height of the women’s suffrage movement. The reason she chose hurricane Katrina is because it is an event that many people do not think about now unless they are from the affected area. Similarly, women’s rights are not something that people give the attention it still deserves unless they are the women who are still afflicted by it. She also uses the hurricane to for racism and the police brutality issues that are often very related to each other. The hurricane, though devastating, did actually cause some good. It helped to unite many people of the community together. She uses the flooding caused by the hurricane to show how these issues of racism and the police need to be “flooded” by the new ideas of fair treatment for all. She wants people to see that although something is not easy, like over-coming a devastating hurricane, it is important to move forward together and find a way to unify together. She definitely puts a negative light on some of the police force in the video but she is doing a good job of pointing the social issues.    

Beyoncé is a major icon in our society and, in this video, she uses her influence to show how proud she is to be an African American woman from the South. After being criticized in the past for not using her influence enough to push for equality for African Americans and for women, she uses several images to push her opinion in this video. Beyoncé choose to release this song during Black History Month and just days before her performance at the Super bowl, which she knew would cause some controversy. This continues to show her passion for the topic by not allowing the inevitable issues it caused for her to stop her from making her point.  
