
Beyoncé’s Formation music video is not only for entertainment value, but also to spread a message of equality and self-love. The song was released on February 6, 2016.  The day after its release Beyoncé performed it at the Super Bowl.  This song became a huge trend and immediately blew up.  The song caused quite the stir and immediately began to start theories on a deeper powerful message.  The music video’s use of both colors and costuming symbolize a greater meaning of empowerment.  Both the colors and costumes represent a difference in time, and how that time has impacted the world.  

The video’s use of coloring represents a difference in time.  In the scene from 2:17 to 2:25, women are wearing white costumes that are traditional to the times of slavery.  The women are clothed in corseted dresses with large fluffy skirts, extremely similar to the ones women wore back in that time period.  Both the color white and the costumes represent the time after slavery when slaves were officially free, but still under severe oppression.  The costumes are similar to the 1900 time period when slavery was abolished.  The slaves were still in theoretical shackles because they were not treated as equals in any sense of the word.  This particular scene shows unity between women and how slavery will always be remembered.  The women all stand together to show their united strength, and the costuming and colors play a large role in the semblance of unity.  

The color white will also take on another meaning in the video.  From 0:36 to 0:38 there is a scene in which young African-American girls dressed in frilly white dresses are dancing around a room.  This is yet another representation of how coloring plays a role in the deeper meaning.  These young girls are a symbol of pure innocence.  The color white is commonly associated with innocence and it is no different in this case.  The color white is pure, untouched from today’s evils just like the young kids.  They are seen having fun and acting as children should.  The lyrics during this scene, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” further prove her message of black empowerment (Beyoncé).  The combination of the girls wearing their natural hair, and the lyrics further prove the message of empowerment.  It is okay to show your ethnicity.  People should never be ashamed of who they are, and this song promotes that message with its full heart.  The children are both a representation of the past and present.  They represent the innocence of what life should be about.  Beyoncé uses the children’s innocence as a representation of what the world is missing, and what it is tainting.  

Men are seen wearing the color black from 2:59 to 3:09.  They are seen in suits and Beyoncé herself is also wearing black.  These costumes still refer back to the time of slavery, but these particular costumes show more empowerment and freedom.  The color black is representative of the time of liberation.  The black costumes show more wealth and creativity.  Beyoncé is seen wearing jewelry, and this represents the freedom of the African-Americans.  Jewelry portrays both wealth and creativity.  In this scene jewelry is a representation of the freedom of the slaves because they can now make their own decisions and lead their own lives.  It is also a symbol of the economic freedom they now have; they are able to have their own jobs and make their own money.

 One might argue that Beyoncé’s Formation video is not about black empowerment, but hatred towards white men and power.  Beyoncé’s video features strictly African-American people.  Not one white person is to be seen in the entire five-minute video.  This is seen as a message that African-Americans are the ultimate race, and that they are better than whites.  From the dancers to the children, all were of African-American descent.  The only reference to white people, is the “stop shooting us”.  This is a powerful statement about the politics of today’s society.  It can be inferred that the white man is the one doing the shooting while the black people are the ones being shot.  This is yet another representation of how blacks are the ones to be favored and white are the ones to be hated.

Nevertheless, this video is still about empowerment.  The video is not intended to be about hatred, but about love and equality.  Throughout the video there is no reference to the idea of white hatred.  The video is about black love and empowerment.  It is supporting the African American race.  It is about loving who you are, and remembering where you came from.  Some audiences may confuse this for white hate, but they are missing the larger message.  The video references the white race not to shame them, but to just mention the history.  The mentioning of the past and where she came from, “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana You mix that Negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” is all representative of the idea of self-love (Beyoncé).

The differences between the colors represent the differences in time.  The time of oppression, white, to the time of liberation, black.  White is the past and black is both liberation and the future.  Beyoncé is flipping off the camera at 3:08.  This combined with the costuming can symbolize her flipping off the past and supporting black empowerment.  The video uses colors to promote the message of empowerment.  The comparison of the past and the present draws attention to today’s racial problems.  Beyoncé is not only flipping off the past, but is flipping off the idea that racism is still present in today’s society.      

When first listening to Formation, one would think it is just a simple feel good song that is fun to dance to, but the song combined with the music video reveal a completely different meaning.  The costuming and colors reveal the differences of time during slavery.  The white being the past, while the black is representative of more freedom and power.  The video as a whole is a call to action.  This video is a statement through and through.  During the time of the video, the protests in Ferguson were in full force.  This video is about remembering the past and bringing it to the present.  The video recalls the history of African Americans and calls out to the present to not let history repeat itself.  It is about black empowerment.  It is about taking control, and allowing yourself to shine through.  The video concludes with graffiti “Stop Shooting Us” (Beyoncé).  Racial injustices still happen today and “Formation” calls out both the past and the present.  