
Beyonce’s formation video was extremely popular because of the message that she was trying to send through visual motifs during the whole video. This is the main reason why it is so important to understand what she is trying to say and why she is saying it. Several colors are repetitive in the video, which makes me think they have a special meaning; she is trying to say something through these colors. Also, there are some body positions combined with camera angles that let us see these from a different perspective.

At the beginning of the Formation video, Beyonce is sitting on top of a police car wearing a red dress. In this scene there is red, not only on Beyonce’s dress, but in the lights of the police car. As a primary color, red is a very bright color. In my opinion, it means power in this scene. Beyonce sitting on top of the police car means she is sitting on top of the authority; she is defying authority.  The car is also half sunk in a flooded area, which means that when a disaster comes everyone suffers the same, even the authority. There is no black or white and there is no power or authority. This scene is presented mostly as a long shot because she wants us viewers to see the whole thing in order to interpret it the right way. Little details like her face expressions matter too, that’s why the camera comes closer to a close-up once or twice.

The second scene I’m describing is the part of the video in which Beyonce and the dancers are in an empty pool dancing in formation.  Again, red is the dominant color, if not in abundance, it is well visible in the white swimsuits that they are wearing.  Red shows the power of women in organizing themselves and society.  The order in their formation translates into organization and red is the power of women. Also, I think that the white in their swimsuits represents peace regarding everything that is going on in the world with women’s rights. Beyonce is trying to tell us that women want change which requires power, and they do not want war, they want the process to happen in order and peace.  

On another scene, Beyonce is sitting in a room that seems to be in a very fancy house judging by the size of it, the furniture and the amount of books surrounding her and the rest of the women there. As we all know, in the past the only people that could live in those houses were white people. Beyonce is wearing a very fancy white dress with a hat, which also used to be worn be white people only. In my opinion, Beyonce’s message in this scene is that things have changed. Black people, like her, can live in these houses too now. The white in her dress represents classiness and peace, she did not get her hands dirty or fought anyone in order to live in a house like this, it was all earning it. In a bigger picture, it could mean all the things that black leaders achieved in the past in order for the people from now to live a life with equal rights.

The whole video sends various messages.  The messages described above in addition to the Beyonce’s show of pride for being not only an African American woman, but a successful one. She shows us this during the video with several things that African American women could not even think of having in the past like cars, nice dresses, etc. She is proud of her heritage; she is proud and even showing off her success and power for all those people who suppressed black people and especially black women in the past. 

Women influence in the organizing of our social structure is well documented through history.  Beyonce with her video Formation also emulates this and sends a clear message of the role of women in organizing and also in having the power to shape movements. I believe this especially because the people that dance with her in the video when she is representing authority are mostly woman. There’s a scene where men seem to be on her side, everyone’s wearing black and standing in the front of a house but from my perspective they are only there to guard her, they are there to serve her. Beyonce is clearly stating that women can have the same influence as men and that she is a definite example of it with her success.

Beyonce is using herself as an example of a successful African American woman, willing to defy and protest this authority and power, while being proud of her heritage as a black woman.  I think this video is also encouraging all of us women to stand for what is right and fair for everyone. It can’t all be power, so at the end she also shows her fragility as a human being when she sinks together with police car, so even though she is showing off her success and power by standing of top of the police car, she is still accepting she is just a person like everyone else. She is telling us that there is no need to be a superhero to ask for what is fair for everyone.

I think the most complete scene in the video and the one that sums it all is back at the beginning when she stands on top of the police car, she is using all of these which she is proud of, being a woman, African American, successful, to stand over the authority that discriminates her and what she represents; which is the main message of the video.  So it is not only defiance of authority, but showing that she has more power than them. More specifically, she is referring to all these “accidents” that have been happening lately where a police shoots a black person. She is saying that the good ones always triumph, no matter how unfair the situation seems to be right now.