The colors black, white, and red are three common colors appearing almost everywhere for Americans. Human’s do not realize how color has an overwhelming impact on the way that images and visual text are perceived. Beyoncé’s use of these colors in her new music video “Formation” signifies African American history and the stereotypes faced throughout society.

 Beyoncé’s uses the color black in her video as a motif of African American stereotypes from the past to present day. The color black is permanent, it is hard to erase this color or cover it with another. In this way, the color black is similar to a stereotype. A stereotype stays there until someone does the work to change the way that the stereotyped group of people is perceived. Beyoncé is addressing the stereotypes that African Americans have faced throughout history. The color black being worn is representing African-American people having to wear the stereotypes that cannot be hidden from the rest of society. 

The color black in this panel (4:16), signifies America’s past of slavery and segregation. African American’s in the past faced the stereotype of inequality by those with different color skin. Beyoncé is wearing an all-black professional outfit that looks representative to a past time period. Importantly, Beyoncé is wearing a black colored hat that is covering her face as if her identity does not matter. This signifies that the stereotype is only visible from the first glance. The color black in this panel is signifying the past stereotype of inequality and inferior that African-Americans wore during the time of slavery and segregation.

The color black in this video signifies police stereotypes in present day society of African American men resulting in gun violence. African Americans face the stereotype of danger or suspicion by law enforcement in society. In the video, (3:44) a young African American boy is wearing a black hoodie and facing a line of police with his hands in the air. The color is black is the color of the young boy’s clothing, and his hands are raised in response to the police. This act correlates with the recent “Do Not Shoot” movement used to protest this present stereotype. The color black in this panel is signifying the young boys “threatening” or “suspicious” stereotype. The black hoodie covering the young boys symbolizes that the stereotype is worn by this young boy to the Police, and is more visible than his true identity.

 Beyoncé is addressing the stereotypes placed on African Americans in society from the past to present day. She also highlights how the black clothing is covering the person’s true identity. Through the color black in her video, Beyoncé is addressing how our country views a person’s stereotype rather than looking beyond it to their true identity. This is a very powerful lesson achieved through a visual motif of the color black

On the other hand, Beyoncé’s intention for the color white is to signify the viewpoint of white people from an outside perspective. The color white is subconsciously paired by humans with the idea of purity and elegance, also the US flag includes white as a symbol of innocence. Considering these symbols, Beyoncé was trying to address the idea that white people were viewed in a more positive persona in society than African Americans.  A representation of this color in the video is (0:32), Beyoncé is wearing white in this frame and is lounging in a very luxurious and lavish looking all white parlor set in the Victorian era. The color white is also symbolized as untouched and unflawed. In consideration to these symbols, Beyoncé indicates the pure reputation conveyed by white people during this time, and lack of negative stereotypes associated with white people with the color white in the video.  The people in this panel do not look ashamed to be wearing white and carrying the meaning of the color white. Beyoncé was signifying the comparison of African American and white people during this time through the color white. Ironically, the color white and black are opposites. The persona of white people during this time, and the pride displayed by wearing the color white correlates with the opposite effect that African Americans expressed while wearing the color black.

Beyoncé’s representation of the color red in this video signifies hardship and injustice. The color red is a very powerful color and symbolizes ideas that make life imperfect such as death, and sacrifice, and unfairness. The color red is unknowingly associated with the idea of tragedy when viewing images or a visual text. This vibrant and intense color plays a very dominant role in the video “Formation” and the message that Beyonce is directing to the audience.

A representation of the color red is in (4:26). In this frame, Beyoncé is fully dressed in the color red. Beyoncé is sitting on top of a police car that is slowly filling up with water and will eventually sink to the bottom. This is a situation that can eventually lead to loss and tragedy if nothing is going to stop the water from coming in. The color red affects the way that the audience views this frame in the video because the color red directly identifies with imperfect situations through the lives of African Americans throughout history. Beyoncé is symbolizing the idea of how hardship has affected African Americans all throughout history. Beyonce is symbolizing how the world is not perfect through the color red. 

A second representation of the color red is in (1:24). As this color covers the dancers from head to toe on the ground, the audience can infer from the several symbols concerning the color red, the levels of intensity that are being increased in the video by the dancers wearing the color red. The audience can infer that there has been a problem or tragedy, and the effect of this color manipulates the intensity of the frame. Since the dancers are completely covered with this color, we can infer personal problems, or to remind the audience of the simple fact that life isn’t always perfect through the color red.. The subconscious symbols associated with the color red from humans allows us to make this claim about Beyoncé’s intention for the color red in the video.

The colors red, white, and black in the separate frames of the Beyoncé’s Video “Formation” all serve different jobs to deliver the complete message to the audience at the end of the video. The colors throughout the video impact the way that the audience view human beings and reflect on how stereotypes affect society. Each of the colors embodies an idea that can be applied to viewpoints in everyday life and throughout history of African Americans. The power and progression of stereotypes of African Americans throughout history  is manipulated by color. Everything is manipulated by color if only we take a little bit more time to pay attention to the symbols around us.