One social issue in America today is beauty standards surrounding African American woman. Beauty standards today are very eurocentric, making it a taboo to wear one’s hair naturally. Many African Americans have struggled with conforming to these beauty standards set by society. Hair in the Beyoncé music video “Formation” is a motif repeated in multiple scenes. Beyoncé uses her music video as a platform for social change. Throughout the music video Beyoncé brings up the racial stereotypes surrounding African American hair through lyrics and images. 

The song lyrics address the social issues present in America today. The line, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros” is referring to Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy. It is in direct context to the many people that called her four-year-old daughter out for wearing her hair naturally. Many said Beyoncé needed to comb it and a petition was even started, where more than 6,000 people signed. People were offended that Beyoncé would not groom her child. Blue Ivy’s hair has been referred to as unkempt and nappy. Eventually, Beyoncé succumb to the social pressure and permed her child’s hair. These lyrics played over a scene of Blue Ivy dancing with two other little girls, all wearing their natural hair. This scene plays with the emotions of the viewer because it shows that no matter the age they are still being targeted by society. The little girls, wearing all white to represent their innocence, look happy while smiling into the camera. This is very different from a lot of the other scenes where grown woman look fiercely into the camera. This is because although they are victims of stereotyping, they do not know yet making them more carefree. The little girls have no pressure to surrender to the social standards set by society yet. 

A scene in the music video that is a direct call to the stereotypes is the three woman standing in a wig shop. The expressions on their face shows anguish. They are sick and tired of trying to live up to society’s unrealistic image of beauty. Many times African American woman cover their real hair up with wigs or weaves because that’s what is considered the most socially acceptable. The girl standing to the right sticks out the most, for she is wearing all blue and a blue wig. The scene also has a blue tint filter over it. Many times the color blue is associated with sadness. During the music video many scenes show woman enraged, but this scene is showing how the woman are sad and disappointed by society. These three woman represent the millions of women conforming to the eurocentric standards of beauty.  

Directly following the scene of the woman in the wig shop is a group of ladies in an empty pool. One noticeable change between the woman in the two scenes is their hair. All the ladies in the pool have their hair naturally, in contrast to the wigs of the previous scene. The music video went from a slow pace to a more upbeat pace during the switch in scenes. The change in pace represents the anger the woman in the African American community have towards society’s image of how they should look. This scene exudes strength and empowerment.

Throughout this scene Beyoncé sings about her heritage. She states, “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana/ You mix that negro with that Creole makes a Texas bama”. She makes it clear that those are her roots, and that is who she is. She continues by singing, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros/ I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils”. The line about her “baby heir” takes on a little different meaning when being paired with this scene. She is talking about how she loves the way the people of her culture look from hair to nostrils. She is not ashamed of her “Jackson Five nostril”. During this scene the camera gets very close to her face and shows the anger she has towards society stereotyping her culture. Beyoncé is not scared to be herself. She is empowering other woman to follow suit and not be ashamed of who they are and be confident in their natural selves. 

 The ladies are on the bottom of a pool which is signifying drowning. Their voices and how they want to look is being “drowned” out by society expectations. Together the ladies get “in formation” in order to build one each other up. Supporting each other’s choice to wear natural hair is one step for it to be accepted by society as a whole. If African American woman support other African American woman, the backing can potentially be so strong it does not even matter what the rest of society thinks. The hate and racism that is often surrounded by their culture is something that the woman can all relate to. They can come together “in formation” to create something much more powerful than the stereotypes made to be little their culture. 

These two scenes are shown to represent the empowering movement to wear natural hair. Together these scenes show the social climate that surrounds natural African American hair, and the stereotypes. African American females have been made to feel insecure about their natural beauty. Together they can all stand up against all of the standards and do as they please. 

The social climate between African American woman and society is something Beyoncé really focuses on in her music video “Formation”. Throughout the video hairstyles were worn that are considered by many “black stereotypes”, including; corn rows, braids, and afro or natural hair. Wearing their hair like this is looked down on by much of society today. These women are trying to get “in formation” to break the social standards that are currently set. Beyoncé used her music video to show not only that societies image of beauty is unfair but also that African American woman are ready to stand against social standards.
