Beyoncé is a well-known African American artist who is continuously releasing hit albums all over America. Her hit song “Formation” displays the message that race should not be discriminated against. Throughout the video she uses a lot of imagery to represent different events that have happened throughout history that should have been prevented, or should teach us lessons about what is going wrong in our society in order to prevent them in the future. One of these past events in history that she portrays in the video is the shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The young man was fatally shot 6 times by a white police officer after robbing a convenience store. He was reported to be unarmed and moving toward the officer with his hands up when he was shot, according to witnesses. This event triggered many protests and riots and ultimately led to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Beyoncé brings this particular event into the music video to show that she supports this movement and she thinks that racism is still a prevalent issue in the world we live in today. The visual motif of the young African American boy dancing in this music video symbolizes people of the African American race standing up for themselves against discrimination and unfair treatment by authority. 

In the first scene that the motif this is shown, the young African American boy is dressed in all black with his hood up in front of a line of policemen who are also dressed in all black in police uniforms (3:40). These dark colors contrast with the background of the scene which consists of the pink and purple sky, and the police cars bright blue sirens flashing. The use of these different colors against each other can make the people in all black stand out. This is significant to the scene because it allows our eyes to focus on all of the people and what they are doing. The child having his hood up is also significant because having your head covered by a hat or hood in front of an authoritative presence is seen as disrespectful. The different filming techniques used in this scene are over the shoulder shots, long shots and medium shots. There are a lot of over the shoulder shots in this scene both behind the boy and behind the police officer. These different shots can show us the perspective from police officers side and from the boy’s side. There are also long shots when they show a full view of the boy dancing. In one of these long shots, the boy is framed between the police officer’s legs. This shows how small the boy is compared to this large group of policemen and gives the effect that even the smallest things can make a difference. There are also some medium and close shots that mostly go along the line of police officers as they are watching him. These closer shots that go across the line can allow us to see how unified they are and how they all look the exact same. This can convey the idea that there is a common enemy against the African American people. This scene is important because the young boy with his hood up represents all of the African American people and the police men represent those who are discriminating against them for reasons that are unjust. 

The next scene that we see this motif is when the boy is dancing and then abruptly stops as all of the police officers in the line put their hands up simultaneously (4:05). In this scene we see similar color schemes and filming techniques. We again see the people dressed in all black and the pink and purple sky in the background. In this scene there are mostly over the shoulder shots and long shots. The most significant over the shoulder shot is the last one when we can see the perspective from behind the boy’s head who has just stopped dancing, and all the police officers in the background put their hands up all at once. Putting your hands up is usually a sign that you surrender and it is usually done by a person who is guilty of doing something wrong. This scene is important because the police officers are usually the ones telling others to put their hands up because they have done something unlawful. However, in this instance the police are the ones putting their hands up, admitting that they have done something wrong. The fact that the boy is dancing is also an important part of the message because dancing is a way to express yourself. In the video, the boy is expressing his feelings about the unfair treatment that has been going on in the world against black people. This scene is significant in relating to the Ferguson event because in the actual event the teen did supposedly put his hands up and surrender in front of a line of policemen, but he was still shot. In the video they create an image of a young African American boy dancing in front of a line of policemen, who then put their hands up at the end instead. This image is very significant because it is sending a message that we should stand up to authority and not let them abuse their power by treating the African American people in an unfair way. 

The main message to take away from this song and video is that Beyoncé acknowledges that race is still a prevalent issue in our society and is something that needs to be addressed and stopped. She shows this idea throughout the video by creating scenes that relate to the Ferguson event. The motif that I chose to follow was the young African American boy with his hood up dancing in front of a line of police officers, which symbolizes the African American people standing up for themselves against police brutality. The scenes that show this motif differ from the actual event in an ironic way because the police officers are the ones that put their hands up and surrender. The way that the video and reality are different from each other is very important to the overall message. Beyoncé expresses her feelings through the video “Formation” to not only address the issues of police brutality, but also the entire experience of an African American person in modern America. She is trying to help inspire us to change the way the world thinks about race, and to empower those who have been discriminated against. 
