“Pretty Hurts”, a music video by Beyoncé, depicts the true cost of beauty on young girls. Through three key scenes, Beyoncé goes from loving her trophies to realizing the harm they have put on her. Ultimately the trophies defeat her, because without them she does not have an identity. The first instance of the imagery surrounding the trophies occurs as she is proud of the prizes she has won. 

Beyoncé uses the powerful symbol of her standing with beauty pageant trophies to represent her personal struggle as her family views her as a “trophy” only valuable for her beauty. By explaining this struggle from her childhood, Beyoncé criticizes the ills of modern society that belittles girls to nothing more than their looks. The first instance of this imagery was present at (4:24). In this scene, Beyoncé shows she is proud of her many trophies because of her relaxed yet solid posture as she sits in front of them. The lighting and colors of the scene are very drab which contrasts the bright and colorful trophies. This only increases the emphasis on the pride surrounding the prizes. Beyoncé is also wearing colorful clothing with similar colors to those of the trophies. This suggests she herself is a “trophy”. In “Pretty Hurts” she is not valued for anything besides her beauty. “Pretty Hurts” shows how girls self worth can be destroyed by only focusing on their beauty and seeing them as “trophies”. While Beyoncé seems to be proud in this moment, there is nothing more in this scene then the trophies. This implies that while she is proud, she has nothing else in her life. This scene is a long shot that focuses in on both Beyoncé and the prizes behind her. The type of shot fosters the idea that her self worth is based on these trophies. The setting is also very interesting because it is a plain living room; this plainness suggests that her family’s main focus is on her success in beauty pageants. Their house is bland because their main focus is on making Beyoncé as beautiful as possible. One final point about this scene is how it contrasts the actual lyrics of the song. Overall this scene is positive as Beyoncé is proud and powerful in front of her many trophies. However, the lyrics contrast this by saying, “What is your aspiration in life”? The viewer then begins to question what Beyoncé and her family have given up to not only get those trophies, but to turn their daughter into a trophy. She has no idea what her aspirations are because she is allowed to be nothing but a beautiful “trophy” for her parents to show off at beauty pageants. Another instance of imagery in the shot is the pictures of young Beyoncé scattered throughout the trophies. This makes the image even more personal because it implies all of this has happened to Beyoncé. This first scene is powerful because it symbolizes how the trophies have turned Beyoncé into a lifeless “trophy” that is paraded around for her beauty. In the next instance of the trophies, she is destroying them to symbolize her anger towards the empty shell the trophies have made her. 

In the second scene with the trophies in “Pretty Hurts”, Beyoncé destroys the trophies that have taken away her childhood and replaces it with nothing but exercise, makeup and destroying her body to win. She does this in a form of revenge and an outburst to show how badly the pageant system and her family have hurt her. At (5:57) Beyoncé violently smashes a trophy onto the floor. She does this to appeal to the viewer’s emotion of anger. This image is a slightly larger long shot in order to emphasize the smashing of the trophy. There is so much emphasis on this action because it represents all the hate Beyoncé has stored towards the actions she has had to commit in order to win. The trophy symbolizes the skipped meals, the spray tans, the fake hair, the obscene amount of exercise and more painful endeavors she has had to do in order to win. While separately, these actions she has had to make are horrible, together they symbolize her destroying who she is. She has lost not only her childhood, but also any chance she has at discovering who she is. By her parents along with beauty pageants telling Beyoncé she has to look and act like a certain type of girl, all her individuality is stripped away. All she is left with is the trophies. The final scene with the trophies represents how little Beyoncé is left with after she destroys them. 

Beyoncé’s final depiction of the trophies shows how the trophies have destroyed her. At (6:40) a medium shot is used to show her lying next to the destroyed trophies. The medium shot allows the viewer to focus more on Beyoncé this time, rather than the trophies. This is important because this scene is used to symbolize her exhaustion after destroying everything she has worked so hard for. After everything is destroyed, she has nothing else. Her posture also represents a sort of surrender to the beauty world that holds her captive. In contrast to the very first appearance of the trophies, this scene is very depressing. The lighting is also dark, which backs up this idea. Beyoncé realizes that without her beauty, she has nothing. She has never been allowed to be anything besides a creature that devotes their entire being to fitting the mold of being beautiful. She surrenders to this identity because she knows nothing else. In conclusion, this music video has shown why striving for one image of beauty destroys Beyoncé, and left her without an identity. 

In Beyoncé’s music video “Pretty Hurts”, she portrays how society’s perception of beauty destroys young girls and strips them of their identity. Often, they are turned into trophies only valued for their looks. By showing this raw part of her lack of childhood, she is exposing the misogyny of modern society that affects young girls. Instead of being encouraged to follow academic or athletic endeavors they enjoy, girls too often told that being beautiful is a high aspiration. Beyoncé knows women and girls are much more than that. Through this music video that exposes her struggles, she challenges society to change. She does not want girls to have to go through the pain she has gone through, she wants them to discover who they are besides being “pretty”. The first instance shows the pride she receives from the trophies through color and the type of shot being used. The second instance portrays Beyoncé destroying the trophies she was so proud of. This image is powerful because it digs deeper and shows how those trophies really stand for all the horrible things she has had to do in order to rid herself of her identity. The final image shows a defeated Beyoncé sprawled on the ground. Without the trophies, she does not know who she is. Her powerful imagery exposes the true damage society’s standards of beauty can have on girls. Ultimately, just like what affects Beyoncé, shells of girls are all that are left after they are shoved into the rigid standards society places on beauty.  
