Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video is truly iconic. The day that the video was released, thousands of Beyoncé fans scrambled to find a way that they could watch it, because it was originally only available on Tidal, an online music application that costs money to access. At first, her fans were mostly excited simply because it was a new song by their favorite artist, but after watching the video, they understood the message of the video very clearly. Beyoncé is a musical artist who was born in Houston, Texas. Her hometown has a big influence on many of her songs, including “Formation.” She was originally apart of the musical group, Destiny’s Child, until she eventually established a solo career. In 2008, she married hip-hop artist, Jay-Z. The two have gone on tour together and have a large influence in the music world together. Many fans would argue that the couple are some of the most influential people of this generation. She has donated much of her time and money to various charities and has publically supported the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as women’s rights, both of which are expressed in her music video for “Formation.” The video gives a sense of empowerment to anyone who watches it. Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video explores the motif of racial inequality, feminism, and her power and influence in the music industry.

The first big motif expressed in the music video is racial inequality. The lyrics to the song mention various common stereotypes made about black people. The video also addresses police brutality, linking it to the Black Lives Matter movement that started after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The only white people in the entire video are dressed as police officers. At the very beginning of the music video, nine seconds in, there is a scene of a person wearing all black in the foreground and police lights chasing him in the background. This implies that the person on the bike is being followed by the police and did not seem to have done anything wrong, giving the police no reason to be following him. Later, in one specific scene three minutes and forty-four seconds into the video, there is a small boy dancing in the foreground and a line of police in the background. All of the people are wearing black and the background colors are cool colors, creating a calmer setting, even though the police are lined up and armed while the only person in sight is the young boy dancing. The boy is not doing anything wrong but there are still police armed and ready for action. Another scene three minutes and thirty-two seconds into the music video shows a medium shot of a black man holding a newspaper called “The Truth” with a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. with an article titled, “More Than a Dreamer.” This scene connects to racial inequality by connecting it to the Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream” speech given. He fought for equality of blacks to whites, as this music video is doing as well. Lastly, at four minutes and twenty-six seconds, Beyoncé is shown from a bird’s eye view laying on top of a police car that is sinking. The police car relates back to the police brutality issue, creating it to be a racial inequality motif. It symbolizes the downfall of the police and judicial system in the country in their recent mistakes of taking innocent lives, as well as finding those who took the innocent lives as not guilty for their actions. All in all, a major visual motif of the music video relates to racial inequality in society.

Next, feminism is another major visual motif of the video. At one minute and twenty seconds, there is a long shot of three girls standing in a wig store. The girls are standing together holding weaves and wigs. They are standing together and embracing the fact that they wear wigs, instead of trying to hide it or be ashamed by it. The point of the scene is that woman can do what they please and should not be ashamed of what they like. The colors are blue hues, giving it a calmer vibe. The purpose of the color scheme in this scene is to show that women are not emotionally unstable, like many people in today’s society seem to believe. Later, at four minutes and twenty-nine seconds, there is a group of girls with Beyoncé sitting in a room looking proper, as society tells them to be. They are all wearing white dresses, symbolizing purity, but they are simply demonstrating their class and elegance. The dresses are from an older era to give off an old time point of view. The purpose of doing this is to show that women have been able to do anything that men have done in all points of history, given the suppression of women in the past up until today. Feminism is about the equality of the genders in all aspects, and although many may think that the genders are equal in American society, Beyoncé is quick to point out that there are still crucial issues dealing with feminism in the world.

Lastly, power is a strong visual motif of the music video. The music video demonstrates Beyoncé’s power and influence in the music industry at many times and is clear even just by her appearance in the individual scenes. At exactly one minute, Beyoncé is sitting poised in a medium shot, wearing all white with a neutral colored background. She is sitting straight up with a straight face. This pose radiates power and any person who saw the picture would have a first impression that this is someone powerful. She is known as an influential artist and many aspire to be similar to her. She is truly iconic and no other artist has the same type of influence. At two minutes and sixteen seconds, there is a bird’s eye view shot of Beyoncé hanging out of a car door. Her body language and posture make her look like someone of importance and empowers any viewer just by looking at her. Many people would agree that Beyoncé is one of the only artists that would be able to pull off a music video similar to this, including her entire visual album in which this song and video appears. Lastly, at three minutes and fifty-eight seconds, there is a long shot of Beyoncé surrounded by men in suits. All of them are wearing black, which contrasts with the white background. Her hat covers her eyes, making her look mysterious, yet powerful. The group of men around her vaguely resembles a security team, giving the impression that she is important and powerful enough to have a security team. A person of little importance would not have this appearance in public, as Beyoncé does in this particular scene. Overall, Beyoncé’s power and influence in the music industry is a strong motif in the video.

In conclusion, Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video gives off the visual motifs of racial inequality, feminism, and her own power in the music industry. Each one has specific scenes that embrace this motif and its importance in society. Each is also an important part of the world that should be focused on more than it already is, which is made clear by Beyoncé through her videos and lyrics.
