At the beginning of the video for 'Formation', it shows Beyonce standing on top of a New Orleans police car which is floating in water. This symbolises hurricane Katrina and the damage that it did to the state. She uses this imagery to make a statement about how the police force did little to help the people of New Orleans when the hurricane hit mostly because few of these residents are wealthy and the ones that were built houses about ground as they knew that it was an area that is prone to natural disasters due to it being below sea level. During this stage of the video, there is a voice over of a man saying 'What happened at the New Wil'ns?'. This voice is of 'Messy Mya' who was a rapper in New Orleans that was killed in 2010, Beyonce used this in her video to create a statement about both the violence in New Orleans and how little the police have done to help the residents. The image also represents her hierarchy in society as she is a universal figure of empowerment. Her standing on top of the police car indicates that she will not stand for the police brutality in America and she is making a statement to show that there is no one that can stop her, not even the police due to how huge her fan base/celebrity status it.
The next part of the video shows Beyonce in what looks like a plantation house dressed in old fashioned attire. This is a reference to the black lives matter movement and the abolition of slavery. She is dressed in what a white woman would be wearing in that time period which shows people of colour that they are now able to do exactly what white people would have been doing. It also shows how far black rights activists such as Malcom X, Rosa Parkes and Martin Luther King have come in giving more rights to African Americans. Traditionally, this attire and the plantation house would be known as items of oppression to black people but Beyonce uses her social status to show people that they now have power again and that they should use this to their advantage.
During the video there is a piece of audio with a male voice that says 'I did not come to play with you hoes, I came to slay bitch!'. The lyrics to Beyonce's formation are powerful in that they are aimed towards African American civilians, especially women. This line of the song refers to Beyonce and listeners as a 'Bitch'. Typically, this word is used to describe a dog and can be very derogatory towards women. This is used in the video to allow people to see how people have played it down so that the word is no longer as hurtful as it used to be. This means that people (males especially) think that there is no problem with using this word to describe a woman and now use it freely. Beyonce uses this in her lyrics to make a point that it is no longer acceptable to use this term to describe a person. Another song lyric which is significant in the song is the line 'I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils'. This is denoting the black lives matter movement as she is telling African Americans to love their individual features despite what the media may say about them.
Another part of the video shows Beyonce and a group of women dancing in a car park on what appears to be a security camera. During this clip, the lyrics of the song are 'OK Ladies now let's get in formation.' During this scene, they from an X shape which is a reference to Malcolm X and other black lives matter activists. She does this to show that his work has appeared to help America in terms of racial equality but there is still a lot of White privilege. The security camera could be a reference to the police force as she knows that they will see the video and may not be happy about it but she is not doing it to please them, but to make a stand in society.
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