Beyonce Formation - CONTEXT

Context

There is a lot going on in Formation and they make use of lots of different techniques in order to create meaning for the audience. Formation has a clear political message to present to the audience.


Key Terms:

Intertextuality - Where a media product or text makes reference to another media product or text.

Bricolage - Where a media product is constructed with iconography and conventions from many other texts, creating entirely new meanings. Often used when discussing postmodern media products.



Screenshots of each different aesthetic and visual styles in the video


there are many different styles and themes throughout and it is far from anything like a normal dance routine in a studio

































































New Orleans and bounce music

That B.E.A.T 

What specific elements of iconography did the producers of Formation use from That B.E.A.T?

The dancing is very influenced by bounce music dancing


What literal pieces of footage did the producers of Formation take from That B.E.A.T?

 There are a few scenes that use the same footage as 'That B.E.A.T' for example..........

















Bounce music has a big LGBT following, and is fundamental to the LGBT scene in New Orleans. How many LGBT themes come through in That B.E.A.T? Why?

New Orleans' music has a long tradition of gay and cross-dressing performers. There are lots of LGBT themes coming though for example there are some shots of drag queens dancing. When they are talking to the people in the interviews someone describes it as 'a bunch of guys who are homosexuals coming together and creating a style of there own.' So a lot of these men dancing or being the DJ are all gay or part of the LGBT community.


 Beyonce is a millionaire. Why is she using the themes and iconography of That B.E.A.T? Think carefully about this last one.




The antebellum era and slavery in the American south


The Antebellum era refers to a period of time of economic growth in the American South in the 19th Century, largely due to heavy industrialisation made possible by utilising black slave labour.


This era was also characterized by the distinct costumes that the slave owners would wear. They were elaborate beautiful dresses which also had symbolic connotations of racism and the advocation of slavery, due to being worn by those who owned slaves. 
Here are some examples of the dresses they wore:
The American Civil War was responsible for changes in women's fashion in the mid-1800s.

The antebellum era is directly referenced in the video 'Formation'. Beyonce does this by getting black people to wear the dresses white people would have worn during the slave trade era, so she is juxtaposing the original use of these dresses and making a message reinforcing her political point regarding the historical treatment of black people in America 


Why does Beyonce, a black woman, dress in a costume associated with white slave owners? Consider as many reasons as possible.

She is doing this to maybe to reclaim justice  for black people like herself - REAPPROPRIATION which means a cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group.

Hurricane Katrina:

Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that hit the Gulf Coast of the united states on August 29th 2005. New Orleans and the surrounding area were most affected and caused over 1800 deaths. 

 In formation they utilize the iconography of Hurricane Katrina in the first shot of the hole video 


They have used the flooded setting of New Orleans becuase it shows the world what the people had to go through.

The response to the hurricane for black people was not good at all, they were left to survive for themselves in terrible conditions. Racial tensions grew following the disaster. There was a 'black lives matter' campaign but the response to what happened to them after the hurricane clearly shows the uneven tension in America between class and race. 





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