Beyonce – Formation
Beyonce’s Formation video includes many hidden meanings within the video which fights the international Black Lives Matter movement what was originally founded in July 2013 which builds power and fights for justice and freedom to Black people across the globe.
New Orleans Flooding – Hurricane Katrina
At the beginning of the video, we can see Beyonce sitting on a New Orleans police vehicle which has been flooded which is in relation to the Hurricane Katrina which greatly affected New Orleans including over 1,00 fatalities and $70 billion damage in 2005 causing some parts to be 15 feet underwater.
Fighting For Rights – Black Lives Matter
Furthermore within the music video, it has a lot of perforative elements as you can see Beyonce dancing in sync with a group of women fighting for equality. Numerous hints of police brutality throughout the video as messages on walls like “Stop shooting us” etc. appear and at the end of the video, we can see a young and innocent child dancing in front of a row of armed police officers who hold back like the boy is a threat as the boy puts his hands up in surrender.
Community – Women in Formation
Overall, this music video has plenty of hidden meanings and intertextual references which fight for the rights of the Black community and to emphasise that they are strong and to stand by her as they fight for freedom conveying this as the ‘formation’ of black women dancing all together in sync show community and control.
Information from HuffPost :
Taylor Swift – Bad Blood
Film References – Intertexuality
In the feminist action film-like music video ‘Bad Blood’, it has many intertextual references, linking many different movies which have been recreated and shown such as references from; Kill Bill, Hunger Games, Tron and many more.
Katy Perry Feud
The narrative was shown to be Taylor Swift’s reply to a feud with Katy Perry. However, Taylor Swift may also have used the video to suggest her own power within the music business and her ability to gather female celebrities to support her. Even though, the gender representations are strong, many of the celebrities are also sexually objectified through their codes of clothing/makeup.
Female Empowerment – Link
The representation of women in the video is being associated in the Bad Blood music video emphasises the social and cultural context of female empowerment. It is also interesting that within the narrative the conflict is with another woman, not a male as the main focus on the video is women standing together, fighting for empowerment. Concluding to my points, these intertextual phrases also link to Beyonce’s ‘Formation’ music video fighting for empowerment/equality.
Information from MTV :
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