Beyonce is shown as strong , and mighty towards the audience this is appeared through her utilization of Direct location, giving an alternate knowledge on society's perspective on ladies, likewise offering capacity to her way of life, this is appeared through her code of clothing choice and body language having the option to act all the more openly and how she enjoys not how she should act as indicated by society.
Beyonce's body and the manner by which it identifies with her star persona and her African-American character in the 1900's is a critical component in the her Music video as it alludes to bondage, she is inferring that despite slavery not exisiting any longer there's still mistreatment on black people in 2016. The video is set against a backdrop of the flooding of New Orleans after the tragic incident of hurricane katrina which was associated with racial tension in America.Furthermore, Beyonce includes the voices of New Orleans local celebrities Big Freedia and the late Messy mya. By including both of these native New orleanians makes the song/video much more personal to those from the state and those who lived through that period of hurricane Katrina. Beyonce goes against typical black “norms'' in ways that black people are represented and instead presents herself as an individual rather than a stereotype which alludes with Stuart Hall's representation theory. Stuart said that stereotyping tends to occur when there is inequality of power however in this circumstance Beyonce and her blackness is in power , shedding light on the beauty and many sides to an African American.
Although both videos highlight problems regarding race and problems in society, Childish Gambino has a more direct and less subtle approach to conveying his message compared to Beyonce. The music video is mind boggling, layered and a satirical work of art that presents the issues in America through the type of mainstream society. Mainstream society is the utilization of current moving fine arts (for example dance ) that advances to a mass crowd . The scenery of the music video happens in a stockroom that nearly resembles a jail. The area of the music video and the utilization of room identifies with the social development of society; where people are contained in certain geographic spaces. Also, the music video sheds spotlight on the unpleasant truth of society as being tumultuous and dangerous. The fundamental video revolves around the lead entertainer, Childish Gambino, who addresses America. Gambino wears the old American Confederate uniform clothing, the jeans, and shoes . Moreover, Gambino's persona charms the crowd into consideration like America who bases the world on her. Gambino is similar to America, she appears to be innocuous yet hazardous. For example, the music video shows where Gambino causally moves toward the start of the video and afterward abruptly pauses dramatically with a weapon in his grasp and shoots a man. The bass drops and the presentation for the melody start with "This is America". The music video reproduces the deplorable occasions of the African-Americans lives lost because of police severity and executing and racialized disdain wrongdoing. This video features recent concerns with respect to prejudice, firearm brutality, and utilization of media and amusement in American. Clay shirky’s theory with the audience is that the internet and digital technology have a massive effect on relations between the media and individuals. With Childish Gambino's video, he makes numerous political and general problems evident within the video to create conversation. As society has become more advanced we see that usually for problems to be solved there has to be some sort of outrage which usually ignites through social media ; Childish Gambino successfully conveyed the problems of society even with the subtle references that started people talking.
Both music videos contain dances throughout however I feel as though they have different purposes.In the Formation video there is the inclusion of a young B-Boy who is dancing in front of armed officers who are white. The camera then does a wide shot to the wall next to the boy where it says “Stop shooting us” which is acknowledgment of police brutality. You could argue that the feature of the B-Boy dancing in showing self expression , you see the boy enjoying himself whilst the armed police are observing. With this part of the video that could be trying to convey how police tend to watch black people more closely even though they are not doing anything. Furthermore, I believe that the use of a young boy enjoying himself dancing rather than an adult male could reference Tamir Rice who was a 12 year old boy playing with his toy gun gifted to him when he was shot by police.This could show that no matter your age, being black is more threatening to wider society. Tamir, much like the B-Boy, was enjoying himself but unfortunately that enjoyment came to an end when the police took his life. Unlike Tamir , the young boy was not killed but put his hands up to the police and then the armed police doing the same in return which could symbolise how police could be unified with the black community if they acted in a respectful and calm manner. Also the fact there was a number of armed police to one unarmed black boy could show police can play unfairly to the demise of black people.
However, the purpose of the dancers have a whole different meaning and significance within the story of the song. Childish Gambino has a bunch of black teens constantly dancing within the video doing the latest trends whilst chaos uproars around them. To my understanding this is to show how society is so consumed with trends and what’s going viral rather than the issues occurring right before their eyes, which may even affect them. Furthermore, Childish Gambino himself sometimes would join in with the dancing ; this could resemble how celebrities themselves feed into trends rather than using their platform to speak about the situations going on at the time. Again , as Clay Shirky was trying to convey how the individual is more impressionable through media , so by celebrities creating / joking trends just further leads individuals from focusing on important matters.
In conclusion , both music videos and artist have created amazing pieces of work in which are rich with references and symbolism. Although in this essay we did not get to cover all of those references and meanings , we learn how Beyoncé and Gambino uses imagery to bring awareness and conversation about political and
Social issues. Beyoncé’s Formation is mainly focused on blackness and loving yourself for example when she says “ I like my baby with her Jackson 5 nostrils” , a reference to blue ivy ( her daughter) having beautiful black features in which we should all embrace. On the contrary Childish Gambino doesn’t just focus on blackness yet problems that do affect the masses for example massacre shooting in which he reference the shooting in a church in Charlotte which killed many people.
