Lemonade by Beyoncé Knowles is a visual album, which is a series of music videos connected by titles, such as “Intuition”, “Apathy”, “Resurrection”, and many more. The album comes together to tell the viewers about Beyoncé’s life story, it also talks about many important social issues that had at some point affected her life. To connect specific topics in the album Beyoncé uses other texts to help get her personal points on the topics across. She uses these distinctive texts to help draw attention to the ideas focused on and show the importance of them.
The album uses the texts to show different interpretations of the issues discussed. Beyoncé mainly used segments from a variety texts which consist of poems, stories, speeches and other types
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The main issue Beyoncé focused on in her film was the treatment of black women. To make this message clear to the viewers, she used a segment of a well-known speech from the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. This segment was from Malcom X’s speech Who Taught You to Hate Yourself. In the film the quote, “the most disrespected person in America is the black women” (X), appears during the performance of Beyoncé’s song, Don’t Hurt Yourself. The use of this text helps pull focus to the topic that Beyoncé’s Lemonade focuses on. The section of the speech she chooses for this part of the film, match the themes in the song from when the speech was being performed. The song starts out with the lyrics, “who the fuck do you think I is?”, this lyric connects to the topics Malcom X spoke about in his speech, they both question why they feel like people are treated like this and what gave others the right to treat others like that. By borrowing this specific text Beyoncé also shows the viewers how this has been an issue for a great amount of time and that these are not recent issues. Without this other text Beyoncé’s work might not have the same effect on people, as she would have …show more content…
Warsan Shire is a writer who was born in Kenya but raised in London. Shire has written many stories and poems about immigration experiences, motherhood, beauty stereotypes, and infidelity. Shire has an incredible ability to evoke emotions through her writing. The way she writes allows readers, who have experienced similar situations, to relate to her stories and for those who haven’t experienced these situations, to feel the same emotions that are produced in her writing. In her film Beyoncé quotes “I don’t know when love became elusive/what I know, is that no one I know has it” (Shire) from one of Shire’s poems, The Unbearable Weight of Staying. This quote is spoken in the part titled “Anger”, which again includes the song Don’t Hurt Yourself. In this section Beyoncé sings about betrayal and how her lovers never really loved her. By adding in parts of Shire’s poem it allows viewer to conjure emotions and really feel for the issues being addressed. This effects how the viewer personally connects to the film, and by using Shire’s writing Beyoncé can mold how she wants everyone to feel while watching her
On the night of December 13, 2013 Beyoncé, released her fifth self-titled album on iTunes. The album caught many people by surprise because Beyoncé did not set a date for the album, nor did she use any promotion; she did release a video on her Instagram asking her followers if they “were ready”. The buzz spread through social media like wildfire. With no promotion or warning, Beyoncé album took the world by storm and made it for her audience and critics to take in the album and its contents. Many people loved the album for not only its catchy songs, but also the growth and “looser” conservative Beyoncé.
...black woman myth has not been studied as intensely as the Jezabel and Mammy images, it still has significance in present society. Sapphire, more commonly views as the angry black woman is viewed as, the bad black woman, the black “bitch, and the emasculating matriarch (88). The reason there may not be much research on this myth is because many researchers themselves acknowledge the stereotype (89). The stereotype is seen not as black women’s anger towards the unequal treatment and circumstances they endure, but an irrational desire to control black males, families, and communities around them (95). This stereotype bestows yet another double standard for black women in America today. While a white woman’s passion and drive may be seen as ambitious and exceptional, a black woman displaying the same perseverance would be seen in a negative rather than glorified light.
In romantic words, the poet expresses how much she does think of love. She state it clear that she will not trade love for peace in times of anguish.
Who really runs the world? Beyonce is running the music industry while climbing the charts, she truly knows what she’s doing. Being driven and striving for greatness will lead you to success. She may have had bumps in the road during her career and still could experience some, but she doesn’t give up. The power of one person can have an effect on people all over the World for a good cause or not. Beyonce, twenty time Grammy winner, uses her confidence towards her acting skills, and her musical talents to show and inspire other artists and people around the world.
On February 7th during Super Bowl 50, Beyoncé took the field during the halftime show and shocked the world. She performed her new song “Formation”, which addressed all the criticism she received throughout her career, praised her African features, and paid tribute to Black History Month symbolizing The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and Black Lives Matter Movement. This shocked everyone because they never thought out of all people Beyoncé would perform such a “racist” song. This performance received a lot of negative feedback which caused people to protest the NFL headquarters and say that she is promoting violent attacks against the police. Beyoncé’s super bowl performance was her way of stating she is unapologetically
She illuminates the hidden causes of the harsh sexism in rap music lyrics and argues that one needs to look deeper to understand why the misogyny exists and how women in her culture need to respond and also start taking responsibility for its existence in order for changes to begin to take place. In the article “ From Fly -Girls to Bitches and Hos “ the dysfunction of our black men is evident, but somehow it’s seen and admired manliness and success. For example the life of Notorious BIG was one of the rap kings that live a life of jail, sex , drugs and murder that “ the seeming impenetrable wall of sexism in rap music is really the complex mask of American often wear both to hide “ . Joan Morgan was vivid as to show the pain men must be feeling so badly that they had to use disrespectful slurs and hateful comment says their music lyrics. I agree with the fact that in today’s society the "bitches and hos" have become the norm. From my perspective that many guys often believe that is how all women act and that they are all pimps and
Specifically, she uses ethos to further her credibility as a feminist. Beyonce continually repeats the word “flawless”. By itself “flawless” doesn’t say a lot, but add in, “I woke up like this”, which is also repetitive, she is metaphorically stating that women are perfect the way they are. Women are flawless; they shouldn’t be expected to get up and do all this primping for a man. If a woman wears makeup, she is wearing it for herself, not for a man. Beyonce also establishes her credibility with using an excerpt for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “We Should All be Feminists” speech. Adichie is a well-known, established Nigerian feminist author. The argument could be made that for Beyonce “Flawless” is just a song, another source of income. If that were the case, would Beyonce have jumped through the multiple, horrendous hoops in the publishing world just to include Adichie in a song that was nothing more than a cradle of wealth to Beyonce? Yes, she could have, but it isn’t likely. Adichie is eminent in the feminism world. She wouldn’t give a part of herself to someone who was just looking for a quick profit. Beyonce is using “Flawless” to tell the world she is a feminist, and she will stand behind other feminists. She uses Adichie to enhance her credibility and to make her song
bell hooks is trying to convince her readers that the display of black female bodies in Beyonce’s Lemonade does not aid in shifting or masking the sexist narratives and construction of black female identity (page 3).
Roberts, Robin. “Ladies First: Queen Latifah's Afrocentric Feminist Music Video.” African American Review. 28.2 (1994): 245-257.
Countering the common social impression that anger in response to a perceived wrong is met with a sense of guilt and fear for dread of fueling conflict by propagating intense self-aware emotional reaction, Lorde makes a cogent argument by elucidating the utter essentiality of anger expression as a means to gain multi-faceted insight into conflict. Lorde realizes this argument regarding the use of anger in a social context to combat racism through the essential and fundamental appeal to such a universal and potent emotion as rage of injustice. Anger effectively transcends race, gender, and class distinctions through its ubiquity to the human experience, and thus provides an initial and embracing commonality to all members of Lorde’s audience. Rather quickly within the delivery of her speech, Lorde provides her audience with a series of concrete anecdotal examples of her many encounters with racism as to avoid her speech “becom[ing] a theoretical discussion” (Lorde). Lorde’s use of these pithy stories of the “harshness of Black women” (Lorde ) and their “self-serving” role in the perpetuation of the issue of racism remedies the common problem of an audience “unacquainted with [orator] provocation, [who] cannot bring [the orator’s] case home to [themselves], nor conceive anything like the passions it
In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, many different themes come into view. One major theme that played a big role in the character’s lives is racial prejudice. Racism is an unending problem throughout the book. The song “Message from a Black Man” by The Temptations has many similarities to the theme of racial discrimination. Therefore, both the novel and the song prove that racism was a great obstacle for some people at a point.
As it opens with imagery reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, an event that devastated the black communities in the areas affected. The delayed assistance in New Orleans by the U.S. government stirred some controversy that led many to question how much America really cares about its black communities. Nonetheless, Beyoncé’s video is full of imagery that is associated with black culture, including historical references to black communities in the south. But what is really important about “Formation” are the lyrics. With lyrics like “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana, You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” and “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” Beyoncé is undoubtedly declaring her pride for her blackness as well as defending her child Blue Ivy who has always been scrutinized for the way her hair looked. Thus, this song is obviously geared toward the Black community which is obvious due to the lyrics and the imagery in the music video. To put it plainly, this song is a proclamation of Black pride and shouldn’t be thought of in any other way. However, after performing it at the Super Bowl people of other ethnicities became aware of the song and became offended by her performance as well as the lyrics. Controversy arose as people pointed out her backup dancers were dressed similarly to the Black Panther
In 2013, the self-titled visual album BEYONCÉ sold almost eight hundred thirty thousand digitally in the first three days, while her sixth number one and second visual album, Lemonade, only sold four hundred ninety thousand digitally in the first week. Although Beyoncé’s second visual album wasn’t numerically successful, both show a vulnerable, an artistic, and a controversial side of Beyoncé. Both albums have surprising visuals and stunning lyrical content with either an obvious meaning or a meaning we have yet to figure out, such as the famous line, “You better call Becky with the good hair.” (Beyoncé, “Sorry”). BEYONCÉ and Lemonade show that Beyoncé tries to better herself as an artist and make herself more vulnerable.
Motivation provides the driving force for direction and persistence toward a defined goal. Beyoncé has a high need for achievement that motivates her to keep working on new material. In an interview with MTV Beyoncé said, “I am a workaholic and I don’t believe in no. I don’t believe in I need to sleep” (Lepore, 2011). She has earned many awards, honors, and accolades because of her determination to be one of the greatest performers. In the last five years, Beyoncé has used empowerment as an essential motivational key to continuously progress in her craft. In 2011, Beyoncé fired her manager of fifteen years and she began to take full responsibility for her creative and financial obligations. From this experience she has become self-determined and has a high influence on her career path (Lepore,
In this video, a man by the name of Hennessy Youngman focuses mainly on “cultivating an ‘angry nigger exterior’” as a mode to success (2014, p. 23). Hennessy’s use of anger as a mode to gaining notoriety feeds into the trope of the “angry black,” a stereotype we constantly see applied to Serena Williams. In the larger picture, racializing black citizens- more specifically, racializing black women- acts as a way to delegitimize resistance by people of colour against unfair treatment by writing them off as short-tempered and irrational. This process of attributing angry reactions to the character of the individual rather than as a reaction to injustices, allow colonialism and Euro-centrism to continue