Storey (2009: 167) highlights that the
concept of race has been articulated through the human insist of division. He
further extends that this in itself is a notion of racism because although biologically
there is skin tone variety, the act of distinguishing them is placed within
social and political context – having the signification mean something as
opposed to just being physical difference. Gilroy (1991: xxii) argues that
“race” is a virtual reality given implication only due to racism. He extends
that social and political environment and ideology constructs “race” which are
the sustaining components within “racialization” which have characterized
capitalist development (35). This paper will explore a detailed analysis of
iconic pop star Beyonce Knowles’ Formation
music video using the approach of Orientalism by Edward Said.
The music video is centred on African
American pride particularly the black southern side. Beyonce illustrates her
history of southern identity through the cultural practice, features and issues
of New Orleans. The video reflects on the images of Hurricane Katrina, Mardi
Gras and the Black South. Natural hair focus, Beyonce sitting on a sinking New
Orleans police car and a young African American boy dancing in front of police
officers, followed by a graffiti stating “stop shooting us” are all key
messages of the music video. Furthermore, typically a woman’s dancing within
music videos are highly sexualised however, in Formation, the choreography focused on strong movements with
Beyonce and other African American women portraying flair and confidence,
reflecting black southern nightlife from parades to clubs where there are drum majors
march and twerking (Robinson, 2016). She reminds the audience where she is
from; her parental roots: “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana, You mix that
negro with that Creole make a Texas bama.” Cultural pride is represented
largely within the lyrics and video – “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag,” images
of women sitting in parlours fanning themselves and twirling umbrellas is all
in reminiscent of the sartorial splendour of black New Orleans (Robinson,
2016). In addition to that, “Mardi Gras and second line imagery pepper the
video, offering a celebration of the city that accounts for the black and indigenous
cultures that created and sustain it
through their labour” (ibid).
Turner (1996: 6) argues that with the
examination of popular culture and the attempt to understand it – the political
aspect allows us “to examine the power relations that constitute this form of
everyday life and thus reveal the configurations of interests its construction
serves.” This particular popular text was chosen due its political nature in
dealing with race which can be configured utilising the theory posed by Edward
Said. Moreover, racial issues constitute much discussion within society and it
is interesting to view it from a popular culture standpoint. From this point of
view, investigation of "race" in mainstream culture would be the
investigation of the distinctive courses in which it has and can be made to
connote.
Said (1985: 89) asserts that “the Orient
was a European invention” – whereby “Orientalism” is the relationship between
the Orient and Europe particularly, the defying quality the Orient has brought
towards the West via the contrast in image, idea, personality and experience.
He claims “Orientalism as a Western style for dominating,
restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (ibid.). Basically, it is
a “system of ideological fiction” (pg. 321) where power is at stake. Hegemony
by the West over the Orients exists from the supposed difference between the
two where “the West … is rational, developed, humane, superior and the Orient …
is aberrant, underdeveloped, inferior” (pg. 300).
Storey (2009: 173) argues that within
the context of Orientalism, Hollywood representations don’t have to succumb
towards being historically accurate; ‘true’ or ‘false’ don’t carry much weight.
However, in his Analysis of Culture (1961) Williams claims that a thorough
cultural analysis can only happen if the historical context is taken into
consideration. This is because in actual fact, what is integral is “the regime
of truth” (Foucalt: 2002: pg. 131) that is practised, stating that Hollywood
power is not a negative entity – in fact, it is productive (Storey, 2009: pg.
173). Caliendo and McIlwain (2011: 184) assert that “the theoretical framework
of Orientalism derives primarily from Michel Foucalt’ discourse theory and
Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony.” Storey relates this supposed theory to
Foucalt’s understanding of power to Hollywood’s power claiming it doesn’t
‘repress’, ‘censor’, ‘abstract’, ‘mask’,
or ‘conceal,’ on the contrary, “it produces reality; it produces domains of
objects and rituals of truth” (1979: 194). Similarly as to how it can be
applied within a Hollywood framework, it can also follow the same application
within Beyonce’s Formation. Hurricane
Katrina was a highlighted topic in Beyonce’s video depicting ruins of the city
after the occurrence of the disaster – her video even began with a narration
asking “What happened at the New Orleans?” Hurricane Katrina, the most
expensive natural disaster in American history, killed nearly 2,000 people and
displaced one million (BBC News, 2016). It largely affected the city of New
Orleans, in Louisiana and until today George Bush’s slow response in aiding the
victims remains a wellspring of profound disdain in the city (ibid). According
to Sommers et al. (2006: 6) the lack of support from the government stemmed
from a racist standpoint; general population of the victims are African
American deeming them unworthy of help. The media is a channel that has the
power to influence and shape the public minds (Happer and Philo, 2013) and
hence, the media portrayal had to depict their “regime of truth,” claiming the
government had helped efficiently. The coverage for Katrina was extensive, and
the media was criticized for heavily proclaiming the governmental support (Carr,
2005; Kutz, 2005). Also, many public figures consciously chose to use the word
“refugee” in referring to the victims (Sommers et al., 2006). Jackson and
Sharpton (2005) argue that this is act is racially biased because it avoided
the primarily African American victims and implied they were less than full
citizens.
Althusser (1971) claims a problematic contains “the assumptions,
motivations, underlying
ideas, etc., from
which a text
is made.” Storey (2009: 72)
further explains a text structure is derived from just as much by what is
absent (what is not said) as by what is present (what is said). Althusser
argues that to fully understand a text, it requires awareness of text content
and also the suppositions which inform it (it may not be evident in the text
itself in a straightforward, obvious manner but exist only in the text’s problematic).
Storey (2009: 72) mentions that as an Althusserian critical practice, it is
important to deconstruct the text to disclose the problematic; the act of doing
so is what Althusser calls a ‘symptomatic reading’.
Beyonce through this practice created
her own “regime of truth” within Orientalism where she discusses the fall of
New Orleans. This would seem contradictory to the Orientalism theory where only
the West had the power to create reality. Caliendo and McIlwain (2011: 185) draw
attention to Said’s ignorance on hegemonic power that exists within the Western
discourse itself. Clearly, Beyonce is a true testament to his lack of
exploration within non-white cultures. “Earned all this money but they will
never the country out of me” is a continuous verse in her video claiming that despite
all her success she still stays true to her roots. The chorus which states “I
see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it, I dream it, I work hard, I grind
until I own it” and “I go off, I go hard, Get what’s mine, I’m a star, Cause I
slay” visibly portrays her power within obtaining what she wants. Through her
hegemonic status, she has the power to illustrate key messages to send out
messages to her fans and maybe even indirectly towards the governmental
scrutiny. She was also strategic by intentionally releasing it during the Black
History Month, particularly on African American racial victims’ birthday;
Trayvon Martin’s and Sandra Bland’s to further instil her message (NPR, 2016).
Beyonce even touched on police brutality
towards the African American community. Her video conjured images of a young
boy dancing in front of police officers as well as hands being held up before
seeing the words, “Stop shooting us.” Storey (2009) highlights a plot within
Said’s Orientalism approach where there “whites, who because of the supposed
power of their racial heredity impose themselves on the jungle and its
inhabitants”. This is exemplary towards the police force’s unethical conduct of
racial violence towards the African American community. She garnered the use of
a pop platform as a powerful paradigm to bring about the necessary attention
towards racism and marginalized groups, telling an important story about the
black South (Robinson, 2016).
Kim and Chung (2005: 73) point out that
despite Said’s primary focus on Europe’s relations with the Middle East and
South Asia, the “political ideologies” and “cultural imageries” indirectly have
hegemonic dichotomies that assist in deciphering the interplay of Orientalism
dynamic in America – Orientalism has a notion of white power to justify its
dominance. In Said’s view, many white men colonialists equated the colour of
their skin with a “superior ontological status” and the power to rule the rest
of the world (Jouhki, 2006: 32). Also, Hill (2000) highlights that
attractiveness is culturally constructed, influenced by racial aesthetics. Charles
White in ‘An account of the regular gradation in man and in different animals
and vegetables’ (1795: 168) wrote that the white Europeans are the most
distinguished from bring a “brute creation” and hence, considered the most
attractive race of them all. In the American community straight, blonde hair is
considered to be the ideal look, which is contradictory towards the natural
African American features (Clayson and Klassen, 1989: 200). Weitz (2001) says
that many women dye their blonde due to the perception that being blonde is
more attractive. However, in Formation,
Beyonce opposes this, proudly accentuating typical African American features
such as afro hair and large nostrils; “I like my baby heir with baby hair and
afros, I like my Negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils.” Beyonce’s daughter is
seen flaunting her natural hair along with a couple other young African
American girls. She also conjures images of African American men with the afro
hair, holding basketballs. Within this context she challenges the supposed norm
of what is considered attractive.
Despite this, there is a contradictory
factor within her music video as she is blonde while all the other women are
brunettes, celebrating their black hair. Why is Beyonce blonde despite having
chosen African American women with only black hair to star in her Formation music video? According to a
research conducted by Advertising Age (2013) Beyonce as a blonde made for a
more popular advertisement. Beyonce featured in two advertisements for fashion
company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M); in one of it she is blonde and in the
other she is a brunette. Although both ads feature the same song and similar
dance choreography, the ad where is a blonde scored significantly higher with
the targeted audience (ibid). Specifically 16% of consumers mentioned the
singer by name in the former ad compared to only 7% of consumers referencing
the singer by name in the latter ad (ibid, 2). In her efforts to suppress
racism, Beyonce still needs to adhere to her role as an entertainer,
prioritising what her fans want from her as it affects her success. In this
case, a blonde Beyonce may actually pave a more successful career pathway
compared to a brunette Beyonce. Despite the efforts to form an independent
standpoint away from Orientalism features, Beyonce failed to do so in every
single aspect in her music video. References towards Orientalism are still
prevalent. For example, in the lyrics “You just might be a black Bill Gates in
the making, cause I slay, I just might be a black Bill gates in the making” refers
to a white counterpart, succumbing to white supremacy as a symbol of success.
Gramsci (2009: 75) exercises the ‘hegemony’ term as a reference to the way
dominant groups in society win the consent of the inferior groups in society. Beyonce’s
reference towards a white counterpart (Bill Gates) illustrates the indirect
representation of how a dominant group has gained approval from its inferior
group. While Storey (2009: 11) on the other hand mentions that hegemony theory
presents an opportunity to “locate the struggle between resistance and
incorporation as taking place within and across individual popular texts and
practices.” A large identification of resistance can be seen within the Formation music video framework however,
this particular Bill Gates reference and the blond hair can signify the incorporation
side of Storey’s theory, proving white supremacy and hence, Orientalism still
exists on some level within the American society.
Mohanty (1989: 31) brings to attention
that projects that focus on difference whether it may be of gender, class, race
or other cultural context pertain a homologous relationship between one
another. Applied within Orientalism, race and gender play a role in hegemonic
power; white males being the most superior. Lewis (1996) points out on the off
chance that we take the classifications of race, class and gender as neither
restricting persecutions nor as analogies for each other, referring to Kaplan’s
point of “reciprocally constituting each other through a kind of narrative
invocation, a set of associative terms in a chain of meaning” we can truly
understand the interplay between these features and comprehend the
signification. Furthermore, Yeğenoğlu (1998: 4) explain that within
post-structuralism the entity of the word “man” being synonymous towards the
human race is socially constructed by hegemonic qualities of European white
male within Orientalism. Beyonce takes on a feminist value in her Formation music video with African
American women power entitlement and strength which oppose all these
predicament featured by Orientalism. The women are seen embracing the splendour
of the community (fanning themselves, twirling umbrellas in the parlour) and having
strong choreography movements such as their clenched fists in the air. In fact,
largely Beyonce’s lyrics consist of the chorus; “Okay ladies, now let’s get in Formation.” Furthermore, the
intersection theory suggests that the multiple elements of social
stratification including race and gender can mount towards multiple
disadvantages for some groups of people (Macionis, 2005: 305). African American
women face a “double disadvantage” within society due to being secondary in
terms of race and gender (ibid). This theory is typically placed within an
economical, job scope context. Despite this disadvantage Beyonce doesn’t fall
prey to its drawback; “I might get your song played on the radio station,” and “I
just might be a black Bill Gates in the making,” connote her power and ability
to be at a position of wealth and influence. In fact, her song ends with
“Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper” when analysed connotes the
defeat against Orientalism. Through her hard work, she shows that it is possible
for an African American woman to conquer the supposed hegemony they face and
rise above it to hold their own power.
Bennett (1986: 20) asserts that 'the
people' alludes neither to everybody nor to a solitary gathering inside society
however towards an assortment of social gatherings which, despite the fact that
varying from each other in different regards (their class position or the
specific issues in which they are most quickly drawn in), are recognized from
the economically, politically and culturally different groups and are
henceforth possibly fit for coming together – of being sorted out into 'the
people versus the power bloc' – if their different battles are associated.
Based on this theory, it could be possible that many people within the layers of
the African American society could relate to Beyonce’s Formation video as a medium of ‘the people versus the power bloc’
due to their past, coming together, directly making her video a popular text in
relation to the Orientalism theory posed by Edward Said.
The struggle for political African
American modernity is that it “did wonderfully elevate the slave and prepare
him for citizenship with the one exception that it legally denied human rights
to the slave (1878).” This struggle prevails within today’s community although
with the many efforts on various platforms such as the popular text presented
by Beyonce helps to curb this issue. Gaines (1996) theorises that “the violent
denial of black political and economic enfranchisement facilitates the Formation of cultural politics.” From
the discussion it can be seen that pop icon, Beyonce has the ability to oppose
many of the qualities grounded within Edward Said’s Orientalism theory, as seen
in her Formation video. It
encapsulates the ability of the African American community to have a higher
hierarchy position within society within economical ground and having a voice.
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