"Say My Name": The History Behind Beyoncé's "Formation"

by : Tristin Manus 8th

   Summary: As you all heard the talk about Beyoncé's new song and controversial video, there has been mixed feelings about it. White people are " shocked" and appalled by the song and video. After her video first appeared on Saturday, Beyoncé performed the song at the Super Bowl halftime show where she has been criticized for being too political because her backup dancers were dressed as Black Panthers. Yet this accusation fails to recognize the intellectual and historical connotations within the song and video. Also Beyoncé got hate because the video was an " attack on police officers" and the presentation of an all black women dance cast caused uproar of " no diversity". 

Beyoncé showcases black culture,  black oppression , black fashion and  style ,  black slang, overall she showcases everything that comes from being black in her lyrics and video representation.

Analysis: Let's start from the beginning of the song and video. The video begins with Beyoncé on top of a police car drowning in a river--immediately evoking the chilling events of Hurricane Katrina, of black people who were abandoned by the government and remained in their homes only to appear later in the media on top of roofs and cars and in boats. The video features Beyoncé in a nineteenth-century drawing room clad in Victorian era high fashion; then dancing in a dark-wooded hallway where portraits of African royalty and other elite black ancestors hang on the wall; then she is seated in a parlor surrounded by other black women, who like her, are dressed in regal, high fashion of a century ago. This shows juxtaposition because usually back in the 19th century, the African Americans weren't dressed like this in these scenes, particularly African Americans are depicted as oppressed, injured, defeated, and barely dressed. Beyoncé appears in high fashion not to appear "white" or like the elites of older epochs but rather to acknowledge the history of elite classes of black people in New Orleans. She includes influences of homosexual slang to bring awareness of the underrepresentation of the black gay community, she includes the depiction of #blacklivesmatter, the young black boy in front of a line of white police officers, and poses with there hands in the air , (hands up, don't shoot). In "Formation", Beyoncé follows in the tradition of other black artists: she remembers the past, she conjures the ancestors, she breaks convention, she pays homage to the queens, and she shows how lit it is to be black. To the lyrics ,( I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils, to I got hot sauce in my bag) to the actual thought process put into releasing this video. “Formation” is a Black-power anthem, a fitting contribution to Black History Month and an important conversation piece in the Black Lives Matter movement. The song was released one day after what would have been Trayvon Martin’s 21st birthday and one day before what would have been Sandra Bland’s 29th birthday. Martin and Bland’s deaths are focal points of Black Lives Matter.

link :http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-downs/say-my-name-the-history-b_b_9230230.html