Analysis of Beyonce's music video Run the World - Essay Example

Analysis of Beyonce's Music Video "Run the World" Introduction An American artist, Beyonce Knowles recorded ‘Run the World (Girls) song, though the composers and the writers of the song includes Terius Nash, Nick Van de Wall, Wesley Pentz, David Taylor, and Adija Palmer. According to Beyonce, what motivated the production of the song was the need to produce something that was different, that which was to embrace all cultural diversity in the world with a new sound and message that would rejuvenate women to realize their strength in the society. Produced in 2011, the song manifested a mixture of several genres of music in it, which included alternative hip-hop dance hall, pop style, and R&B. the song in its title and lyrical messages that unapologetically promotes the empowerment of the females in the society. Upon the release of the song, different reaction from the critics of the song, a section of the people complimented beyonce regarding the sampling of the song, the musical direction, and the aggressiveness of Knowles in asserting the message of the music. Contrary, there were also those who thought that Knowles ought not to have continues with the old themes but to switch lanes with reference to the content f the song, they also cited the fact the song has taken a more assertive direction in promoting the empowerment of the women and that has diluted the taste of the song. In the US, the song reached on the US Billboard Hot 100 number 29, in other countries like Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Japan and Scotland, the song by Beyonce moved to top 10, and it also won in 2011 MTV Video Music Awards the best-choreographed video. Beyonce Position on Cultural, Political, and Economic Context With reference to the topic of the Beyonce song, ‘Run the World’, and the women empowerment that has dominated the song from the start of the song to the end, it is notably that she had addresses several issues to do with the women empowerment regarding the cultural, political, and economic fronts. Beyonce has thus appealed that women have to be given their rightful position in the society through ensuring that they have noticeable participation on economy, politics and are not belittled in the society by the established norms and culture (Brook 7). From the structural lines that comprises the song, it is true that most of the women according to Beyonce are infringed and are not empowered hence the purpose of the song- to empower the woman in the society such that they are not regarded as second class citizens in the society setting. Formalist Analyses of the Song Beyonce song can be subjected to formalist analyses where there are critical approaches that are used for the purposes of analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of the features inherent to the song. Several features are thus considered in the formalist analyses of the song, which not only includes grammar and syntax but also extends to encompass the use of literal devices as tropes and meter. In the ‘Run the World’ song by Beyonce, there has been little attention given to the grammar part of English presumably because some of the words and language used are a cliche with acquired meaning from English that will make it possible for the audience to construe that meaning of the song without making them lose connectivity with the song. There are also uses of syntaxes where there are unique language arrangements (Altman 9). The composers of the song must have based the message delivery on how the words are arranged. The song has also used quite a number of literal devices to enhance message delivery and to bring the aesthetic value into the song. In this regard, several of such literal devices such as tropes, meter, symbolism, and simile have been used in the song to enhance the development of the song’s plot. Given the title of the song, it had to use those several literal devices in order to deliver the message most appropriately given that it is about appealing and agitating for empowerment of the women in the society (Zoonen 2). Structural and Industrial Analysis of the Song ‘Run the World’ can also be considered for structural and Industrial Analyses, in the structural analyses, there are several features to be considered. In the Beyonce song ‘Run the World’, it can be realized that there are several similar section on the song that can be divided into intro, bridge, verse, outro, and chorus. This analysis is quite necessary for a classification of the music into the various genres that we have in the musical industry, it can also be used for comparison purposes within and between the different composer’s works. It is through this analyses that Beyonce’s song has been found to have incorporated several genres together and to compare reasonably with those of other artist in the same genre of music for example, it has been found that ‘Run the World’ has continued on the theme that was started in 2000 through the song independent women (Brook 11). The same theme that is manifested in the Beyonce’s song was also featured in 2008 in another song version titled Singles Ladies. This analysis also brings the historical context into focus and makes the song to be understood better as far as the purpose is concerned. Using the literal devices and other styles of musical composition, ‘Run the world’ song has reiterated the dominant theme of empowerment of women in the society; it has also used the same system to challenge the practice and the societal norms that are contradicting the elevation of the women stature in the society. Repetitions through choruses have played a significant role in this context; they have sustained the flow of information and message of the music through out and this has contributed in maintaining the tempo of the song (Diawara 4). This is what in other critics is referred to as overtly assertive on her messages in the song. Description of the Run the World Video The video shoot of ‘Run the world’ is classically choreographed to depict the semantic and syntactic systems in the song. The video enables the classification of the movies in to genres that are known in the musical sector. Through the movies, it can be construed that there are a lot of incorporated aspects of various genres of music that make it impossible to attribute the whole song to any particular genres, there are aspects of hip-hop in the song; there are also the aspects of R & B and pop songs and this why the song is known to be overlapping. It is cross cutting because it borrows several aspects of other genres and combines then, Beyonce wanted to create new look in this song by blending several attributes of different genres in this song (Hooks 7). The classification of song through video is due to the semantics and syntactic of the song. Through their analysis, it can be seen that the music tries to embraces all cultures around the world from the western, Africa and Asia; it also brings in the aspects that are unique to the east. This explains why the music received a legendry reception all over the world by hitting top ten in almost all countries evenly distributed around the world. There is a cultural aspect that is manifested in the song that takes scare of all the needs of the audiences around the world. The video choreography is also such that it is possible it depicts all the cultural aspects worldwide and this reiterates the overlapping classification of the songs by cutting across the several genres in different cultures (Lewis 6). After watching and listening to the song by Beyonce, ‘Run the World’, one would easily construes that it is not conforming to what will be referred to as ‘status quo’ by Judith Wright. As has been the case, most of the genres have been designed to satisfy the interest of the minority who are considered the ruling class. They do this by accelerating maintenance of the status quo; this is carefully done by throwing a sop to those who are oppressed. Because those who are oppressed are not given recognition, they become timid and are always afraid to act. This is not the case with the song ‘Run the World’ in which Beyonce has appealed to those underprivileged in the society and is championing for their rightful position in the society. It is therefore obvious that the song deviates from what Wright will call ‘status quo (Wright 12).’ Politics of Identity and the appropriation of Culture Identity politics do focus on the self interest groups that have certain peculiar issues to address that affects them and they would want them shaped through such issues like class, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ideological beliefs, and race. The sole aim of the identity politics is its need to address the grievances of those who are perceived to be oppresses by the system. Like in the case of this music, Beyonce perceived women to be oppressed in the society and is fighting for the restoration of the women dignity in the society. The women in this case can be referred to as the minority with grievances, Beyonce through this song titled ‘Run the World’ is making an appeal to the world to respect the women and that they should be empowered socially, politically, and economically (Quellette 9). The song is passionately appealing for the emancipation of the women in the society , it want the society to avoid the discrimination and undermining of the woman as a figure in the society but rather empower them so that they can also be productive in the society as well. In this regard, it will be appreciated that the setting of the song, the characters and the development of the plot in the video has embraced all the cultures around the world but has used the gender factor to pass the message. It will be remembered that the song by Beyonce was all about the empowerment of the women in the society around the world. As such, the identity politics is not based on racial factor, class, or any other mode of classification but that of gender and sexual identity. The song is about the women around the world, this can be accentuated by the fact the song embraces all kinds of cultures around the world as noticed in the genres that defines the song (Williiams 5). The political identity in this song is thus based on the gender perspectives; it yearns for the empowerment of the women around the world, it agitates of the position of the women in the society as well as their rights. Culture Appropriation In the song and in the video, there is salient culture appropriation though several avenues; there is the inclusion of the several genres from around the world that embraces all the cultural perspectives around the world, there is also the inclusion of several people from different parts of the world in the video. The song as indicated in the introductory part of this paper has cut itself a niche though the several cultures around the world because there is a feeling that they are represented in the cultural composition of the song. May be this was a strategy by the team that wrote the song for the purpose of popularity, most of the songs that have limited cultural consideration are always not embraced in the manner in which it has been notices for ‘Run the World’ by Beyonce. Works Cited Altman, Rick. "A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre." Cinema Journal (2002): 13. Brook, John. "Pop and Circumstances: Why Pop Culture Matters." Feminism and Pop culture (2009): 21. Diawara, Manthia. "Black Spectatorship:Problem of Identification and Resistance." (1988): 14. Hooks, Bell. "Representation of the Balck Female in the Cultural Marketplace." The Politics of Sexuality (1988): 6. Lewis, Reina. "The Lesbian Gaze and Fashion Imagery." Looking Good (2013): 19. Quellette, Laurie. "Inventing the Cosmo Girl: class identity and girl-style American dreams." Media, ciltuere, and Society (1999). Williiams, Raymond. "Base and Superstructure in Maxist Cultural Theory." (1973): 15. Wright, Judith Hess. "Genre Film and the Status Quo." In Film reader Genre III (2003): 5. Zoonen, Liesbet Van. "Feminist Percepective on the Media." (1996): 12. Read More