Sean Barker, 8 Feb.

2016
http://www.sustainableequity.coop

Beyonce Formation Analysis

My basic thesis is that, although this is provocative art that speaks to
a contemporary and relevant sentiment, Formation is nonetheless
problematic in terms of its racial/cultural politics. I see this primarily as
a racially opportunistic and market-driven move on her part, though I
concede that certain elements are objectively progressive.
Full disclosure, I like the video and find the song to be okay. I've
always been the type who can enjoy something while being able to
see and articulate its shortcomings.

I'm so reckless when I

rock my Givenchy dress
For a Black Power anthem, this song is replete with white
supremacist capitalist status symbols. I'll concede that the French
hauteur-couture House of Givenchy is better than most labels when it
comes to utilizing models of color in their shows and ad campaigns.
However, it should be noted that there is a difference between
promoting the equality of racial minorities, and courting their
patronage. Of course, in fashion, utilizing an all women of color lineup--which Givenchy has donecan just as easily be a branding
statement of edginess as it can be a progressive move toward
equality within a pretty much unabashedly racist industry.
Regardless, Beyonce is using the status of Givenchy to aggrandize
herself and her personal accomplishment as an upwardly
mobile/wealthy woman of color. If this were really about black
empowerment, could she not find a way to express her status without
referencing a white, Eurocentric emblem?

I like my baby
WTF?! Stop
exploiting
your child!!!

hair wit baby

hair and afos

Don't get me wrong it's GREAT that Beyonce doesn't straighten little Blue
Ivy's hair. I for one would consider it child abuse if she did. But (1) Michael
Jackson had the right idea by not exposing his children to the public and
letting them make the choice whether to be anonymous or publicly known
when they came of age; poor Blue was robbed of that from the get. And
(2) Beyonce would not need to exploit Blue for her natural beauty cred if
she herself were an exemplar of her own natural features. You rarely see
Bey without straight, blonde hair and we haven't seen her without colorlightening contacts since the 90s. Just think of all the young black girls who
have permed and/or dyed their hair throughout the years trying to achieve
that Beyonce look. How likely is it that Blue herself will remain natural
with Beyonce and Tina Knowles as her primary role models?

I like my Negro nose wit Jackson 5

nostils
Oh, REALLY
??!??!??!

Bey meant to conjure this image of

Afrocentric nostrils.
But I for one can't hear Negro nose
and a reference to the Jackson family in
the same sentence without thinking of
these:

You just might be a black

Bil Gats in te making.
Again note the reliance on an allusion to
white-dominated capitalism in order to
invoke a sense of black pride. Is the notion
of a black Bill Gates really as revolutionary
as we're meant to accept? King Bey visually
alluded to the Black Panther Party during
her Superbowl performance (the berets).
The Black Panthers were not capitalists philosophically they were socialists.
Any black radical/revolutionary past, present or future will tell you that this
notion of individual capitalistic achievement is antithetical to their aims.
Furthermore, Gates' intellectual theft and antitrust practices are legendary. Is
that the type of role model that a black revolutionary would invoke? Beyonce is
no black revolutionary and indeed, is much closer to a capitalist pirate like
Bill Gates. Remember when she stole If I Were a Boy off of Myspace from
relatively unknown artist B.C. Jean? (pictured below, to the left)

YUP!!!

I just might be a black

Bil Gats in te making.

Beyonce has always been

a tol of whit
supremacy and te whit
standard of beaut.
Beyonce is and always has been a
racial drag queen. Her light-skinned,
but clearly not white complexion gives her the license
to go in any direction racially speaking. The current
cultural appropriation controversy concerning her
appearance in the Coldplay music video is nothing new
in terms of her career. Unfortunately, her occupation of
performative blackness is often configured in a
negative way, relative to her occupation of whiteness.
All female pop stars play to the virgin-whore dichotomy.
For Beyonce, this tends to manifest as white
virgin/black whore. Just look at almost any of her
videos quite a lot of them feature representations of
both of these disparate images. Example to the right.

Check On It

Black Power, or Black Power ?

The celebration of the marginsblack
bodies in motion, women's voices
centered, black queer voices centered
is what ultimately vanquishes the
state, represented by a NOPD car.
Beyonce as the conjured everysouthern-black-woman, slays atop the
car and uses the weight of her body to
finish it off, sacrificing herself in the
process.

A diva is a female version of a

hustler....I'm-a a diva.
Beyonce

Zandria F. Robinson

Beyonce is nothing if not market-savvy. Just as she knew that we would

respond to the apocalyptic images of her self-titled album in 2013, she knows
now that the image of a sinking police car will resonate with her fan-base, wellprimed by the anger of the police shooting controversies of the past two
years. Beyonce is no martyryou can take that to the bank. She will not be
the one leading the Resistance, as Superpower suggests. If the proverbial
shit hits the fan, she will be safe on a flight to the Swiss Alps or in an
underground bunker with the Obamas. Similarly, she will not be the one to
lead the Revolution against state-sanctioned violence. She is, as Lady Gaga
proclaimed herself to be, a Government Hooker. She's just less upfront about
it (slightly). Her revolutionary expressions are nothing but commodities
created with full self-knowledge of her role in the game of mass control and the
suppression/misdirection of real revolutionary sentiment.

Feminism Say What???

Okay ladies, now let's get in formation.

...Bent over, ass poked out.

Okay ladies, now let's get in formation.

...Prostrate, on the ground, at the bottom of a swimming pool.

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS!!!

Remember: Te
Revoluton wil
NOT be Televised
The Superbowl is an annual corporate-sponsored media extravaganza. The
corporate elites do not have a vested interest in promoting black power or
black liberation as defined by the Panthers and other black radical groups.
One of the basic premises of these movements is freedom from corporate
control and economic domination by the elite. Furthermorethere are
rehearsals and a very deliberate process of selection with respect to the acts
that perform at halftime. It is not as if Beyonce snuck this in. This was an
orchestrated media event with a purpose that serves the interests of the
corporate sponsors. If not the liberation of black people, then what would be
the motivation for giving the spotlight to this message? Scholar Michelle
Alexander speaks of how Jim Crow laws came about to privilege poor white
Americans in order to (successfully) neutralize interracial class movements
that were burgeoning during the Reconstruction era by socially dividing the
races. Dr. King spoke of the same thing. A careful and critical analysis of
several aspects of contemporary American mediated culture will reveal that
this divide-and-conquer strategy is once again in full swing. Racial pride is not
an inherently bad thinguntil it becomes defined by animosity toward other
races. Stay mindful of your motives and thoughts and consider who is
influencing them. Be vigilantlest you be deceived!!!

Keeping it 100 Tings I Liked

(1) Truthful and respectful celebration of Southern black culture.

(2) The dancing is everything, as usual.
(3) All-black cast.
(4) Celebration of natural hair and feature (although I call BS where
Bey herself is concerned).
(5) Inclusion of sexual/gender minorities Big Freedia.
(6) True-to-life depictions of black poverty, just as in No Angel.
(7) Visually exquisite setting and costuming.
(8) When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster. It's ratchet and
stereotypical, but it's also FIRE. It's okay to like things that are a little
messed up sometimes.
(9) Albino alligators. YASSSS.
(7) STOP SHOOTING US.

Take-Away Points
(1) Beyonce is an entertainer and a corporate spokesmodel
NOT a revolutionary leader!
(2) Formation must be evaluated in the context of and does
not erase or negate Beyonce's problematic and racially
exploitative career history.
(3) ALWAYS critically interrogate the images that you
consume.
(4) Formation is a product the money is the motive!
(5) Watching the Superbowl, obsessing over the music video,
buying the album, and going to her live show DO NOT
(repeat) DO NOT constitute activism. If you truthfully care
about these issues, then it is your moral obligation to get
up off your ass and DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM.
(6) The media is owned by corporate conglomerates and is
used (among other strategies) to neutralize and/or
redirect the energy of dissent. Don't become co-opted!
(7) Don't use your kids as props! Especially on the internet!
(8) Though manipulative and exploitative, Beyonce is still a
human being and a sensational talent. She deserves our
love and people really can change for the better.
(9) We've come too far in project of racial integration and equality
to allow divide-and-conquer tactics to re-segregate us. Talk
to and love people who are different from you!

WITH LOVE AND RESPECT!

Slay.

Visit my website at http://www.sustainableequity.coop

Email me at: seanbarker.biz@gmail.com