Sunday, February 7, 2016

Beyoncé and the Internet

Hi all-- just dropping by to share a link to the new Beyoncé video entitled Formation. Bey only released this video as an unsearchable one, only accessible if you had the particular link. 
(also this is in fact the adult version, if you prefer the "clean" version it can be found at this link)

There is something interesting happening specifically with the dissemination of Beyoncé's videos, namely the function of the private, the ways in which she demands not only attention but for her fans to #beyintheknow to be up to date on her newest products (her music). With this release, she is creating a way in which the Internet can function not so much as a bullhorn, but as a space where word of mouth is what creates traction and exclusivity in an age where content is supposedly at our fingertips. What this video conveys is Bey's politics in a new, very loud way that many celebrities have avoided on many topics facing our country, from gun control to police brutality. Bey specifically calls to attention that her money and influence make her powerful, in ways in which she can speak up for the oppressed. She specifically references New Orleans and police brutality, with the graffiti near the end of the film stating "stop shooting us" and the imagery of the child throwing his hands in the air only to have the police mimic that action across from him, the image of the one versus a long scary line of uniform, cloned, undifferentiated, anonymous policemen.


She acknowledges her power in her lyrics, stating that "you know that you that bitch causing all this conversation/always stay gracious best revenge is your paper" - pointing to her power, not only through her wealth but also that she holds clout through her audience, which due to that, there have already (as of midnight, Sunday Feb. 7 2016 was 3.9 million views, not even being in circulation for more than 1 day). Bey is flexing her politics, rejecting hegemony, and creating a conversation and confronting the public with the reality of the world that we live in. 


7 comments:

  1. Whoa, super fascinating! I had no idea that her videos have been "unsearchable". This alone raises enough questions about the nature of public and private space online (how "unsearchable" are unlisted objects, really? How much access is restricted, and whose? In what ways does this affect the virality and demand for such videos?), but when combined with content focused on social activism, such questions are compounded further.

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    1. This is a really interesting point, Danielle. For as "unsearchable" as the video is, it certainly has not restricted viewer access. This is also a point brought up frequently with Twitter: an embarrassing/incendiary/problematic tweet is deleted, but not before it's photo-captured and preserved for the Internet's posterity. Taraji P. Henson learned that one the hard way last night after she celebrated Maroon 5's amazing halftime performance...

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    2. I agree that this is a super interesting thing to think about, Danielle! I also agree that this brings up a lot of interesting questions about the specificities of the internet as a public/private medium as well as its relationship to capitalism and corporate structure. The extent to which, as viewers of online media, we are complicit in our own viewedness - our own surveillance - seems to confirm and enormously surpass the paranoia surrounding the television as home-invader that we've talked about in class. In thinking back to some of Gitlin's points from a few weeks ago, I wonder how releasing this video in this way draws attention to the hegemonic structures of sites like YouTube and Google, which normalize this kind of surveillance under the guise of an open forum. By using YouTube to make this video available (as Jon points out above) to millions of people while simultaneously destabilizing the typical structures of YouTube (we cannot help but wonder what else lurks privately on the site), Beyoncé is locating a place within mainstream discourse where she can not only criticize existing structures of oppression but even critique the media platforms through which that oppression is reinforced. I think it's also important to note that she released this right before performing it at the Super Bowl - perhaps the most significant and enduring TV event in America, and one with some of the most overtly jingoistic, capitalist, misogynistic overtones - once again utilizing these symbols/structures of enormous power, televisually, to redirect the spotlight onto issues that these very symbols and structures actively suppress.

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  2. Thanks for posting the link. Nice reading of the video here: http://newsouthnegress.com/southernslayings/

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  3. In addition to the link Tara posted, this article is really interesting and I think worth the read: https://medium.com/@KateCForristall/formation-doesn-t-include-me-and-that-s-just-fine-5db8055f8b75#.k3sqjr5ic

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  4. Here is another thoughtful piece on this video, from a rational and radical perspective: http://radfag.com/2016/02/10/my-apparently-obligatory-response-to-formation-in-list-form/

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  5. Here is another thoughtful piece on this video, from a rational and radical perspective: http://radfag.com/2016/02/10/my-apparently-obligatory-response-to-formation-in-list-form/

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