Beyoncé has always been someone that I looked up to
and respected to a certain extent as an artist. She not only has the amazing
looks but she has the talent too. The artifact I chose was her album, 4. There
are 12 tracks in the album and it was released on June the 24th of last year. Her
main hit was ‘Run the World’ and the whole album just portrayed her self-confidence.
People were questioning her ways and calling them ‘improper.’ The fact that
this album talks about women and them ‘running the world’ is not a bad thing
but the way she represents this in her music video can be considered inappropriate.
There are so many other ways that she could have portrayed this in her video.
In her big hit ‘Single Ladies’, she beams with self confidence and nothing is inappropriate
about her video – it just is her telling us ladies that we should be proud to
be single. It was interesting to think about this and with her song ‘Run the
World’ there were several thoughts that popped up in my mind. At the 2011
Billboard Music Awards, Beyoncé does an amazing performance of her new hit and
the whole performance opens up with a lot of stars, her parents and even the
first lady herself talking about how wonderful Beyoncé is and how she is a role
model for all girls today. The only thing is her music video doesn’t really
portray this in the best way it could. The whole album just shows her self
confidence and show how much she has grown as an artist but it is pretty much
her selling herself. Some questions that I found I was asking myself were how
can women be aware of the way that other women are portrayed in the media? How
can we resist this? Is it wrong to watch music videos and listen to music that is
considered inappropriate according to the kingdom of God? Or is it ok as long
as we know what we’re doing?
I totally see where your coming from considering Beyonce has always been a artist I've respected as well. I have seen her video for "Run The World" and I can say that I agree with you about how it doesn't really support what Beyonce seems to stand for. Personally, I don't think it's wrong to watch these music videos if we understand what we're seeing. Both you and I watched her music video for "Run The World" and knew it wasn't what is normal of Beyonce and isn't something we really appreciated of her work. If we can go into watching all videos with a mind set that questions what we are seeing then I think it is okay to expose ourselves to them. Sometimes it can be a good learning experience.
ReplyDeleteWow ... I hadn't seen the video for "Run the World" yet. I have to say, it's pretty disturbing and you're right to notice that it has a significantly different spirit about it than "Single Ladies." And the song isn't particularly strong, either.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Beyoncé is suggesting that women rule the world by using their sexuality to persuade men to do what they want. I guess that's one way to do things, but it's a road that leads to an understanding of women as only good for sex -- which has disastrous consequences.