Run The World (Girls)- Beyonce Music
Video Analysis
I decided to analyse the music video, ’Run the World’
firstly because I like the song and the artist a lot and I think it’s message
is very interesting. It was directed by Francis Lawrence who is an American
music video and film director, he has also worked with stars among the likes of
Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Destiny’s Child, etc. The song heavily samples ‘Pon de
Floor’ by Major Lazer following the same alternative hip-hop dance genres,
however does incorporate the R’n’B sounds of Beyonce.
There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and
visuals. The song is basically about female empowerment and Beyonce is trying
to get across that without females the world would not be able to run. This
feminist approach is clearly shown through the videos as the female to male ratio
is about 20:1! She is here trying to highlight the fact that females dominate
males. This is also shown through the females wearing very brightly coloured
and royal looking clothing and the males who are seen later on in the video are
wearing simple black attire. Also the use of the lion is clever, as the Lion is
said to be the ‘king of the jungle’ so by placing it with the females
accentuates the point that they are above all other humans. One way I feel the lyrics contradict against
the visuals is at the video opening where there are police clearly running to
stop these women. I feel this contradicts with the message Beyonce is trying to
get across. It sounds as if she wants to give the listeners the impression that
females have a positive effect on society and have more of an impact than
males, however by involving this scene of police running to them gives the
impression that the females are simply being destructive and not helping or
making progress at all.
The relationship between music and visuals is also
quite strong. For most of the video, the cuts change in time with the beats
which makes the video seem very tight and planned. Another way this
relationship is shown is through the change in the video when the pace changes.
When the beat drops there is generally the group of females dancing in unison
which highlights the lyric which is ‘Who run the world? Girls’, so these women
all dancing together shows them uniting to stand up for female rights. While on
the slower calmer parts of the song we are shown Beyonce standing alone
singing, which helps us to concentrate more on the lyrics. Below is an example
of Beyonce shown with the group of females, above an image of her singing
alone.
For 95% of the music video Beyonce is shown on the
screen, whether this being her alone or at the centre of a dance. The record
company have clearly involved her in the music video so much to make sure the
viewer know the song is by Beyonce and therefore feel more interested in buying
it. This links into Dyer's star thoery which says a video should show a high percentage of the artist to be successful. of the Fans watching music videos want to see the artist they like, and the record
companies are well aware of this. The image the audience is given of Beyonce is
that she is a strong independent woman who can clearly look after herself,
however she is lowering herself to the female celebrity stereotypes with her
intimate scenes with men and skimpy outfits and in some ways making herself a
sex object. She speaks of not needing a man in her life but is trying to
attract men by flaunting herself, as you can see in the image below. The artist
is definitely on sexual display and a lot of the other females in the video are
doing the same moves as her so are also shown in this manner.
The video relates quite closely to other songs by the
artist. Beyonce brings out a lot of tracks about female empowerment, for
example; ‘Diva’, ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘Independent Women’, all of which include
Beyonce showing how she can look after herself, and her videos generally include
only females, however if there are males in the video, they are either rarely
seen or shown to be less important than the females.
In terms of costume, some of the outfits do have
sexual references like Beyonce’s dress with the material covering only what's necessary. Also there are other sexual references with the artist holding
chains and being dressed in leather. These ideas have clearly been chosen just
because the reason that sex sells, and the producers know that if they involve
subtle sexual references into the videos it is going to go far. This is because
sex is a taboo subject that people think should be kept private so bringing it
out as small hints to the public is something people find quite exciting.
In terms of what the music video is based around, the
video is mostly performance based as it is mostly the artist singing the song
to the audience. However there are both narrative and concept based elements
within the video as there is a story told throughout of how these men are trying
to catch the females but the females show them through dance and song that they
are in control. The conceptual elements on the other hand are all to do with
the mise-en-scene, with the costumes, make-up and the ways in which they linked
to the music, for example the royal clothing worn by Beyonce highlights her
authority over the male race. 