Evelin Flores Aguirre Conversation #2

In the song, “Formation”, by Beyonce the messages and themes she wanted to express are self-confidence, power, success, black culture, and women’s empowerment. These messages/themes are similar to my initial reaction to the song and video, because the first things I noticed in the video were a lot of self-confidence and black culture. When listening to the lyrics, I heard a lot of power and success, “You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation, “Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper”. Including, her putting her roots in her lyrics, “My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana”, … Earned all this money, but never take the country out me”. However, Matsoukas helps Beyonce convey those messages and themes by using symbolism. Taking colors, clothes, camera shots, or what Matsoukas and Beyonce were going to include in the video to send the message/theme they want to the audience. Furthermore, “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag”, an example of emotive language, demonstrating that Beyonce carries a piece of her culture with her everywhere she goes. Repetition is used in the chorus, “I slay”, highlighting her self-confidence in her song. I think the song and video became controversial because of political reasons. Matsuokas and Beyonce using references of the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, causing people to be offense to the references being related to a tragedy that happened in society, even if Matsoukas and Beyonce did not mean any harm.