- Fantastic text and issue – the makings of a superb investigation already. Brilliant presentation and that passion and critical autonomy needs to come through in the essay.
- Your research plan has the potential to be outstanding. Two writers to look up (from the new Media specification) are Van Zoonen and bell hooks – bell hooks in particular (radical black feminism).
- One critical part is your title or question – work on this and we’ll go over it at the next tutorial.
- Linked production – music video with potential visual poetry element. Sounds great.
- Next steps: finish project proposal and start building a comprehensive research plan.
- Post this to your blog with a brief plan for what you will work on in the next 10 days.
In the next 10 days I'll be continuing to work on my notes and qoutes, and I'll make sure to do research on the writers Van Zoonen and Bell Hooks and their books. I'll also attempt to create links with the theories I have researched for the project proposal to my text, and start to break down articles and university research and incorporate it to my work. I'll also start to look for inspirations in terms of the linked production.
Friday 14 October 2016
Turorial 1
Friday 7 October 2016
Project Proposal
Working title
Issues/Debates
Semiotics: The cinematography, mise-en-scene and so on of the visual album
Gender and ethnicity 1): http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm 2) http://www.slideshare.net/MissOzzy/theory-theorists
Blaxploitation: The exploitation of black people, especially with regard to stereotyped roles in films/media. (Could Lemonade just be an aesthetic for black struggle as many claim?)
Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)
Media texts
Beyonce - Lemonade
Other media texts
TV documentaries
Beverly Guy-Sheftall "Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought" (1995)
Bell Hooks: "Ain't I a Woman?" (1981)
“ Kimberlé Crenshaw: "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics,” (1989)
Darlene Clark Hine: "Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia" (1993)
W. EB DuBois "The Damnation of Women" (1920)
Internet Links
Newspaper websites
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11826051/Black-feminism-is-sadly-still-necessary.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/black-feminist-movement-fails-women-black-minority
http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/27/lemonade-beyonce-meaning-visual-album/
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/lemonade-taught-me-black-girl-magic#axzz4I53Oo7hA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-black-american-narrative-the-margins
University websites/academic papers online.
Other relevant sites/articles
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/black-feminist-thought.html#.V-5tQPmAOkocheck
http://www.spin.com/2016/04/beyonce-lemonade-hbo-album-film-analysis/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lindsay-hoffman/black-woman-white-movemen_b_8569540.html
http://www.mit.edu/activities/thistle/v9/9.01/6blackf.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_feminism
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/movies/the-panthers-revolutionary-feminism.html
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/black-feminist-thought.html#.V7SkX1srLIV
http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/27/lemonade-beyonce-meaning-visual-album/
http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/24/were-going-nuts-over-all-of-the-cameos-in-beyonces-lemonade-5838344/
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341839/beyonce-lemonade-black-feminism
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/lemonade-taught-me-black-girl-magic#axzz4I53Oo7hA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-black-american-narrative-the-margins
http://www.fuse.tv/2016/04/beyonce-genre-lemonade
http://www.bustle.com/articles/156634-beyonces-lemonade-has-8-musical-genres-you-need-to-hear-them-all
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/04/watch-7-minute-video-essay-explores-the-film-influences-behind-beyonces-lemonade-292056/
How far does Beyonce's Lemonade promote the views and values of Black Feminism in current day society?
Angle
What impact has the release of Lemonade had on the views and values of black struggle and empowerment amongst mainstream society, has Lemonade aided the cause of raising awareness on these issues in a positive manner?
Angle
What impact has the release of Lemonade had on the views and values of black struggle and empowerment amongst mainstream society, has Lemonade aided the cause of raising awareness on these issues in a positive manner?
Hypothesis
Black Feminism is a growing movement in society, and is finding its way into mainstream music. Themes of black empowerment as a whole is growing in the music industries.
Linked production piece
Music video/visual poetry that links back to the theme of Black Feminism/Black struggle
MIGRAIN
Lemonade aims to represent black women and the hardships they have been going through for many centuries. The representations are quite positive and portray black women as strong despite the hardships they may have to go through.
Each chapter carries a theme, whether it is based on the event of Hurricane Katrina or the representation of black culture. This makes mise-en-scene, sets etc. much more significant as these features are used to portray the image each chapter wants to represent. The soundtrack creates a link between what the audience are seeing (visuals) and what they are hearing (soundtrack) this allows a story to be told, some of the songs have a more aggressive tone for example.
The narrative is organised and structured as a book, there are 11 chapters: Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, Hope and Redemption. Each chapter also has some sort of introduction either through a poem or direct dialogue which allows the audience to have an understanding of the atmosphere of the chapter, meaning behind it and so on.
The visual album contains many pop and R&B elements, but it also breaks boundaries. It contains country, reggae, electronic, hip-hop, rock and jazz, soul too.
The text is from a commercial institution, the labels that contributed have an influence due to the fact that the record label (Parkwood entertainment) belongs to Beyonce meaning she has control over the content of her music i.e discussing controversial topics such as black feminism, misogyny, and society’s ever-present racial tensions.
The main major values of Lemonade would be to speak on behalf of the voiceless and the forgotten black women of the United States. Lemonade addresses issues faced by black women while also empowering them, and promoting self love.
The target audience in terms of psychographics would be the mainstreamers, the explorers and the reformers. In terms of demographics it would appeal to an ABC1 audience, mainly consisting of the young adult group and older. It may also appeal to white, middle aged men and women who at first may not like it as it is quite explicit, but it allows them to have a greater understanding of the issues faced. The size of the audience would be quite large as Beyonce is a worldwide known artist.
Social
Black Feminism is a growing movement in society, and is finding its way into mainstream music. Themes of black empowerment as a whole is growing in the music industries.
Linked production piece
Music video/visual poetry that links back to the theme of Black Feminism/Black struggle
MIGRAIN
Lemonade aims to represent black women and the hardships they have been going through for many centuries. The representations are quite positive and portray black women as strong despite the hardships they may have to go through.
Each chapter carries a theme, whether it is based on the event of Hurricane Katrina or the representation of black culture. This makes mise-en-scene, sets etc. much more significant as these features are used to portray the image each chapter wants to represent. The soundtrack creates a link between what the audience are seeing (visuals) and what they are hearing (soundtrack) this allows a story to be told, some of the songs have a more aggressive tone for example.
The narrative is organised and structured as a book, there are 11 chapters: Intuition, Denial, Anger, Apathy, Emptiness, Accountability, Reformation, Forgiveness, Resurrection, Hope and Redemption. Each chapter also has some sort of introduction either through a poem or direct dialogue which allows the audience to have an understanding of the atmosphere of the chapter, meaning behind it and so on.
The visual album contains many pop and R&B elements, but it also breaks boundaries. It contains country, reggae, electronic, hip-hop, rock and jazz, soul too.
The text is from a commercial institution, the labels that contributed have an influence due to the fact that the record label (Parkwood entertainment) belongs to Beyonce meaning she has control over the content of her music i.e discussing controversial topics such as black feminism, misogyny, and society’s ever-present racial tensions.
The main major values of Lemonade would be to speak on behalf of the voiceless and the forgotten black women of the United States. Lemonade addresses issues faced by black women while also empowering them, and promoting self love.
The target audience in terms of psychographics would be the mainstreamers, the explorers and the reformers. In terms of demographics it would appeal to an ABC1 audience, mainly consisting of the young adult group and older. It may also appeal to white, middle aged men and women who at first may not like it as it is quite explicit, but it allows them to have a greater understanding of the issues faced. The size of the audience would be quite large as Beyonce is a worldwide known artist.
Social
- Racial equality being synonymous with gender equality in current day America
- Privileges of white women over those of colour who are degraded and shamed
- Representation of coloured women in the media
- Western perception of beauty
- Police brutality
- Black discrimination in America
- The Black Panthers movement
- The Civil Rights Movement
- Slavery in America
- Segregation in America
- Marginalisation
- Black struggle and the lower status contributing to the slim rates of employment.
 |
| Example of statistics that support this |
Political
- The political state of America today and also in the past in terms of civil law etc. how it relates to the current day
- Violation of rights of African-Americans
Issues/Debates
Representation and stereotyping: Does Beyonce defy the negative represenations of black women? Stereotypes of black women and also black people as a whole, historical context and also modern day social issues.
News Values: Coverage of the events that have recently taken place and how the news industry portrays them, i.e. Black Lives Matter representation on the news
Ownership and control: The music industry and the record label of Beyonce, how it has had an impact on Lemonade
Regulation and censorship: The power that Beyonce has to be able to discuss issues that Black women and also men in America are facing
Theories
News Values: Coverage of the events that have recently taken place and how the news industry portrays them, i.e. Black Lives Matter representation on the news
Ownership and control: The music industry and the record label of Beyonce, how it has had an impact on Lemonade
Regulation and censorship: The power that Beyonce has to be able to discuss issues that Black women and also men in America are facing
Theories
Semiotics: The cinematography, mise-en-scene and so on of the visual album
Gender and ethnicity 1): http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-rol6.htm 2) http://www.slideshare.net/MissOzzy/theory-theorists
Paul Gilroy: Black music articulated diasporic experiences of resistance to white capitalist culture. Employs the notion of ‘diaspora’ and how ethnic minorities (particularly black people) experience dislocation from their homeland. E.g. feeling as if you do not totally belong in Britain but you also are considered ‘English’ in the Caribbean, Africa or Asia etc
Post-colonialism (Feminist version): A response to the fact that feminism seemed to focus solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures. Postcolonial feminism seeks to account for the way that racism and the long-lasting political, economic, and cultural effects of colonialism affect non-white, non-Western women in the postcolonial world. How does Beyonce represent this view?
Audience theories: Uses and Gratifications of Lemonade etc.
Genre theories: Style of the visual album, the music itself and how Beyonce is breaking boundaries and conventions within music, more political
Other related theories:
Intersectionality theory: Kimberle Crenshaw created the Intersectionality theory to describe the fact that it is difficult for black women to diffrentiate race from class and sex oppression, because they experience them simultaneously. Black feminism is more than just trying to empower women, as its roots lie in the struggle black women have been facing for centuries.
Audience theories: Uses and Gratifications of Lemonade etc.
Genre theories: Style of the visual album, the music itself and how Beyonce is breaking boundaries and conventions within music, more political
Other related theories:
Intersectionality theory: Kimberle Crenshaw created the Intersectionality theory to describe the fact that it is difficult for black women to diffrentiate race from class and sex oppression, because they experience them simultaneously. Black feminism is more than just trying to empower women, as its roots lie in the struggle black women have been facing for centuries.
Blaxploitation: The exploitation of black people, especially with regard to stereotyped roles in films/media. (Could Lemonade just be an aesthetic for black struggle as many claim?)
Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)
Media texts
Beyonce - Lemonade
Other media texts
- Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
- Joey Badass -Like Me
- Solange - A Seat at the Table
TV documentaries
- The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
- A Place of Rage
Beverly Guy-Sheftall "Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought" (1995)
Bell Hooks: "Ain't I a Woman?" (1981)
“ Kimberlé Crenshaw: "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics,” (1989)
Darlene Clark Hine: "Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia" (1993)
W. EB DuBois "The Damnation of Women" (1920)
Internet Links
Newspaper websites
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11826051/Black-feminism-is-sadly-still-necessary.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/black-feminist-movement-fails-women-black-minority
http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/27/lemonade-beyonce-meaning-visual-album/
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/lemonade-taught-me-black-girl-magic#axzz4I53Oo7hA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-black-american-narrative-the-margins
University websites/academic papers online.
- Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics: http://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf
- Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039?seq=2#page_scan_tab_contents
Other relevant sites/articles
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/black-feminist-thought.html#.V-5tQPmAOkocheck
http://www.spin.com/2016/04/beyonce-lemonade-hbo-album-film-analysis/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lindsay-hoffman/black-woman-white-movemen_b_8569540.html
http://www.mit.edu/activities/thistle/v9/9.01/6blackf.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_feminism
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/movies/the-panthers-revolutionary-feminism.html
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/black-feminist-thought.html#.V7SkX1srLIV
http://www.factmag.com/2016/04/27/lemonade-beyonce-meaning-visual-album/
http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/24/were-going-nuts-over-all-of-the-cameos-in-beyonces-lemonade-5838344/
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7341839/beyonce-lemonade-black-feminism
http://www.ebony.com/news-views/lemonade-taught-me-black-girl-magic#axzz4I53Oo7hA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/08/beyonce-formation-black-american-narrative-the-margins
http://www.fuse.tv/2016/04/beyonce-genre-lemonade
http://www.bustle.com/articles/156634-beyonces-lemonade-has-8-musical-genres-you-need-to-hear-them-all
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/04/watch-7-minute-video-essay-explores-the-film-influences-behind-beyonces-lemonade-292056/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)