BEYONCE - IF I WERE A BOY (Textual Analysis 3)

Written By: BC Jean and Toby Gad
Director: Jake Nava
Genre: Pop/ Folk Rock
Structure: Narrative

Beyonce plays the part of the girlfriend in the relationship between the two character's on screen. There is an obvious trust issue between the couple as there are suspects of the male cheating on her. Beyonce tries to take the point of view of the male and steps in his shoes for a day. She is expressing her views of the male species and how they miss signals from their girlfriends when they are upset and their general attitudes towards life and relationships.

The whole video is in black and white as opposed to colour which gives the video an archaic feel. The video resembles that of something from the past as though to connote a re-occurrence of events - maybe he has cheated before and it is as plain as 'black and white'. The use of colour could also represent a gender conflict or opposition between two sexes. Black and white is used to show contrast and here we can see it is being used for a contrast of views.

We see Beyonce, a female, in a mans role. She dresses in a police uniform made up of a cap, ray ban aviators, a shirt, trousers and black boots. This uniform displays a strong role in the relationship and as the police are seen as dominant figures of society. The uniform makes Beyonce appear in control and of fair and honest standards, as though we should see her view as one society agrees with, so the audience understand her views in the video through this aspect. In the 50's and 60's a job as a police officer was seen as a male dominating role and women weren't generally seen 'on the job'. The black and white ties into this idea as though these archaic concepts are related to this current event all make her male role more obvious to the audience.

Beyonce displays male qualities and things that we associate with the male gender. For example, through the use of a medium two-shot we see Beyonce grab, what appears to be a criminal, by the arms and slam him onto a police car. This gives a very violent aspect to her character and shows men as violent species. This gives the audience negative attitudes towards the man in the relationship and takes sides with her. It is also an unusual viewing experience for the audience as they arn't as used to seeing a women as opposed to a man act in a violent way.

Meanwhile, through the use of a low angle medium shot, we can see Beyonce's male co-worker acting voyeuristic by staring at the lead's bottom as she bends over. Her bottom is framed left at an extreme close-up proximity for the audience, so we are forced to look at her bottom two, given use almost the p.o.v of another male onlooker. The man is also dressed in the same police uniform as the lead which makes the act of voyeurism seem more unnatural, almost corrupt of the officer to do so. This makes the audience feel all the more negative towards the man in the relationship.

In the setting of the shooting range we see the artist helping the co-worker to improve his shooting. What we are seeing a fantasy of Beyonce's imagination depicting her taking the role of her lover. Again this is connoting violence among the male species and helps to build up a negative view of her lover through a medium close up two-shot. The black and grey shooting range clothing continues the theme of black and white reinforcing the contrast between the two genders. It also gives Beyonce a male appearance to help establish her role as her male lover. In this violent action we see a moment of tenderness as Beyonce seems to lovingly touch her coworkers Adam, again through the two-shot. This subtly suggest an attempt to cheat on her partner which resembles herself, making the audience all the more empathetic towards the artist. As she is in his shoes the audience feel as though they are in here's.

We also see, through the use of a low angle medium shot, the man sitting vulnerably at the table eating breakfast. Beyonce walks in, takes a bite of food which he had prepared, looks at the man with hopelessness and walks out of the door. We feel sorry for the man in  scene but our feelings are translated onto Beyoncé as we are seeing her in the alternate role of the male. This scene expresses her efforts to make things right between them and the hopelessness that is mutually felt in the relationship.

Another scene of voyeurism is show through the use of a long shot jump cut to a medium close-up where Beyonce is in, what feels like a males changing room, as she undresses, (a tradition act related to the police force's culture). She is in a black bra, again continuing the colour scheme, and she looks over her left shoulder and smiles at someone outside of the camera. We, the audience, believe it to be the police co-worker, further suggesting the idea of cheating on the other partner. We the audience are watching her undress as is the potential male in the changing room.

A master shot shows the lead with her police co-workers, including the male friend, around a restaurant table. The warm lighting suggest an environment she feels comfortable in, the mise-en-scene provides a 'diner' environment with sugar, salt and pepper pots in the middle of the table and the fact they are seated in the window, typical of a restaurant. The man in the relationship texts her and she ignores him which directly corporates with the lyrics of the song. For example, "Tell everyone it's broken, so they think that I was sleeping alone." This seems to be a repeating convention of mainstream music videos, to match the action to the lyrics. Again this builds up a negative view of the man. Use of medium close-ups are used to show the lead and the man to reveal their emotions to the audience.

Finally a clear image is presented to the audience where Beyonce is dancing sexually with her male co-worker, the audience see this through a long P.O.V shot of the male/Beyoncé. A medium close-up is used to reveal her shock when she realises he is watching and she passes her drink to the co-worker and walks to her boyfriend. A long two-shot shows her trying to explain to him but he has none of it. The audience imagine the roles reversed and more empty is felt towards Beyoncé as we see her upset net and frustration with him. The colour black again is prominent in the scene as Beyonce wears a black dress, this connotes the evilness of  her actions against her lover. Black is also associated with funerals so the black dress could represent the death of their relationship, and the end of an era.

A break down section is included in the video where the music is faded revealing diegetic sound of the character's conversation. A long two-shot is used while they converse again the colour black is evident in their costuming, Beyonce wearing the same outfit previously. A clever twist is used in the dialogue when Beyonce says, "it's not like I'm sleeping with the guy." they both say in unison, "what?" there is a long pause, and the male says, "I said, its not like I'm sleeping with the girl." This changes him from being vulnerable in the situation to being the antagonist. Realisation hits the audience and confirms the alternate twist of views through the video. A medium close-up reveals a tear from the artist 's eyes and the audience can't help but understand her sadness. We understand the video is a depiction of her imagination of the frustration of her lover's ways.

In the introduction there was a long shot of Beyonce leaving her home, entering her work vehicle with the male co-worker in the car and dressed her her police outfit. After the break down section the cinematography is completely copied but with the male in his uniform. When he gets into the car there is a female police officer in the drivers seat. We now understand and can see the bigger picture. Beyonce is sad over suspicions her boyfriend is cheating on her with a woman from work. The audience are left feeling touched and emotional.

Summary

From analysing this video I have seen the use of clever breakdown and speech manipulation to create a twist within a video. I have also learned how to appropriately match the on screen action with the lyrics of the chosen song. I have found how to achieve a continuous symbolic colour scheme to link appropriate scenes and meaning together. Finally, I have learned how to achieve a powerful video with a small cast of 4 main characters.