OU Analyzing Beyonces Visual Album Lemonade Discussion

At the end of paragraph 8, bell hooks asserts that Beyonce’s album does not “create a culture of optimal well-being where black females can become fully self-actualized and be truly respected.” According to hooks, what needs to happen in order to create that culture of well-being and respect, and where does Beyonce’s album fall short? Be sure to support your answer with textual evidence.

MOVING BEYOND PAINBell HooksPREVIEW Bell Hooks, born Gloria Jean Watkins, received her B.A. from
Stanford University, her M.A.from the University of Wisconsin, and her Ph.D. from University of
California, Santa Cruz.She is known for her strong feminist pieces. In this piece, she analyzes Beyonc ’
sLemonade.Fresh lemonade is my drink of choice. In my small Kentucky town, beautiful black,
brown,and white girls set up their lemonade stands and practice the art of money making—it’sbusiness.
As a grown black woman who believes in the manifesto “Girl, get your moneystraight” my first response
to Beyonc ’s visual album, Lemonade, was WOW—this is thebusiness of capitalist money making at
its best.Viewers who like to suggest Lemonade was created solely or primarily for black femaleaudiences
are missing the point. Commodities, irrespective of their subject matter, aremade, produced, and
marketed to entice any and all consumers. Beyonc ’s audience is theworld and that world of business
and money-making has no color.What makes this production—this commodity—daring is its subject
matter. ObviouslyLemonade positively exploits images of black female bodies—placing them at the
center,making them the norm. In this visual narrative, there are diverse representations (blackfemale
bodies come in all sizes, shapes, and textures with all manner of big hair). Portraitsof ordinary everyday
black women are spotlighted, poised as though they are royalty. Theunnamed, unidentified mothers of
murdered young black males are each given pride ofplace. Real life images of ordinary, overweight not
dressed up bodies are placed within avisual backdrop that includes stylized, choreographed, fashion
plate fantasyrepresentations. Despite all the glamorous showcasing of Deep South antebellum
fashion,when the show begins Beyonc as star appears in sporty casual clothing, the
controversialhoodie. Concurrently, the scantily-clothed dancing image of athlete Serena Williams
alsoevokes sportswear. (Speaking of commodification, in the real life frame Beyonc ’s new lineof
sportswear, Ivy Park, is in the process of being marketed right now).Lemonade offers viewers a visual
extravaganza—a display of black female bodies thattransgresses all boundaries. It’s all about the body,
and the body as commodity. This iscertainly not radical or revolutionary. From slavery to the present day,
black female bodies,clothed and unclothed, have been bought and sold. What makes this
commodificationdifferent in Lemonade is intent; its purpose is to seduce, celebrate, and delight—
tochallenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black femalebody.
Throughout Lemonade the black female body is utterly-aestheticized—its beauty apowerful in your face
confrontation. This is no new offering. Images like these were firstseen in Julie Dash’s groundbreaking
film Daughters of the Dust shot by the brilliantcinematographer Arthur Jafa. Many of the black and white
still images of women and natureare reminiscent of the transformative and innovative contemporary
photography of CarrieMae Weems. She has continually offered decolonized radical revisioning of the
black femalebody.Copyright © McGraw-Hill Educa on. All rights reserved. No reproduc on or distribu
on without the prior wri en consent of McGraw-Hill Educa on.
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It is the broad scope of Lemonade’s visual landscape that makes it so distinctive—theconstruction of a
powerfully symbolic black female sisterhood that resists invisibility, thatrefuses to be silent. This in and
of itself is no small feat—it shifts the gaze of whitemainstream culture. It challenges us all to look anew,
to radically revision how we see theblack female body. However, this radical repositioning of black
female images does not trulyovershadow or change conventional sexist constructions of black female
identity.Even though Beyonc and her creative collaborators daringly offer multidimensional imagesof
black female life, much of the album stays within a conventional stereotypical framework,where the
black woman is always a victim. Although based on the real-life experience ofBeyonc , Lemonade is a
fantasy fictional narrative with Beyonc starring as the leadcharacter. This work begins with a story of
pain and betrayal highlighting the trauma itproduces. The story is as old as the ballad of “Frankie and
Johnny” (“he was my manalright, but he done me wrong”). Like the fictional Frankie, Beyonc ’s
character responds toher man’s betrayal with rage. She wreaks violence. And even though the father in
the song “Daddy’s Lessons” gives her a rifle warning her about men, she does not shoot her man.She
dons a magnificently designed golden yellow gown, boldly struts through the street withbaseball bat in
hand, randomly smashing cars. In this scene, the goddess-like character ofBeyonc is sexualized along
with her acts of emotional violence, like Wagner’s “Ride of theValkyries” she destroys with no shame.
Among the many mixed messages embedded inLemonade is this celebration of rage. Smug and smiling
in her golden garb, Beyonc is theembodiment of a fantastical female power, which is just that—pure
fantasy. Images offemale violence undercut a central message embedded in Lemonade that violence in
all itsforms, especially the violence of lies and betrayal, hurts.Contrary to misguided notions of gender
equality, women do not and will not seize powerand create self-love and self-esteem through violent
acts. Female violence is no moreliberatory than male violence. And when violence is made to look sexy
and eroticized, as inthe Lemonade sexy-dress street scene, it does not serve to undercut the prevailing
culturalsentiment that it is acceptable to use violence to reinforce domination, especially in
relationsbetween men and women. Violence does not create positive change.Even though Beyonc and
her creative collaborators make use of the powerful voice andwords of Malcolm X to emphasize the lack
of respect for black womanhood, simplyshowcasing beautiful black bodies does not create a just culture
of optimal well being whereblack females can become fully self-actualized and be truly
respected.Honoring the self, loving our bodies, is an appropriate stage in the construction of healthyselfesteem. This aspect of Lemonade is affirming. Certainly, to witness Miss Hattie, the 90-year-old
grandmother of Jay Z, give her personal testimony that she has survived by takingthe lemons life handed
her and making lemonade is awesome. All the references tohonoring our ancestors and elders in
Lemonade inspire. However, concluding this narrativeof hurt and betrayal with caring images of family
and home do not serve as adequate waysto reconcile and heal trauma.Concurrently, in the world of artmaking, a black female creator as powerfully placed asBeyonc can both create images and present
viewers with her own interpretation of whatthose images mean. However, her interpretation cannot
stand as truth. For example,Beyonc uses her non-fictional voice and persona to claim feminism, even
to claim, as she does in a recent issue of Elle magazine, “to give clarity to the true meaning” of the
term,but her construction of feminism cannot be trusted. Her vision of feminism does not call foran end
to patriarchal domination. It’s all about insisting on equal rights for men and women.In the world of
fantasy feminism, there are no class, sex, and race hierarchies thatbreakdown simplified categories of
women and men, no call to challenge and changesystems of domination, no emphasis on
intersectionality. In such a simplified worldview,women gaining the freedom to be like men can be seen
as powerful. But it is a falseconstruction of power as so many men, especially black men, do not possess
actual power.And indeed, it is clear that black male cruelty and violence towards black women is a
directoutcome of patriarchal exploitation and oppression.In her fictive world, Beyonc can name black
female pain, poignantly articulated by thepassionate poetry of Somali-British poet Warsan Shire, and
move through stages evoked byprinted words: Intuition, Denial, Forgiveness, Hope, Reconciliation. In this
fictive world,black female emotional pain can be exposed and revealed. It can be given voice: this is
avital and essential stage of freedom struggle, but it does not bring exploitation anddomination to an
end. No matter how hard women in relationships with patriarchal menwork for change, forgive, and
reconcile, men must do the work of inner and outertransformation if emotional violence against black
females is to end. We see no hint of thisin Lemonade. If change is not mutual then black female
emotional hurt can be voiced, butthe reality of men inflicting emotional pain will still continue (can we
really trust the caringimages of Jay Z which conclude this narrative).It is only as black women and all
women resist patriarchal romanticization of domination inrelationships can a healthy self-love emerge
that allows every black female, and all females,to refuse to be a victim. Ultimately Lemonade glamorizes
a world of gendered culturalparadox and contradiction. It does not resolve. As Beyonc proudly
proclaims in thepowerful anthem “Freedom”: “I had my ups and downs, but I always find the innerstrengthto pull myself up.” To truly be free, we must choose beyond simply surviving adversity, wemust
dare to create lives of sustained optimal well-being and joy. In that world, the makingand drinking of
lemonade will be a fresh and zestful delight, a real life mixture of the bitterand the sweet, and not a
measure of our capacity to endure pain, but rather a celebration of our moving beyond pain.