Dream and Formation

Dream and Formation 





Both videos try to give a sense of empowerment to their audiences. In the Dream video, Dizzee Rascal tries to get a sense of empowerment to people who otherwise may no have any; such as teen parents. In society, teen parents are frowned upon and there is a stigma attached to them. With the lyrics "young babymothers, yo I got your back as well", it seems Dizzee is saying that even if society doesn't care about them, he does, and they shouldn't give up their dreams just because they've get pregnant and had children at young ages.
In formation, Beyoncé seems to be trying to empower the people affected by the New Orleans floods through the shots of her standing on the police car in the flooded area. These shots and images connote power as Beyoncé is standing on a police car, which is a symbol of power and protection, whilst it drowns, but she isn't phased by the sinking of the car. By including this in the video, Beyoncé is showing that the people who should be protecting the citizens suffering are doing nothing, and that the citizens should take the power from the police and help themselves.


Beyoncé only highlights issues in the visual aspect of her video. The shots of her upon the sinking police car is reflective of the flooding in New Orleans and the issues surrounding it. The New Orleans flooding left devastation consequences for the community and the state seemingly did nothing to help those who desperately needed it. However, some celebrities, such as Beyoncé, did bring light to the issue, which has resulted in some help being given. The police car could reflect the current issues in society surround minorities, and police brutality. The video is set in the South of America, well known for it's past opinions and involvements in dealing with slavery. Beyoncé herself, is from the South of America, and by having the video set here, it shows the improvements that have been made in society so far. Certain shots, like the one in the old styled house where Beyoncé wears old southern costume, connote that her and the black community belong in society, especially the south, and that the past won't stop them as they've already gained the power to exist in places as human beings rather than slaves. This furthers the idea of Beyoncé trying to empower those affected by the New Orleans flooding, by showing the issues society has already overcome. However, the music video could explicitly related to the issues more and explored them further. Furthermore, the video seemed disorganised overall, as a lot of the scenes didn't really fit in with the others, and the lyrics seemed out of place.

Dizzee Rascal tries to highlight issues through both the visual and lyrical aspect of his video. Societal issues such as teen pregnancy, and alcoholism are shown in the video. However, the use of puppets, and the character of 'mother' from an old children's program, creates a child theme throughout the video which in turn connotes ignorance. This creates a juxtaposition with the themes Dizzee is exploiting in the video. The contrast reflects society and how although there are major issues in society, most of the world are ignorant to their existence. Overall, it seems that Dizzee Rascal presented the issues in a better way manor Beyoncé, as his visuals in the video matched with the lyrics allowing the video to be easily followed. Whereas with Beyoncé's formation video, the visuals didn't particularly link to the lyrics, and it was easy to get confused whilst watching the video.

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