Beyond her attire, there is symbolism in her violence. Beyoncé modeling Oshun is enticing the idea of fertility and health, which is so much more than just sex. The curve and bend of her body that we attribute as being ‘too sexy’ are not the fault of Beyoncé and her outfit but of our culture for over-sexualizing women who simply exist. While Hooks criticizes Beyoncé for the sexuality and anger she portrays in the fantasy of the music video, she neglects to hold the entirety of the movement in the realm of fantasy, instead cherry picking Beyoncé’s “female power” as the focus of her distaste. Her “golden garb” offsets the dull, blue-grey city streets, announcing that a man’s betrayal doesn’t dull her shine, doesn’t make her any less of the goddess she channels for empowerment. Beyoncé’s dress isn’t figure flattering to cater to the male gaze-its direct homage to Yoruba Goddess Oshun. “Hold Up” is overflowing with artistic symbolism that Hooks ignores. Images of female violence undercut a central message embedded in Lemonade that violence in all its forms, especially the violence of lies and betrayal, hurts.” Smug and smiling… Beyoncé is the embodiment of a fantastical female power, which is just that-pure fantasy. Among the many mixed messages embedded in Lemonade is this celebration of rage. In this scene, the goddess-like character of Beyoncé is sexualized along with her acts of emotional violence…she destroys with no shame. Attaching most of her resentment for how Beyoncé acts in “Hold Up”, she writes: “ dons a magnificently designed golden yellow gown, boldly struts through the street with baseball bat in hand, randomly smashing cars. In her criticism, Hooks focusses on her perception of female induced violence, discussing her distaste with Beyoncé’s performance by making broad generalization’s of her artistic freedom and grossly misinterpreting the message Beyoncé is sending to the common woman in similar positions. Ultimately, Lemonade wasn’t up to her standard of feminism. Hooks’ disapproval of what Lemonade had to offer wasn’t subtle, where the music of the album left a sweet taste in many mouths, she spat it back out bitterly. Beyonce’s album Lemonade is particularly interesting because it isn’t just a collection of standalone pieces produced for pop-culture consumption the culmination of these movements spans a broader political perspective of the black female experience, sparking the cross-generational debate between Bell Hooks, queen of radical feminism, and millennial bloggers on what it means to have a black body in mainstream media. Likewise, the artistry of music spans more than just repetition of lyrics and chords its political, its personal, but its also unifying. A painting is never just the blend of its colors, a sculpture never just the form of its clay.
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The beauty of art is that it never amounts to just the summation of the products used in its creation.
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A Critical Analysis of Beyoncé’s Lemonade: Hold Up, lets talk about Violence