LEMONADE AND THE POWER OF BLACK COLLECTIVITIES
Other than set the Beyhive abuzz, Lemonade defined new levels and set even higher standards for visual artistry. As with any project led by Queen Bey, innovation and power are at the center of the narrative. The innovation and power of the visual album are expressed through the positioning of Black collectivities at the center of this visual universe and the Black female as the essential element needed for this occurrence.
As she showed us through her genre, defying, in-your-face polemic, “Formation”, Beyoncé communicates the oft ignored truth that Black women are at the center of this narrative. She makes sure that our plight is known and highlights the unapologetic agency of Black women despite adversity by showing them in landscapes and settings that they are traditionally and systemically restricted access to. Symbolically standing on the grounds of what appears to be a former plantation, the collective of Black women does not appear in positions of servitude. Instead, they stand as purveyors of aesthetic beauty dressed all in white, a revolutionary vision in a media landscape dominated by negative depictions of the Black female body. In Lemonade, the Black female body is regarded as both the artistic masterpiece and the exemplification of the power to determine the visual impact she will have. The inherent format of the visual album is to display images. Consistently throughout the album, the viewer is shown displays of the female body. Instead of having the hyper-sexualized, traditional, male gaze of most visual projects that have the Black female body portrayed, it is flipped on its head to reveal the feminine construction of the gaze (based on Beyoncé creative direction), one that is focused on highlighting all the magical facets of the feminine mystique. While she doesn’t showcase all the diverse manifestations of the “femaleness” and feminine identity (i.e. transgender, disable, gender non-conformist individuals), Beyoncé does her best to focus on her interpretation of female identity and its place within the collective. The Black collectivities are an affront to the prevailing system that tries to tear us apart.
In the collective, we exist as a whole, strengthened by the presence and the centrality of Black women. This strength can be seen in one of the most explicitly vulnerable parts of the visual album where a collective of Black women holding hands and praying for redemption in the calm waters of the bayou. The image evokes the spiritual notion that these women gain strength and power through prayer. It is this connection to a higher being that reflects the cultural archetype in southern African-American life of the praying grandmother” or the “praying mother.” The centrality of the feminine narrative within the collective speaks to the foundation that the Black female presence provides for the existence of the Black collective.
Using a snippet from Malcolm X’s speech: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” This statement not only emphasizes tragically ignored truths, Malcolm X, and consequently Beyoncé, challenge the audience to acknowledge Black women’s plight in American society and to do something to change it. Poignantly, the speech is played during a montage of non-mainstream images of Black women that we rarely if ever see in the media: a woman wearing a headscarf, an older woman with glasses, a young woman with a weave that doesn’t fit Eurocentric standards. It is almost as if the message is that these are a small representation of the women that America so often disrespects, unprotects, and neglects. This scene seemingly delivers the thesis for Beyoncé’s statement on Black feminism and the acknowledgement of the power of Black women in the collective.
With the resiliency and strength of the Black woman functioning as the vehicle for the progression of the visual landscape, Beyoncé incorporates Black collectivities in each conceptually created shot. From the streets filled with the smiling faces of people in the predominately Black neighborhoods in Louisiana to the commanding image of a sartorial army of Black women and girls in the forest, the Black collective is seen as a visual force. In a white-dominated media landscape that often renders Black collectivities virtually invisible, Beyoncé shows that the depiction of Black collectivizing, especially Black feminine collectivity, is possible and in part plays an aesthetic role in art and media. With her artistically curated shots of women, one can grasp the aesthetically pleasing quality o the Black collective in its portrait of varying shapes, sizes, and positionalities. She both transcends and acknowledges the notion of American individualism by highlighting her personal craft through the portrayal of group identity and cohesion. In this way, she is saying, “I, a Black woman will exist and deserves to exist in this space; we, Black women, will exist and deserve to exist in this space. “
This is a radical departure from conventions that typically isolate Black collectivities or do nothing to highlight the visibility of Black identity. As Visual and Critical Studies scholar, Romi Crawford, eloquently stated: “Informal or less formal, black collectivities are nonetheless often preceded by a pronounced level of consciousness about the matter of Black collectivizing. Black people assemble and create a collective presence. This is also an everyday occurrence.” With the large numbers of Black bodies illuminated in the visual project, Beyoncé dares the onlooker to digest Black beauty and digest the strength of a people that will continue to take up space in this world.
The depictions of sisterhood, family, love, friendship, and togetherness strengthen the visual of Black collectivity in Lemonade. We also see the wide breadth that Blackness as an identity can take on. Blackness is represented as a group, but this representation is also careful to showcase individuality in the variety of different individuals existing within the collective. This is Beyoncé’s artistic statement of Blacks as not a monolithic group. In a world that is quick to slap simplistic, often ill-founded “explanations” of who Black people are or what a Black person is, the proliferation of a diverse set of images from scene to scene in Lemonade challenges the viewer to reevaluate those simplistic judgements. The collective of Black features: the varying hair textures, skin tones, and body shapes. The collective of socioeconomic statuses. The collective of musical performance rooted in African diasporic traditions: from the jazz marching bands in New Orleans to the overlay of Beyoncé’s voice in a country music song. The collective of traditions: from the African tribal and warrior make-up to the baptismal choreography in the river. The unfortunate collective of Black lives taken by police brutality and state-sanctioned murder: a winning memorial to the martyrs of the fight to freedom with the Mothers of the Movement . And most importantly, the collective of images of Black humanity, which takes lemons and makes LEMONADE.
