Beyonce is a popular female R&B and pop artist. Her videos are known for her singing, dancing, and sex appeal. Most of her videos are prominently provocative due to the sexual nature of her dancing. The video “Dance for You” displays all of her most popular qualities. The setting of the video is in what appears to be an old detective office room and in addition is in black and white, to add to the antiquity of the scene. The video portrays exactly what the title of the song is and what the lyrics are saying. The title of the song is “Dance for You” and throughout the video Beyonce is dancing for a power-holding white male in his office.
The most prominent binary in this
video is darkness versus light, whether it be through race, lighting, or
editing. Beyonce appears to be a strong black woman when in reality she is
objectifying herself for a white man. During this time period a white man and a
black woman would never be seen together, which may be the reason she is coming
into his office at night. It could be concluded that she is his mistress or
possibly a criminal. She is putting on a show for him during the whole video
and never looks away from him, which also coincides with the time period
because woman did not try to be independent and they were there to do whatever
men wanted them to do. It seems as though she is trying to seduce the
detective.
Something that doesn’t “fit” in
this video is the appearance of the four other women behind the windows.
Throughout the video, Beyonce is dancing for the man and now four women join
her. It could be assumed that Beyonce and these women are possibly criminals. The
fact that the man is a detective and that they appear in the middle of the
night in a “line-up” to dance for him seems as though they are trying to
seduce/persuade him. Going along with the criminal claim, is that the
watchtower light seems to reveal identities of the women similar to an
interrogation light that is portrayed in older movies.
What do the fans represent and what
effect do they have on the women? Does the race of the other women play a role
in the video? Why do you think the male never touches/shows emotion toward
beyonce?
You can find another analysis of the video here:
http://idolator.com/6091192/beyonce-dance-for-you-video
You can find another analysis of the video here:
http://idolator.com/6091192/beyonce-dance-for-you-video
I find it really interesting that the man never touches or shows interest towards Beyonce. It seems that he wants to but obviously he is in an authority position so he cannot. I also wonder whether he invited her into his office or if she just showed up.
ReplyDeleteI feel it is more likely that Beyoncé is playing the role of a mistress or just an acquaintance of the detective as opposed to a criminal. This is because she did enter with a coat on in the beginning (under her own power) and he was smirking and eventually smiling at her for the duration of the video. I'm not too sure about the fans, most if not all music videos use fans to enhance the performer but rarely are they visible. Perhaps they are seen to further display the scene of the 50's look for the video.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that you suspect she could possibly be a criminal. That thought never crossed my mind but it's a good idea! I interrupt this as forbidden love. They're meeting at night in his office because they aren't accepted by society at this point in time. He may have acted like he wasn't interested in her as a part of their role playing. The fans could represent that her and her friends are so "hot" and she's emphasizing this to him. She just wants to look desirable. It's unclear to me why her friends were even in the video though.
ReplyDeleteI think the man in the video is supposed to be acting as a stereotype for men. Saying that your not supposed to let your real emotions show. The darkness in the video helps to curtain the mans emotion by not seeing his face. I think that The director is trying to show beyonce being "hot and bothered" and the fans are another way to show this, besides the obvious of her dancing provocatively.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that Beyonce is playing the part of a mistress. She comes in at night and the lights are kept off. The man looks as if he wants to touch her, but never does which could mean he knows it's wrong. The way the fans cut through the light create a mysterious atmosphere. As for her friends, I'm still unsure as to why they show up for a brief dance.
ReplyDeleteI feel the fans are normally just additives to make the dancers more "sexy" but I'm not sure why they are included in the video. Based on the rest of the video I wouldn't assume that Beyonce would want other girls to be in her video because it takes away from herself, unless she is a criminal and is trying to get out of something by performing for the detective. There is a strange meaning behind a black women dancing for a white man, in an old time setting. It is a similar set up to the Love Sex Magic video except Beyonce is in complete control in this video.
ReplyDeleteNot to beat a dead horse but I'm going to. I also believe that Beyonce is a mistress trying to win the man over. I think the reason the mans face was blank almost the whole time was due to him not wanting any think more from her until the mid-end when she won him over. An iconic theme of this video that has yet to be hit on is the similarity between Beyonce and Marilyn Monroe an icon of the era . The reason I believe this is because of videos use of air movement which reminded me of the iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe having her dress being blown up by a passing subway. Additionally Beyonce's hair looks blond and the dress in the beginning looks very similar just shorter and darker. Has any else noticed this similarity ?
ReplyDeleteI also got that Beyonce is trying to seduce the male detective. Throughout the entire video the light and dark binary is prominent. I didn't think that the other four women had anything to do with the video at all but your comparison to a lineup makes a lot of sense. I think the time period that the video suggests makes you look at the cultural issues with the video also. She's objectifying herself for a white male of power in a time where racism was dominant. If you live under a rock and didn't know that Beyonce was a woman of color, she almost seems to appear tan or white. That also brings out a point of is she trying to hide her color in a time of predominant white power.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this music video is about a black woman who want to attract a white man's attention by dancing for him. Just as the name of this music describes, dance for you. The style of this video is tend to imitate 50's style and all the dress of characters and furnish in the room painstakingly arrange in that style.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the man seems do not pay attention into Beyonce's dancing, maybe because some reason he cannot be with her. But in the last scene, he also smiles, which indicates that in his heart, he enjoy the 'only dance' very much.
I also agree the binary is prominent between dark and light. I also agree that it is made to feel and look like the 50's. Both of these facts add up to something that would have been frowned upon in the 50's. The idea of a black women with a white man would have caused outrage in this time. The man may be aware of this racial barrier. This may explain why he is trying to ignore her. If she was his mistress then wouldn't he try to pay attention. If though she is trying to seduce him his reaction makes more sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the binary of light vs. dark, and how their relationship would be frowned upon in the setting of the video. I think he wants to be with her despite this fact, but he doesn't want to lose his authoritative position and/or his social status, which is why he tries to ignore her.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the light and dark binaries. The time period matches with the public opinion at the time; meaning that a black woman and white man would not be seen together. There also seems to be a secretive sense about this scene too; the lights were low, and the window shades shut. I feel like the detective doesn't show emotion because he doesn't want to fall into forbidden love. With his sense of power, it would most likely be frowned upon. The fans seem to be there for purely cosmetic effect i.e. the blowing hair and clothing. And I have no idea why the other women are there.
ReplyDeleteI think that the black and white fell into contradictory love. In reality, they can not be together because the backgroud at that time. But what can we make sure is that racial descrimination was prevelent and it caused lots of tragedy, such as cross-race love. Dance for you shows that the black women loved the white man so much, but what makes she sad is that their love could just exist in dark night without any people knowing about it and also lacked bless of them.
ReplyDeleteThis video is full of many strong contradictions showing Beyonce willing to push for change. The binaries shown are very strong and evident with the light and dark contrast, especially in regards to a white male and a black female, which is very uncommon. The old look is very nostalgic and is very strong in supporting the underlying themes in this video since whites and blacks were even more polar back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone who posted before me has commented on the binaries between the light(white) and darkness(black). In my opinion, the use of light and dark is to eliminate the issues of color in her video even though it is still identifiable. And the man in the video doesn't touch her because Jay-Z would have his head. Just saying
ReplyDeleteThis video I think is not about the dark and light, because it is too obvious, the fact that they are different races is the most obvious.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the part of him not touching though her because of Jay-Z because of the fact that in her other video," Best thing I never had" the guy does a few things such as taking off her undergarment on her leg with his teeth, and picking her up at the end." I mean, yeah its not too sexual, but he still touches her in some way.
I do believe that Beyonce is trying to seduce the detective, and considering the era this video is made to take place in a black and white couple would be frowned upon. so i do agree that she may be his mistress also because it is late and they are in his office away from anyone else. I think that the man in the video does not respond to Beyonce's dancing because he is in a position of power and is superior to her and does not want to lose the respect of others or society. I also don't get why the other women are in the video.
ReplyDeleteThis video paints a very interesting contrast between beyonce and the detective. Of course we are meant to spend most of our time watching and listening to beyonce but I think the detective is the more interesting character in the video. He is shrouded by mystery and by the end you can only speculate about the scenario. Him being a detective, and using the Noir style really brings up the questions of the deeper meanings behind the encounter.
ReplyDeleteSomething that I think is worth mentioning is that this video plays right into the time period. At that time, women were stay at home moms and secretaries. I do agree that the four other women were sudden and out of the ordinary. In response to the last question, The male show little emotion. When she get close to him he give a little smile or smirk, but most of the time he is steadfast. In that time period, the man was supposed to be the strong provider. This smile shows he has a soft spot for her, which could play toward the binaries of the video. for Michael Gans
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