Narrative- Beyonce ‘If I Was A Boy’

In 2008 Beyonce released her video for the song ‘If I was a Boy.’ The video tells a narrative of a relationship between a man and a woman, and shows different emotions that the couple are feeling about each  other. The video was directed by Jake Nava, and stars Beyonce as the main character. The short film is fully shoot in black and white and has a unique role reverse theme, similar to the 1976 film Freaky Friday.

This video is a good example of a narrative music video, and portrays the message of honestly and jealously within a relationship. The video opens with the artist saying the three themes of the narrative ‘intimacy’, ‘honesty’, and ‘commitment’ the video follows Beyonce’s characters as her boy friend becomes jealous and believes that she spends to much time with her co- workers, although as they co- front each other, the video shifts and shows that the feelings are actually the other way round and Beyonce is the one who is jealous. Having this role reverse technique makes the video very unique and stand out from other narrative videos. It also plays on the relationship stereotype, as some people may believe that it’s more usual for a woman to become jealous and a man to see other woman, and after the role reverse, we find out that the relationship is completely the other way round then we first thought. This stereotype links with Beyonce’s political views of society, being a large follower in feminism, her music and video all show a message linking with equality to women, and with the role reverse she tries to prove that a relationship is an equal bond and what we see in the media and texts only shows one side to every argument, and real relationships has two equal sides and two point of views. The narrative fits in with the nature of the lyrics, even more so with the role reverse is revealed, as the lyrics are about a jealous woman stating about what she would differently if she was a boy, as she would get some revenge, from the way she was treated. Beyonce stars in all of her music video including this one. Having the artist in the video will help advertise the video and the record, helping the video to become more successful. The music video also has a performing aspect, as it cross cuts between the narrative to the Beyonce singing to the camera, this adds to the emotion of the video, as the from the facial expressions and the way she sings, we can clearly see the pure emotion within her, similar to Sinead O’Connor’s video ‘Nothing Compares 2 You,’ where the artist performs down the camera and purely shows all her emotion in her face and the way she projects her voice. Emotions is a large aspect to this video, which is shown in the narrative, the way Beyonce sings, but also in the technique aspect of the video. By having the whole video black and white suggests that the relationship is on and off, and clearly tells the audience straight away that the video and the song isn’t an all happy dancing pop songs, instead it’s a soul narrative about people struggling to stay together and the black and white colour really helps to add the atmosphere and emotions.

Styles – Narrative

The styles of music videos will differ dependant on the genre of the music and the artists individual style.

A narrative video is a very common style used in modern music videos. The video follows a storyline, connecting to the lyrics of the music. A narrative video can make the song more powerful, showcasing the points and emotions through characters, it helps the audience understand the origins and meaning of the artists music. The music video can either follow a liner storyline, starting at the beginning, going through the middle and finishing at the end. Or the video can have more of a fragmented non-linear aspect to the story,  where the storyline takes place at different times in the video. Or a more common use of non-linear music video are ones that shows a reverse narrative, and has the end at the beginning and the beginning at the end. Often in narrative music videos the band or artist will feature in the story, even tough them don’t perform, placing their face to the video, will help advertise the video and can help  the record become more successful.

Narrative style music video follow codes and conventions. ‘Propp’s character roles,’ claims that characters in a story could be fitted into eight characters roles. The first role is the ‘The Hero’ who is the main protagonist, that many motivated by the lack of some and usually seeks out something or someone within the story. ‘The Villain’ is the opposite to the the hero with evil plans. ‘The Princess’ is often very attractive and