Beyonce Lemonade

I was very excited to watch Beyonce's visual album, Lemonade.  There was lots of great things said about the album, and I was interested in this concept that Beyonce had come up with.  Beyonce is a very prominent women in our society today.  She is an amazing role model for everyone, but especially to women.  She is a very versatile artist and this album shows that quality very well.  This album was very relatable to lots of other peoples struggles around the world.  She did a great job telling her story through these amazing music videos and was hard to keep your eyes off of.  However, this visual album had also had lots of hidden messages that I was not able to notice during my first time watching it.  Dr. Nardone was able to expose us to these hidden messages and explain to us what the deeper meaning was.

One of my favorite videos in the Lemonade album was "Hold up".  The scene when Beyonce was walking down the street, in a stunning yellow dress and smashing the objects in her way was very powerful.  When I first watched the video, I noticed her strong and confident strut while walking down the street.  She is an inspiration to all women and encourages them to be themselves and to be confident in yourself.  She did her own rendition of "the male gaze" during this scene.  I noticed this look that she was giving, but I was able to learn from Dr. Nardone what this type of stare really meant.  It was interesting to listen in on what the male gaze really was, and how disturbing this theory is.  Beyonce was able to do her own gaze and show her dominance through this music video.  

Another memorable point that I took away from Dr. Nardone's lecture also came from the "Hold up" music video.  She had pointed out the hidden message of what Beyonce was destroying, which was the male penis.  Beyonce was destroying objects that were somewhat similar and could be representations of a penis.  This was an empowering message that Beyonce tried to convey, that women do not do things for men.  Women are not just there for mens pleasure, but are their own people who have their own wants and needs.  The world does not revolve around men, and Beyonce is able to convey that message through this music video and album.  I would strongly suggest this visual album to anyone, because of the empowering messages that you can take away from it and the many relatable  situations that it shows.