Making lemonade from lemons

From irreplaceable to single ladies, Beyonce has always had fun pop songs that are chart toppers and money makers, even starting earlier than her solo career when she was in the girl group Destiny's Child. But nothing she's done has ever been as deep, direct, and culturally important as lemonade, although the music is important because of it's deep passionate lyrics that are meaningful not only to Beyonce but to most of America (I'm guessing), the visual album or Lemonade film, is what is really culturally impactful. This isn't the first time Beyonce's made songs that speak about issues in today's culture (pretty hurts for example on her self titled album) but it is the first time, I believe that every song, video, and everything in between is perfectly constructed and placed to say something about the state of today's culture and the issues we have as a society.
In the music video Hold up, Beyonce is seen wearing a bright yellow dress that shows lots of cleavage. Looking at the video before the presentation I thought nothing much of it, but it was interesting during the presentation when Mrs. Nardone talked about how other feminists were responding to not only the types of clothes she was wearing but also the overall message of the album. A lot of people, and even myself would agree that Beyonce wearing that dress and the camera angles of her does contribute to the "male gaze" but I would disagree that the intention was to have a "male gaze". I personally think that Beyonce liked the dress and liked the way she looked in it. So what if she wanted to show off her boobs? I think it's positive for women to be able to show their bodies if it's for the right reason. I think there's a large difference between showing off your body and wearing certain outfits because you like them and you like how you feel in them vs. wearing outfits to make someone else feel good. I would argue that the "male gaze" is a sad side effect of Beyonce (and other women) wearing clothes that they feel good in. I think when women dress provocatively for themselves and not the attention of men, it appropriates the male gaze. Since the male gaze has been used to oppress women for many decades, when women decide to dress and look a certain way for themselves instead, ti changes the meaning for women who are the marginalized group in this instance.
A lot of feminists are also saying that Lemonade still makes black women "the victim" or that it isn't their kind of feminism because it "caters to men". I think it does the opposite and actually empowers women. I'm sure almost all women have been cheated on or had a bad portion of a relationship. Although Beyonce is writing about what happened with a man, I think it helps women to feel okay about having some stuff involve or even revolve around men. Of course, feminism is about equality and yourself instead of pandering to men, but by never ever involving men, it makes a lot of girls and women feel bad about even caring. I think it's important to get emotional and get angry and not feel bad about it because it's about a man. Just because it's an album about what happened with her and a man, I don't think that means her whole life revolves around a man, and I think she does a great job in the film of showing that. I also Beyonce does a great job of not making the black women "the victim", I would argue that the whole point of the album was to show that she is not victimizing herself. As is said in a part of the video "I was served lemons, but I made lemonade", she took what happened to her and instead of sulking and pitying herself, she made an amazing album (lemonade).
Lastly, I think one of the major issues that Beyonce helps to change is the viewpoint of black women and their bodies. In the music video "Don't hurt yourself" she's wearing a tight grey body suit, showing off her large curves and legs and in the "Sorry" music video Serena Williams is seen doing the exact same thing. Her use of many different black women with different skin tones is also important because of how often dark skin girls are rejected. There are many black girls and women who have internalized oppression and believe that they are not pretty because they have big curvy bodies or dark skin. Although this won't solve the problem entirely, many women and girls of color look up to Beyonce so if they see her using girls that look like them and using hairstyles that they use, it shows them to be proud of their skin, and bodies, and hair. I think it also empowers them to see a women that looks like them speaking her mind, no matter what the consequences are. Mrs. Nardone talked about the stereotype of the "angry black women". In this album Beyonce is unapologetically angry, as a black women it can be hard to stand up for any sort of injustice because of fear of that stereotype, by Beyonce standing up and doing that, It teaches people that its ok and acceptable.
Lemonade is a masterfully crafted work of art and in my opinion sparked (and continues to spark) a lot of change and controversy).