Narrative analysis

I have completed an analysis of Beyonce if i were a boy music video. I have spoke about the narrative and the different roles people play in the video. By doing this I can begin to think about my own music video and what I want the roles to be. 

Beyoncé – if I were a boy.

Beyoncé, the artist plays both the narrator and the protagonist in this video. She is singing the song and also playing the main character. The video portrays an objective character identity. This means that we only see one characters viewpoint and story is told. In this case we are seeing a women’s story and viewpoint on how she feel about her partner’s relationship with another women at work. Todarov’s theory cannot be applied to this video because it does not follow the three steps, although it does include the ‘disruption’ stage. The entire video shows the disruption of this relationship due to another women there is no equilibrium at the beginning or new equilibrium at the end which would have to be included if this video where to follow Todarov’s theory.

In this video I can identify the Hero, which is the protagonist in this case. There is also her partner who plays the villain. In this case you could say that there are ideological values being reinforced and also subverted. In the first half of the video the man is the one being loyal and cooking while his wife is out at work and at parties. This is subverting the stereotype that men are the dishonest one gender that is never loyal and ruins the relationships. In the second half of the video the roles switch and we see the women cooking for and being loyal to the husband which reinforces the stereotype that women are the trustworthy caring gender in relationships.

You can identify a few binary opposites in this video, the first one would obviously me man vs women, they are obviously against each other and are arguing over something. The second would be honesty vs dishonesty, the man is being dishonest and the women is the honest one, this binary opposite also identifies one of the central ideological messages and stereotypes in the video which is that men are dishonest in relationships and women are the more honest gender. Another binary opposite is strong vs weak but in an emotional sense. The women is obviously the more weak character in the video and the man is emotionally stronger than she is, this could also reinforce the stereotype that women are the weaker and more emotional sex. Committed vs disloyal is another opposite in the video, this is similar to honest vs dishonest. The man is portrayed as the dishonest person in the relationship which reinforces the stereotype that men are typically portrayed as the perpetrators of infidelity.

Barthes narrative code ‘’Cultural code’’ is in this video. The Cultural code is when the audience is supposed to know what is happening due to prior knowledge. So for example in this video the audience is supposed to follow what is happening because of the stereotypes of men being unfaithful and dishonest they should know that the video is based around him cheating on her even though we never actually do.

This music video follows a linear passage of time but the end of it is anachronic as we see a flash back to the start and the message behind the song and video then becomes clear to the audience.