In the music video 'Run The World' there are many dance routines and there are also many different styled outfits that stand out in each shot. This is to demonstrate that the genre is pop. The costumes that Beyoncé wears are very bold and mainly black to show dominance which goes with the song title 'Run the World' as she has power, she suggests girls run the world. The costumes often reveal a lot of a woman's body to sexualise the music video which is very common in pop culture.
In this music video there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. In different camera shots there are woman all together standing up against men showing that woman can be independent and a 'nation' Beyoncé sings in the lyrics 'My persuasion can build a nation' and therefore the lyrics and what is shown in the shot link together. Another link between the lyrics and the visuals is that the main line repeated throughout the song is 'who run the world? Girls' and at the beginning of the music video Beyoncé is on a horse in the middle of nowhere, alone which shows that she is running the world as she is alone and then when she sees her other girls she is the leader of their group against the boys.
The 'Run the World' music video also has a relationship between the music and the visuals. The song has a fast tempo of 127 BPM which means that the music video needs to be faced pace in order for the music and the visuals to relate to each other. The dancing is fast paced and fits the music well. There is a lot of fast paced editing in the music video including a lot of cuts to different shots to make the music video be very fast paced with a lot going on in each shot. The shots have a lot of women throughout the video dancing to fit the theme of girls being dominant and running the world.
Beyoncé is signed to Columbia Records. One of Goodwin's points in his theory is that the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist. This music video supports this point as there are many close ups of Beyoncé throughout the music video. Some of the close ups consist of Beyoncé's face whilst lip syncing to the song and other shots are close ups of Beyoncés face trying to sexualise the music video for example at one point in the music video Beyoncé licks her finger in a close up even though it has no relevance to the music video whatsoever. Many of the close ups are to ensure Beyoncé has camera time and looks dominant in the music video as she says woman run the world and she is a woman.
Throughout the many years that Beyoncé has been present in the music industry she has created a visual style of almost always having a lot of dancing within her music videos and when she performs live on stage. In this music video Beyoncé does dance a lot and has many background dancers.
People that watch music videos of Beyoncé often have high expectations and expect there to be a lot of dancing in the music video.
Although Goodwin says that there is frequent notion to looking in music videos and voyeuristic treatment of the female body, there is not much of this that happens in this music video however there is occasionally there is voyeurism as it helps sell the music through sex appeal. There are many costumes that show a lot of flesh and are mainly black as black is seen as sexy and dominant. When Beyoncé has hyenas on chains it can be seen as sexual also as suggests she likes to be dominant and take control. Also a lot of the background dancers have afros and there is a lion next to them showing that they are fierce and feisty.
In this music video there are no big intertextual references however for a couple of seconds at the beginning of the music video Beyoncé is dressed in a costume that could be trying to dress up as Cleopatra. Cleopatra was the last active pharaoh who ran Ptolemaic Egypt and was a very powerful woman and therefore by symbolising her in the music video she is showing that she has power.
This music video supports Goodwin's theory. After analysing this music video using Goodwin's theory it will help me when creating my own music video because I can try and ensure that I incorporate some of (if not all of) Goodwin's points in my music video.
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