Pretty Hurts is the fourth single from American singer Beyonce’s 5th album, Beyonce. The video was released to the whole public, after a series of exclusive releases, on 24th April 2014 and as of writing this it has received over 220 million views. The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas and is seven minutes long. The video was filmed in a old New York school and according to the director, the location creates a "1980s atmosphere combined with pin-up themes inspired by Blake Lively's character in the film The Town". The music video takes on a documentary style and a lot of the scenes and shots happened organically. “I think we definitely wanted to speak to as many women as we could and all the pain and struggle that we go through as women to maintain this impossible standard of beauty. We wanted to give it a darker edge and take it there and not give you the Disney version of that struggle. And Beyoncé was more than willing to go that far with it. And I applaud her for that”, said the director.
The video consists of a mix of elements of a performance and a narrative video however is defiantly more to the narrative side. It follows Knowles, as she played a young woman participating in a beauty pageant. the video is similar to a short film and it includes interludes where the song takes a pause and the video continues to play
out like a scene of a movie. There are a couple of performance shots weaved in to the story line of the video. An example of this as I have shown the the side, is Knowles lip syncing the song on a stage as if it is the ‘talent portion’ of a beauty pageant. Although this is introduced at the beginning of the video as a a part of the plot, it is very much used throughout as a convention of a performance genre music video. The video is very relatable to the target audience, which is predominately adult women, but also offers knowledge to other people who may not relate to the issues raised. things that women can relate to, the music video is very real and relates to the target audience directly. The lyrics also work with the mise-en-scene of the video and contribute to the representation. Examples of this include 'Perfection is a disease of a nation'. 'It my soul that needs the surgery'. 'Ain't got no doctor or pill that can take the pain away'. All the lyrics represent a powerful message about how society idea of perfection can make people feel.
The videos main themes revolve around the beauty standards that people, in particularly women, face in today’s society. During multiple scenes, which I will outline below, Beyonce and some of the other women are seen severely struggling as they face not being ‘thin enough’ and not having the perfect body. The main message that is presented in the music video is self-empowerment. The video discusses society beauty standards and analysing female body image. In the video there is imagery of all the women getting ready in the changing room, women taking diet pills, pulling at their skin, getting weighed, getting measured, making them self sick, doing their hair and makeup, choosing outfits, having botox, getting spray tans and so on. The beauty pageant is really a metaphor for our modern society and the high standards that both men and women place upon themselves due to many things such as the media. A lot of the cast in the video were professional models and offered their experience and knowledge to help produce the video and make it as realistic as possible.
Beyoncé stated that she wanted to film the video to showcase the correlation of physical beauty and happiness in life, which serves as one of the themes of the song and video. The singer told MTV that:
"[The video] represents all of the things women go through to keep up with the pressure that society puts on us. I wanted to tap into the world of competition. Some of the things young women go through is just really heartbreaking for me."
The video opens with the sound of a piano and shots of Beyoncé sporting short hair, looking at herself in the mirror. It transitions to a segment of her fellow contestants preparing for the pageant backstage, combing their hair, fitting their dresses and analysing their bodies; one scene during the preparations shows Beyoncé arguing with another contestant over a hair dryer. Multiple shots of the singer follow, of which depict her sitting on a floor and leaving a bathroom after vomiting. The clip then sees contestants looking tired and distressed backstage. This collection of scenes, especially the one that I have screen shotted above, represents how women are constantly pitted against each other and must fight to be the best looking or the prettiest.
Near the end of the video, there are shots of Beyonce smashing ip a case of trophies, presumably from beauty pageants. To me this represents growth in the singer's character as she realises that she does not need to conform with the unrealistic expectations of society. It conveys the message that trophies and awards don't bring you happiness or move you forward in life. I think that this is the most poignant scene in the video and epitomised the message of self empowerment and body image.
In terms of representation, the video mainly represents the female sex and has only two, insignificant, male roles. This could be criticised as ignoring the fact that males endure body confidence issues too, however I think it is fitting for this video as women are so objectified for their bodies in our society and have an immense pressure to fit in. The video also is very representative when it comes to race, with women of all shades appearing in the video. This video defiantly challenges the stereotype that women are submissive trend followers who will do whatever to fit in but it also highlights the fact that although modern women, such as Beyonce, may put on a strong persona on the exterior, they may be battling with issues behind closed doors. Beyonce as an artist has fully immersed herself in this video as, instead of just having a music video were she simply lip-syncs and dances to the camera, she has made a video with a message. Furthermore, she stars in the video herself and plays a struggling pageant girl, which goes completely against the strong dominant front that she holds in real life. This to me, shows passion on her behalf and shows how she wanted to she how the issues raised in the video relate to her.
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