Critical Analysis of Beyoncé Pretty Hurts Music Video

This essay focuses on the visual artifact of Beyoncé Pretty Hurts Music Video, discussing the realities of everyday life and the message it conveys about beauty standards and self-acceptance.

BEYONCE PRETTY HURTS MUSIC
VIDEO

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
BEYONCE PRETTY HURTS MUSIC VIDEO
This essay is focusing on the visual artifact of Beyoncé Pretty Hurts Music Video
which is however, discussing the realities of everyday life and sets up a mood in front of the
observer. It is also articulating upon the factors like how, what, why, whom and where the
message is persuading from the analysed music video.
The song is mainly focusing on the pressure which is faced by each and every women
existing in the industry or in real life by feeling beautiful under the eyes of the society. It
motivates to every woman to love and accept themselves and their appearances in whichever
way they are. Beyoncé also tried to convey that what one thinks of one self is more important
than relying on the opinion of anybody else.
“Pretty Hurts” means to create the standards of beauty in society. On the other hand,
this term has come out showing the negative impacts on the standards of beauty and it
conveys the attempt as pointless. It promotes positive body images through imagery and by
eliminating the standards of beauty. In Pretty Hurts, the ideologies of beauty in accordance
with the western society are been challenged through the character of Beyoncé who is
competing with the various beauty pageants (Warwick & Adrian, 2016). The popular culture
reflects the beauty of women i.e. their ability to think, as inferior or lesser than that of men
this is because a woman thinks that her beauty can define her value.
This music video for the song Pretty Hurts by Beyoncé was directed by Melina
Matsoukas; it was released on December 13, 2013 and was considered and won the award for
the best video with a beautiful social message in the year 2014 on MTV Europe Music
Awards. It reflects upon the beauty pageant mechanism which demonstrates on the way a
woman attempts to courageously deal with the standards of the society. This musical video
continuously shows the negative image of body struggling throughout the world (Harper,
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2019). This famous song has a strong voice which fascinates every young girl and also
describes the denial of the mothers. However, it denotes the real life and sets a mood for the
observers.
The very beginning of the song “Mama said, you are a pretty girl, what in your head,
it does not matter” states what a mother told her about the struggle of women towards the
perfection as to fit in with the society’s standard of beauty. It also conveys that the people in
the society shall have thinking of beauty by the self-love and rather getting attracted towards
the physical beauty. The song suggests that believe in the fact of loving one self and not on
struggling much for perfection. As being a contestant of a beauty pageant, Beyoncé struggled
to perfectly fit in with the other competing girls in the scenario where getting success is very
difficult.
The motive of the video was not to analyse a story but to create a sympathetic mood
for the song for the listeners. The video itself is conveying a sad mood for some people and
also related to the image of Beyoncé directly forcing her to lose weight as she was too big.
For some people, it created an angry state of mind or is disagreeing to the things so portrayed
in the song, where some people thought that this video is trying to promote ideologies of girls
for getting fitted in accordance to the societal standards of beauty.
The lyrics of the song are connected with the themes of feminism and self-
empowerment which are facing a universal challenge with respect to the beauty of the female
beauty. It is well stated that the reason behind filming this video was an interconnection
between the physical beauties and to spread happiness in life (Trier-Bieniek, 2016). It also
represents the critical things that every woman comes across with the pressure created by the
society on her. It signifies the pain and struggles experienced by every woman in the world to
match up with the irrelevant standard of beauty.
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This music video is emphasising on the subject regarding the difference in hair length
across many women at the beauty pageant which seems to change many times from short to
long. Here, the long hair conveys the actual sign of feminism mostly amongst the girls
present at the pageant, with pointing out on the characteristic of them in terms of race,
nationality and sexual orientation. So, Beyoncé is hiding the natural qualities which she has
in herself because of the society standard and become someone who has to look catchy and
fulfil the elements of a beautiful and feminine woman who eventually acts and appear
according to what public and the observers desire (lordi, 2017).
While this video expresses the major effects relating to the standards of beauty on
every woman whether belong to middle or high class facing with all the issues of the
expensive outfits and the beauty products which are bought and worn to maintain the
standards of this society to compete with each other. This also leads to the differences created
in socio-cultural that confer upon every choice a woman makes in order to meet the aspects
of beauty standards of modern society and its well-being. It becomes possibly true when any
women ranging from middle to high class wish to experience and follow the path towards the
beauty standards to reflect their own status and not due to any forced struggle on their body
image. However, such class of women achieves these standards which eventually describe the
majority of the other women in a negative implication towards the beauty standards
(Griffiths, 2017). Ultimately, the concept of beauty is prevailing according to the socially set
standards of beauty and the norms of the society which is a discomfort to the people, one who
is pretty and the one who is not.
Moreover, the music video has enlightened the positive images of the body by clearly
disputing with the beauty standards and raised the main issue regarding the criticism faced by
women due to the skin colour (Tate, 2017). This has also become a criticism and has
challenged upon the beautiful women as false and fake because mostly today the internal
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CRITICAL ANALYSIS
beauty is being ignored over the physical beauty. In the end of the music video when the
trophies have been damaged Beyoncé responds to the “Yes” question as a fact of being happy
with herself and it was much of a struggle and to compete with the pressure all the time just
to meet the beauty standards and overcoming everything which comes down its way to make
the society happy. It is, on the other hand showing destruction towards the award as it makes
no sense when there is so much to face in return of such an award, by forgetting one self and
acting in a way in which the society is satisfied (Guzzetti, Bean, & Bean , 2018).
Thus, to further conclude with the challenging situations faced by most women in this
outraged scenario; where the women are judged on the basis of her physical appearance and
her beauty by neglecting the inner one. The pressure which is experienced by many women to
beat the competition and to justify the society as well as its beauty standards. It is also
impacting on the conditions of women in terms of race, issue of skin colour or class on body
image which is making a strong sense towards highlighting the means of creation of the
beauty standards. Also, all such women are negatively facing the excessive struggle from the
society to become the beauty face of the society. Also, every women should focus on herself
and her independent thoughts and looks by rather getting affected by the vulnerable effects of
the society norms and the beauty standards.
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References
Griffiths, K. (2017). Beyonce: Entertainment Industry Icon. Cavendish Square Publishing,
LLC.
Guzzetti, B. J., Bean, T. W., & Bean , J. D. (2018). Literacies, Sexualties and Gender:
Understanding Identities from Preschool to Adulthood. Routledge: Routledge.
Harper, P. (2019). BEYONCÉ: Viral Techniques and the Visual Album. Popular Music and
Society, 61-81.
lordi, E. J. (2017). Surviving the Hustle: Beyonce's Performance of Work. Black Camera,
131-145.
Tate, S. A. (2017). Skin: Post- feminist Bleaching Culture and the Political Vulnerability of
Blackness. Aesthetic Labour, 199-213.
Trier-Bieniek, A. (2016). The Beyonce Effect: Essays on Sexuality, Race and Feminism.
McFarland.
Warwick, J., & Adrian, A. (2016). Voicing Girlhood in Popular Music: Performance,
Authority, Aunthenticity. Routledge: Routledge.
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