Applying Narraive Theory

Beyonce - If I were a Boy
 

In the first 40 seconds of the video, Beyoncé is seen getting ready for work. Her boyfriend has laid out breakfast for her, but she dismisses him by just taking a bite of toast, throwing it back on the table and leaving, making her appear dominant, yet unfair to him. Beyoncé is then seen carrying out the role of a police officer, a stereotypically male-dominated occupation, where she flirts with her colleague. However, whilst her boyfriend is carrying out the stereotypical female based occupation of office work he is approached by a female who tries to flirt with him, yet he pays no attention to her but instead, looks online for some jewellery to give to his girlfriend. This idea explores an uneven balance between the commitments of both partners, a concern that's relatively male based. He then tries to call her and she doesn't pick up her phone which is contrasted heavily when Beyoncé receives the pair of earrings from her boyfriend and acts elated. The earrings are then a focal point in the shot when she is dancing with her colleague who produces a sense of irony as she is clearly ungrateful and unappreciative of her boyfriend’s efforts. This emasculates him and makes her appear unfaithful. When the transition in narrative occurs the audience feel sympathetic for Beyoncé, specifically when we see her cry, and subsequently identify with her representation of how men treat females. The narrative then reverts back to the beginning and her boyfriend is seen walking out of the shot, whilst she has prepared breakfast for him. He then gets into the car, exactly how Beyoncé does at the beginning of the video, and is seen flirting with his colleague. It is evident that she has been imagining if she 'were a boy' in order to try to understand why her boyfriend has been unfaithful. Throughout the video, the editing is arguably unobtrusive, which therefore creates a strong focus on the narrative of the music video for the audience, as opposed to drawing attention to overly distracting cutting. This allows the audience to emotionally connect with the music video. Similarly, the film stock is in black and white throughout the whole video which also draws more attention to the narrative structure of the video, as opposed to the audience being distracted by any colourful codes and conventions of the video. In addition, the black and white film stock creates a more exposed and stripped-back presentation of the narrative, consequently creating an emotional connection between Beyoncé and the target audience.

Tim O’Sullivan argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story. He suggests that, narratives have a common structure, starting with the establishment of plot or theme. Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves – not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures. Narrative theory sets out to show that what we experience when we ‘read’ a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions, and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.Thus, Beyoncé’s music video is a perfect example of Tom O'Sullivan's narrative theory. As the music video explores the way males stereotypically treat females in a relationship. The audience see's this through the use of a role reversal narrative in which Beyoncé is initially seen acting as the male typically would, which later switches at the end of the music video to expose the fact that she is the one being hurt and mistreated.

Tzven Todorov states that there are five stages to the narrative of music videos. At the the first stage, there is a point of equilibrium, where everything is satisfied, calm and normal. Then, at stage two the stability is disrupted by some kind of force, which creates a state of disequilibrium. At the next stage, there is recognition that the disruption has taken place; which is followed by the only possibility to recreate the equilibrium through action directed against the disruption, in stage four. Finally, at stage five, there is restoration of a new state of equilibrium. The consequences of the reaction are to change the world of the narrative and/or the characters so that the final state of equilibrium is not the same as the initial state.

'If I were a Boy' does not conform to this typical narrative structure as, from the very beginning the video is in a state of disequilibrium, due to the portrayal of how men stereotypically disrespect women, through the convention of role reversal. Furthermore, it also does not follow some further theories, such as the theory of O'Sullivan et al. He suggests that narratives have a common structure, starting with the establishment of plot or theme. However, this music video follows a structure which is unique compared to other music videos, as the first half of the music video focuses on a negative domestic relationship, and then in the middle of the video, the roles reverse and then the video goes back to a more accurate domestic relationship, yet there is no equilibrium reached.

Kate Domaille says that every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. These stories include: Archilles, Candide, Cinderella, Circe, Faust, Orpehus, Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Iseult. I believe that this theory is true, as the music video 'If I were a Boy' follows the 'circe' storyline, where the female is portrayed as the victim to the male's dominance.

Furthermore, the theorist Vladimir Propp concluded that all the characters could be resolved into only seven broad character types, in the hundred tales he analysed. These include: The villain, the donor, the (magical) helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher, the hero or victim/seeker hero and the false hero. However, I disagree with this theory that there are only seven broad character types, as both the characters in this music video do not fit into any of these character types.

Sven Carlson suggests that music videos fall into two categories: Performance clips and Conceptual clips. Performance clips contains mostly filmed performance and shows the artist in one or more settings. Also the performance can be of three types, including song performance, instrumental performance or a mixture of the two. However, although the clip is not a performance clip, it does feature a performance element, in one of the closing shots, the artist is shown lip-synching a line to the song. Therefore, the music video is actually a conceptual shot, as it is mainly a narrative clip, as it takes the form of a silent movie to the asynchronous sound of the backing music and it contains a story that is easy to follow. However, it is not a pure narrative clip as it does feature the one shot of the artist lip-synching.