Troye Sivan Heaven
The music video to the song from his album 'Blue Neighbourhood' was released Friday 20th January;the day Donald Trump and vice president elect Mike Pence-who previously signed a "religious freedom law" allowing businesses to deny service of lgbtq+ patrons among other things.
The video contains black and white scenes of Troye Sivan embracing an unfazed man who was later revealed to be his boyfriend Jacob. Along with the black and white scenes the video contains a montage of monumental people and moments that have impacted the lgbtq+ community;including the icon Harvey Milk, and protests for same sex marriage play out. The music video is pro gay and was praised and appreciated by so many members of the lgbtq+ community due to them finally being seen in a piece of media and for their relationships to be seen as normalised and shown all over the world on TVs and streaming sites alike to show that their love is like anyone else's. Though the video is pro gay it does show heterosexual couples between the various shots of gay couples to show that all love is equal and one should not be shunned whilst the others prosper.
By using the old shots of home videos taken from freedom marches and of gay couples having exactly heterosexual couples have, it enforces the emotional meaning behind the video also whilst addressing important events and people in history that have helped or stood up for equal rights for the lgbtq+ community. Along with the home videos, the shots in the studio enforce the normalisation of gay love with the closeups of Troye and a man being affectionate and loving and not shying away from showing the attraction they have for each other, much like music videos with heterosexual couples do. This is particularly shown at the end with the close up of Troye kissing the mans exposed chest tenderly and erupting into a smile as the man cradles his face and wipes the tear that was streaming down his face due to crying out of what appears to be a fear of people not understanding his attraction to a man. However Troye is accepted at the end of the video which gave many viewers who are apart of the lgbtq+ community hope and promise of them too being accepted, with many of them taking to social media to express their thoughts and how happy they were to finally be seen.
The video contains black and white scenes of Troye Sivan embracing an unfazed man who was later revealed to be his boyfriend Jacob. Along with the black and white scenes the video contains a montage of monumental people and moments that have impacted the lgbtq+ community;including the icon Harvey Milk, and protests for same sex marriage play out. The music video is pro gay and was praised and appreciated by so many members of the lgbtq+ community due to them finally being seen in a piece of media and for their relationships to be seen as normalised and shown all over the world on TVs and streaming sites alike to show that their love is like anyone else's. Though the video is pro gay it does show heterosexual couples between the various shots of gay couples to show that all love is equal and one should not be shunned whilst the others prosper.
By using the old shots of home videos taken from freedom marches and of gay couples having exactly heterosexual couples have, it enforces the emotional meaning behind the video also whilst addressing important events and people in history that have helped or stood up for equal rights for the lgbtq+ community. Along with the home videos, the shots in the studio enforce the normalisation of gay love with the closeups of Troye and a man being affectionate and loving and not shying away from showing the attraction they have for each other, much like music videos with heterosexual couples do. This is particularly shown at the end with the close up of Troye kissing the mans exposed chest tenderly and erupting into a smile as the man cradles his face and wipes the tear that was streaming down his face due to crying out of what appears to be a fear of people not understanding his attraction to a man. However Troye is accepted at the end of the video which gave many viewers who are apart of the lgbtq+ community hope and promise of them too being accepted, with many of them taking to social media to express their thoughts and how happy they were to finally be seen.
Logic 1-800-273-8255
The entire concept of this music video is the topic of suicide and many things that may lead to it;starting with the title of the song,which is the number of the national suicide prevention lifeline. The video follows the life of a young boy as he navigates high school along with all the troubles of being a teenager,inlcuding discovering that he likes boys upon meeting one of the boys at school, this is shown by a multitude of close ups between the two along with their close nature like touching and sharing a bed and extreme close ups of their eyes in a somewhat dream state as they look at each other. The lead boy clearly struggles with his sexuality and it only appears to worsen upon his father finding out he's gay as he runs away from home. The homophobia expressed by family due to unacceptance along with the insistent bullying at school provides the backstory to the songs dark lyrics: "feel like I'm out of my mind, it feel like my life ain't mine, I don't wanna be alive,I just wanna die today"
The vide reaches an emotional peak as the young boy finds a gun in his home and contemplates suicide; using close up shots of the boy crying and clearly breaking down as he musters the courage to use the gun, as shown through the close up of said gun that holds connotations to danger and immediately puts the viewer on edge. After the boy decides to call someone instead of taking his own life, the video uses a non linear narrative to flash forward to slow motion shots of him running before cutting to various scenes in the future of him being a grown man and marrying another man and later having a child with said man that he loves.
This video not only addresses serious topics such as mental health, suicide and sexuality but it does it in a respectful way by showing the harsh reality of the repercussions of such things, such as kids who are a part of the lgbtq+ community being made homeless just because of their sexuality and hitting emotionally with the shots of a potential future that could be lost if help is not seeked out. It shows representation and acceptance to people who need it the most; showing the normalisation of non heterosexual couples and putting out a clear message that help is always available and that you are not alone.
Beyonce Formation
The opening long shot of 'formation' establishes the situation pretty clearly:a flood, but this is not just an actual flood,it has a symbolic meaning relating to hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. By placing herself on top of a police car submerged in water,Beyonce invokes the aftermath of said flood and the recent controversies of the year of release (December 2016) surrounding police shooting of minorities. The music video showed many representations of people of colour and different positions they are in instead of showing them in stereotypical ways or the way the media usually shows them;in a negative light.
The music video meant something so sincere to people of colour by using the platform she possesses to acknowledge people of colour and her roots. The video was praised by many people due to the addressing of many issues people of colour have faced, whilst also showing cultural markers that people of colour are associated with. However the music video was also critiqued and was addressed by many people of colour to the slight racism that was included in the music video and many people who thought that Beyoncé didn't need to address the black lives matter movement but those views were not massively listened too due to the people who were talking about it not being people of colour and therefore being told they didn't particularly have a right to say that due to the fact they don't have to suffer with what people of colour; especially black people, have to deal with and therefore they should instead listen to people of colour instead of talking over them.
Although people called out the music video as anti police and caused white conservatives to complain about it they were shut down by many people of colour for being unfair and not understanding the video and the message behind it. The music video is about black people and praised black features; such as afro's and big noses, that are mostly shamed by people who aren't people of colour. At the end of the video it has a mid shot of the police car sinking along with Beyoncé, this showed a potential meaning of that if people don't conversate or collectively work together to end the problem thats between white people and people of colour due to unacceptance of their ethnicity, then everyone is going sink to the same place due to everyone being human at the end of the day and that ethnicity or sexuality don't change that everyone should be treated equally.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1JW_4YOWYk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzqJ6xJifiY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOJTg9cL5bM
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-grammys-hip-hop-logic-1-800-music-video-don-cheadle-20180126-story.html
https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/beyonce-formation-music-video
https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7668926/troye-sivan-interview-heaven-music-video
https://www.fuse.tv/2017/01/troye-sivan-heaven-video-larger-meaning-lgbtq-community
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