Analysis Of Beyonce's Lemonade

Beyonce’s 2016 visual album, Lemonade, carries her audience through different emotional chapters of her life, presumably following the infidelity of her husband, Jay Z. Although Lemonade touches upon sensitive racial issues and the oppression of African-Americans, I decided to focus more on the sentimental aspect of the film. It is a consensus that women of all kinds are stereotyped as ‘frail’ or ‘hysterical,’ especially when their emotions are transparent, but why is it that the black woman is perceived as ‘angry’ when she does so? Beyonce’s third track on Lemonade, “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” features an excerpt of a speech given by Malcolm X that reads: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman.” To dismiss and undermine the emotional traumas Beyonce discloses in Lemonade confirms the veracity of Malcolm X’s statement. Although critics claim that Beyonce’s album portrays the black woman as the ‘victim,’ Lemonade instead empowers black women to freely express themselves and their ‘anger’ because there is no greater oppression than suffering in silence.
Truly, Bell Hooks’ claim that “much of the album stays within a conventional stereotypical framework, where the black woman is always a victim,” is false and insensitive. As an artist, Beyonce crafts music that resonates with women, especially black women, who have suffered pain due to patriarchal ideals that infiltrate the household as well. The