Textual analysis Beyonce- If I where a Boy

Genre and Language
The Genre of this music video is RnB,howver this music video does not strictly speaking follow the usual codes and conventions of an RnB music video. As the video opens we can see that the music vido is in fact in black and white which is usually very promenant in narrative Rnb music videos. The first shot shows an extrem close up of Beyonce who is very dressed down, just wearing a white vest top her hair is slicked back and she also wears minimal make-up alothugh the vido is still portraying an attractive women which is a general code of the RnB music video genr,instead of been conventially extremly made up and dressed out in 'sexy' clothing beyonce is dressed down. Another thing which shows this video is to the Rnb Gnere is the ethnicity of the people who are in the video as they are off a black race which again is normally a main code of RNB music. In most videos of this genre expensive items are usually flaunted about to show that they are living an expensive ifestyle this convention is shown in the music video but in a different way for example we see that the female in the video (beyonce) has a high paying job in the police force as we whitness her in the uniform and in a cop which shows she has an comfortable income we also whitness the male who plays her partner in this video at what looks like an office computer buying what looks like an expensive pair of diamond earings, the video also shows that the couple are living together which shows they have the money to do this therfore this is unconventionally showing the rich lifestyle which again is promenant in most music videos of this genre. RNB music videos are often set in luxary locations or locations that are usually very recognisable to the audience, looking in detail at this video we can see that it is set in New York as on the police car it says 'New York Police Department,New York is an urban city where most RNB stars are from therefore this also shows the RnB genre. Most RnB music videos also shows naked flesh at some point with in the video, we whitness this first when the male in the video puts a top and also when beyonce changes out of her unifrom into different clothes, we also see attrcative women subetly showing of flesh too for example when the man is in the office bends over the chair wearing a dress we can see a decent amount of leg and clevage, this again is promenant in most RnB music videos along with the use of attractive people. Rnb music videos also normally always have a scene that shows social interaction for example a party of a big rave etc, in this music video we whitness a bunch off adults going out for a meal and also a party scene which links back to the RnB genre. The camera during this video zooms in to both the male and female showing extreme close ups of their expressions, showing the audience different emotions is again very prominent in this genre of music videos.

Narrative
This music clip is an narrative clip, we can tell this as there is no performance of the song within the clip and the lyrics are also not mimed. When watching this video the story line is pretty clear. The audience whitens the day in the life of an ordinary couple however with the roles reversed which is also clearly hinted by the lyrics throughout the song however the narrative of the gender roles reversed are not visually reveled until the end of the music video.It begins showing medium close ups of Beyonce and her on screen partner reciting words such as "intimacy", "honesty", "commitment", "me", and "you". The song starts as her husband prepares breakfast and Beyonce takes off to her job as police officer with an attractive male police partner with whom the camera is portraying she is having an affair with. While Beyonce is admired by the police partner, her real partner is spending time at his office job looking up a pair of earrings to buy for her online. The husband calls Beyonce, only to be ignored by her, however she is busy out having a beer "with the guys." That night the husband gives Beyonce the earrings and the two leave for a party at which he catches her dancing intimately with her police partner. As her partner confronts her at home, the reversal is revealed and roles are restored; we learn that the husband is actually the police officer with the female partner. Knowles is the office worker who has been snubbed. Most of the narrative of this music video is shown by wide shots and extreme close ups, the wide shots are showing us what we think is happening between the couples relationships, the extreme close ups show the characters emotions, most of the shots are POV shots so that we can see what is going on and also over the shoulder shots so that the audience feel that they are peering into parts of someone's relationship they shouldn't be. Although the gender roles are not visualized until the end of the music video the lyrics kind of the give the ending away as the lyrics are basically saying that if I where you I would know how to treat a women better, during the video it is also clear what is going to happen as in this century it is not very conventional for a man to be preparing breakfast whilst the women goes of to a higher paying job, men to portray their emotions and also for the women to be the one who cheats, therfore these little clues already give us a good idea that what Beyonce is doing throughout the video is what the male character has done to her all along and she wonders how women would act if they where men, knowing the feelings that are caused when men miss-treat their partners.

Audience
I would say the target audience for this music video would be females around the age of 13+. I think both younger and older females will be attracted to this music video because they can really relate to what the video is showing and probably have the same problems within their relationships. Due to Beyonce having a huge fan base I think this video could attract a lot of different types of audiences in as she is already a well established artist, although the video is in the Genre of RnB music i do feel that it would also appeal to many different genres as the music video doesn't strictly follow the main conventions of RnB music videos but does however go against them a few times. Although I said that I think this is more targeted to females I do also think many males may also like to watch and listen to this music video this is because Beyonce is seen to be one of the most attractive females in the world which could make them want to watch it and also other members in the music video are attractive to the eyes. Although the narrative of this video is mainly only something girls will understand and empathize with, I think if males sat down and watched the video they would still be able to grasp the understanding and what the video is trying to represent and maybe even able to learn something, however they may also feel targeted upon as once the true narrative is revealed it is yet again portraying males in a negative way when in reality women can be just as bad. Overall I would say the audience appeal for this music video has a wide variety.

Representation
This video has a strong representation of how males treat women. Firstly the video shows a strong willed women working as a cop in New York City whilst her husband cooks her meals, buys her presents and works in an office and is basically besotted with her. The women doesn't particularly take her partners feelings into consideration and overtly is having an affair with her co male colleague. At the end of the music video the day seems to start again however the other way round showing the reality of the situation where in fact it is the male character doing all the hurtful things to her instead. Therefore this music video has a huge representation on the gender roles and how they are seen to treat the opposite gender. The video has a strong representation of how males are seen to treat girls and if the roles where switched just exactly how they would feel it also represents the reality that it is men who are more likely to act in a hurtful,un-empathetic way towards women, then women are towards men.