Lemonade

Lemonade is a film that consists of visuals for each of Beyonce’s songs in her album Lemonaid with her own narration in between. The chapters it’s divided into are “Intuition,” “Denial,” “Anger,” “Apathy,” “Emptiness,” “Accountability,” “Reformation,” “Forgiveness,” “Resurrection,” “Hope,” and “Redemption.” These all essentially describe the stages of grief she goes through upon discovering that her husband has cheated on her. While the film may just seem like it’s about the betrayal she feels, it is actually more than that. It is a film full of symbolism, empowerment, poetry, and pride. Midway through the movie, a snippet of Malcolm X’s speech is played in which he says that the most disrespected person is the black woman. Race and gender are both heavily intertwined in Lemonade which is why it is relevant she includes that snippet. In spite of it being a depressing reality, Beyonce shows in her film that won’t get in the way of the solidarity and uplifting of black women. In fact young, old, different shapes, sizes, and popularity–all sorts of black women are portrayed which shows tribute to the strength of their diversity. Beyonce takes on several images throughout the film which is important because she conveys that it would be a mistake to downplay a black woman’s emotions because of a stereotype with harmful intentions. Going off of this theme it is also fitting of her to include images of mothers with picture frames of their sons that have fallen victim to police brutality such as the mother of Trayvon Martin. It shows she is taking a stand against police brutality by using her platforms that draw in a wide audience to raise awareness. Another theme Beyonce represents in Lemonade is the culture from which she comes from– black southern culture. Born in Texas, she showcases southerness through the scenery, when riding horses, and by the title of her film which she includes a recipe from her grandmother. Sexual liberty seemed to be another theme which had a great prevalence in Beyonce’s film. I found this interesting especially given that no matter how progressive areas in society are, there has always been a lingering stigma which comes with talking about sexuality, especially from a woman’s perspective. The cause of this issue stems from a variety of things such as generations upon generations of patriarchy and religion–just to name a few. Yet, when Beyonce shares her experiences with orgasms she does so in a way that is free from guilt or shame. In addition, it seems almost spiritual

Which aspect of Lemonade did you find most resonated with you and why?