Beyonce might provide us with a number of moments that reflect a white power affirming jezebel stereotype, yet the context of further imagery suggests that those representations are deliberately ironic.

 

Formation, for instance, knowingly references the #blacklivesmatter movement through the ‘stop shooting us' graffiti reference towards the end of the video. The text draws attention to the economic disparities and institutionalised racism of America, yet also provides a stream of tilt-up imagery lit with high-key lighting that celebrates a diverse range of black female, black queer and black male identities. New Orleans isn't just mourned, it's diversity is celebrated.

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The text, in this sense, provokes an intersectionalist message - simultaneously critiquing the legacy of black slavery, whilst also celebrating those black identities that mainstream American culture marginalises. In so doing Formation asks an active audience to question the overly sexualised imagery presented at the start of the video and to affirm bell hooks' intersectional political intentions by 'calling out' the effects of white-male privilege.