Vance Joy’s Riptide and Beyoncé’s Formation

Vance Joy’s Riptide (2013) and Beyoncé’s Formation (2016) serve as complex case studies in how music videos utilize media language and representation to challenge genre conventions. While Riptide is an indie folk-pop text, Formation draws on the "bounce" genre, R&B, and hip-hop to deliver its message.

Riptide employs montage editing and "intellectual montage" to juxtapose disparate images, inviting the audience to create meaning from the collision of shots. It subverts conventions through explicit graphical representations of lyrics and references to cinema genres like Horror and Westerns. Regarding representation, the video often depicts women as objects to be watched, utilizing fragmented, disembodied body parts—a technique that can be analyzed through bell hooks' views on patriarchal oppression. The increasingly dishevelled lip-syncing woman further challenges traditional media standards of beauty.

In contrast, Formation is deeply rooted in historical and political contexts, specifically the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and contemporary racial tensions in America. It utilizes intertextuality by referencing news footage of police brutality and the documentary That B.E.A.T.. Beyoncé uses antebellum dresses to signify the history of slavery, subverting racial hierarchies by placing a Black woman in a position of power. Her construction as a powerful figure is reinforced through direct address and iconic imagery, such as standing atop a sinking police car.

Both videos function as promotional tools; Riptide marketed Vance Joy’s unique brand to a global audience, while Formation was strategically released alongside Beyoncé's 2016 Super Bowl performance to maximize financial gain and circulation. Despite their commercial purposes, both offer a "pick and mix" of stimuli that invite diverse interpretations of identity and social issues