Beyoncé in “Black Is King”
“Black Is King” is not just another visual album through Beyoncé, it is an ambitious reinvention of “The Lion King” from the point of view of African Americans, and in a constant verbal exchange and collaboration with African artists and traditions. Brimming with striking images, “Black Is King” combines photographs of the pan-African movement, African art and Western portraits of African bodies, as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s shared vision of black excellence in Western culture. The film is imbued with Christian iconography, from the rise to the black bath through Moses lovingly placed in a basket, to Beyoncé’s paintings in Madonna with a child.
“Black Is King” dramatizes the music for “The Gift”, an album released in 2019 along with disney’s recent remake of the hit 1994 film. The adaptation was directed by Jon Favreau and written by Jeff Nathanson, two white men who were very successful in Hollywood. From the moment James Earl Jones’ voiceover is reproduced in colorful portraits of proud black families hunting straight on camera, it is painfully transparent that “The Lion King” has been and deserves to have been a story told in Africa. And while Beyoncé’s purpose is in fact American, its inclusion of Nigerian, Ghanaian and Cameroonian collaborators underscores this need.
“We exist in combination in a sensitive balance,” Earl Jones says as Mufasa. “Respect all creatures. We’re all hooked in the circle of life. Mufasa may have spoken of the animal kingdom, but Beyoncé speaks with transparency of humanity. Perhaps those metaphors were at the center of the original authors’ considerations of “The Lion King”, but the message becomes perfectly transparent in “Black Is King”.
“The Gift” discovered Beyoncé performing with many musical artists, many of whom appear in “Black Is King”. In addition to the appearances of American artists Pharrell Williams, Tierra Whack and, of course, Jay-Z, the film prioritizes and focuses on the numerous African musicians whose rhythms and voices mark “The Gift”. Nigerian musicians Mr Eazi and Tiwa Savage, Ghanaian singer-songwriter Shatta Wale and Cameroonian music director Salatiel are making appearances. By focusing and raising the artists featured in the film, Beyoncé recognizes and honors the intercultural collaboration of “The Gift”.
As the ultimate charming and historically catchy song from ‘The Gift’, ‘Brown Skin Girl’ also carries its eye-catching message: black and dark women are ‘the greatest productive in the world’. An exciting birthday party for black women and women, the visual translation of the song brings the film’s most moving moments. This is where we get the ultra-satisfying photo of a bright Nyong’o Lupita smiling timidly at her lyrical scream: “She wants an Oscar for that pretty dark/pretty skin like Lupita as the cameras approach.” Old-school Destiny’s Child enthusiasts will enjoy a tender moment of brotherhood between Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland. As the band’s former comrades embrace, laughing foolishly in a soft embrace, Beyoncé’s lips say, “I love you.” The video also includes a brief but difficult photo of Beyoncé, her mom Tina and their daughters Blue Ivy and Rumi.
Another striking visual comes to the end of the film, when Beyoncé stoically deciphers into the river to place a child in a basket and downstream. As Jocabed did with Moses, he frees his son to protect him from terror and persecution of white supremacist culture. The bathroom arrives safely to the lush vegetation of the jungle, where it is embraced by curious children. Like Simba, Moses became a wonderful leader who brought his other parents to freedom.
Several members of the Knowles-Carter family circle appear in “Black Is King”, linking themes of inheritance and ancestry with Beyoncé’s own circle of relatives. Consider the lyrics of the song “Power”: “This relative, this skinfolk / This that war, this lineage”. The camera passes blue Ivy, in a matching costume, dancing with his mother. The first line of a war can also be a starting line or a dance formation, where Beyoncé fought in her own wars and emerged victorious.
She brings home the detail of the family circle with an undeniable but hopeful final dedication: “To my son, Sir Carter. And to all our sons and daughters, the sun and the moon bow for you, you are the keys of the kingdom. In this So “Black Is King” is his gift and his hope for humanity. Everyone salutes Queen Beynevolent.
‘Black Is King’ will now air on Disney.
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