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"If you go in the air, you can ride it." This quote from Toni Morrison opens Beyoncé's "Homecoming" on Netflix about her historic and revolutionary performance at Coachella, where she became the first black woman to lead the festival since its founding in 1999.
After more than two hours, the film places you at the forefront of the iconic concert presented by Beyoncé in 2018, while offering a glimpse into the exhausting eight-month rehearsal process that followed the birth of her twin and a feeling collective. that this performance – centered on the dynamism, culture and traditions of historically black universities and colleges – meant for his predominantly black orchestra, his singers, his dancers, his steppers, his family and his fans.
Many things have been written about the importance of Beyonce's Coachella performance and about her power, which amplifies the HBCU experience. As she says in the movie, "When I decided to do Coachella, instead of firing my wreath, it was more important that I bring our culture."
But beyond the culture of HBCU – drummers and Cheerleaders and steppers and black Greek life – in "Homecoming", Beyoncé also provides education. By inserting quotes and voices from HBCU graduates and a range of black scholars and intellectuals, including W.E.B. DuBois, Cornel West, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and more, "Homecoming" combines the dynamism and breadth of culture with the diversity of the black intellectual tradition that defines the heritage and depth of the HBCU.
As my colleague Melanie McFarland wrote: "For the general public, 'Homecoming & # 39; is an explosion of joy that gives drops of education here and there. For African Americans, it's a love letter to black culture and history, a celebration of symbolism and intentional artists, presented to the world without excuses.
Making black studies accessible, and more specifically black feminist studies, is what Beyoncé has put forward since her eponymous album of 2013. In the song "Flawless", she included some of TED's Talk of the writer Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in which the novelist explains: "Feminism refers to the social, political and economic equality of women". By magnifying the very simple definition of feminism, her endorsement by Beyoncé has become a cultural turning point for many girls and women. Of course, many people have long proclaimed this identity and this policy, but the stigma certainly began to diminish in society, to the point that many young women and men proudly declare it without hesitation.
As a professor and writer, Brittney Cooper wrote in her essay "Capital B, Capital F" in her book "Eloquent Rage".After Beyoncé, feminism was no longer something reserved for black girls with a university degree and a doctorate. All of a sudden, feminism was not just the domain of black girls reading hooks. Armed with feminist stories in the digital age, this black girl who has built a career as a singer instead of going to college could also be a feminist. And she would use her considerable cultural power to spread the gospel of feminism to the masses. "
Beyoncé seldom gives interviews, is not very active on social media (and not at all outside of posting pictures on Instagram), and leads a very bifurcated life. She gives everything to her fans on stage and through her music – which is all the more evident in the huge sacrifices she's had to make to produce and deliver Coachella's "Homecoming Performance" – and yet she shares very little of her private life and identity. beyond an artist. However, since at least 2013, Beyoncé has used the work and language of black scholars and other artists to give more context to her art and politics. Thus, the inclusion of Adichie's definition of feminism in "Flawless" is a statement of Beyoncé's connection to the framework; The use of the voice of Malcolm X in his visual album "Lemonade" in 2016, devoted to the particular situation of black women, is one of the articulations of tension and reality lived and lived by Beyoncé .
This fascinating and radical device is brilliantly and extensively deployed in "Homecoming", in which Beyoncé speaks and introduces the viewer with caution, bringing a few layers to his interiority. But she uses the wisdom of DuBois and Lorde and Nina Simone and West and Morrison and Maya Angelou to offer a deeper analysis.
"I've always dreamed of going to an HBCU," Beyoncé reveals. "My college was Destiny's child, my college was traveling the world and my life was my teacher." She adds to that a quote from DuBois: "Education should not just teach work – it must teach life."
When Beyoncé shares the personal details of her "extremely difficult pregnancy" and her delivery, she reveals that her interpretation of "Homecoming" had a twofold meaning: to pay tribute to the HBCU tradition and her own triumphant return to the scene. Morrison describing the beauty and complexity of "home".
And perhaps more powerfully in the performance and film, Beyoncé performs the anthemic song "Freedom," then launches into a valuable rendition of "Lift Ev & # 39; ry Voice and Sing," known as the "National Anthem black". piqued by the roars and rhythmic beatings of his dancers. It goes smoothly to the muscular single "Training," a powerful song and video depicting many iconic and symbolic images, including a young black child dressed in a hooded jacket that dances in front of a row of stoic and heavily armed policemen , "Stop Shooting Us" written in graffiti, and Beyoncé sinks a police car. After the medley, Beyoncé then invokes the clarity of Nina Simone.
"I think what you're trying to ask is why I want so much to give them that Blackness, that Black Power, that Black, pushing them to identify with black culture," Simone says. . "I do not have a choice in the first place, for me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world, the blacks, my job is to make them curious enough or to convince them, by mutual agreement, to make them more aware of themselves and where they come from and what they are from, and what is already there, and just to make it stand out. compel them to compel them, and I will do it by all necessary means. "
While Simone's wise words add a broad context to the performance of "Homecoming", I also seem to respond to a specific criticism of Beyoncé's critics, who really followed the release of her video "Formation" and her show Half time Super Bowl Beyoncé and her dancers wore black berets and black leather jackets, visually referring to the traditional costume of the Black Panthers.
After that, Beyoncé became a polarizing figure of the White America and a subject of debate and frequent criticism in right circles and on Fox News. After the show, several police unions called for a boycott of his tour. "Saturday Night Live" captured indignation in a hilarious sketch in which whites undergo an apocalyptic collapse when they suddenly realize that Beyoncé is a black woman.
In a way, Beyoncé responded to this reaction by monetizing the "Boycott Beyoncé" merchandise on her next tour and following it with the black and clever "Lemonade" feminist album.
But "Homecoming" advances this effort. As Aisha Harris wrote for The New York Times, "the singer puts herself directly in conversation with voices of the American black history. . . Beyoncé teaches her audience about the beauty of black culture, certainly, but also about the importance of preserving and encouraging the legacy of historically black colleges and universities, which she emphasizes. during the movie. "
After having built on the genius of the black scholars, writers and artists who preceded her, Beyoncé ends "Homecoming" with a quote and a message. "So many culturally mindful and intellectually healthy people have graduated from historically black universities and colleges, including my father." The HBCU experience has something incredibly important that needs to be celebrated and protected. "
The performance and documentary "Homecoming" are an integral part of Beyoncé's legacy as an artist and innovator, and also constitute an extension of the black feminist work that she has long incorporated. and made accessible. Beyoncé may never have gone to college, but "Homecoming" makes it clear that she's not only the world's greatest performer – if not all of the time – but that Beyoncé Knowles- Carter is an educator. By making her master class available to anyone with a Netflix account, she has expanded the walls of the classroom in a revolutionary way.
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