CB: Deconstruction of a Digipak

B'Day (Beyoncé, 2007)

GENRE
How is the genre of the track/artist evident?
-A dominant reading path of females being used as an object of sexual desire is implemented within Beyoncé's B'Day album front cover, an element often manipulated by pop artists. The size of her image is relevantly larger in comparison to the rest of the cover, which elevates her status as a women immediately and suggests that she is to be taken seriously within the pop industry. This challenges dominant ideologies of women being perceived as powerless by media platforms, with her bold stance suggesting empowerment and leadership. Using Goodwin's (Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992) theory of genre characteristics, we can identify Beyoncé as a performer with the promiscuous stance she displays on the back cover of her album. With one leg raised and her hip sticking out, she is purposely positioned for the male gaze showing bare arms, legs and upper chest. It is a conventional feature of the pop genre to represent women in such a suggestive way as it attracts a larger audience of males, which helps to sell not only the album, but the artist themselves.

MEDIA LANGUAGE
What visual techniques are used? (rule of thirds, texture, colour, tone, mise-en-scene).
-Beyoncé is positioned within the rule of thirds to the right hand side of the frame in both the front and back covers of the album. This is because our eyes tend to wonder towards the corners of a frame and so we find it more aesthetically pleasing to look at. Also, as Beyoncé is positioned within the rule of thirds we find her image more comforting to look at, with nothing threatening to be seen in the background which places her within a safe environment. Therefore, an adult audience is more enticed to let their children listen to her music as a sense of security and trust is formulated.

-The satin gold dress and knee high boots Beyoncé is seen wearing on the album connotes a need for her to be seen as a sexual fantasy. Using Dyers critical framework of the 'Star Image', Beyoncé is being represented as a "sexual magnet" revealing her perfectly bronzed feminine assets. She further has a semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around her star image, with qualities such as youthfulness and rebellion being highlighted through the addition of a cigarette holder. The implication of smoking detracts from the concept of 'safety' suggested on the front cover, as this is a hazardous act parents won't want their children to follow causing her to lose face to an audience.

-Beyoncé wears natural make up on the album cover that shows her as being ordinary, with the addition of her hair being worn up in a messy style conforming to this idea also. She has a pair of plain hoop earrings in her ears which are easily accessible for an audience to receive and so help her to be seen as an idolised figure of both fashion and music.

How is meaning generated through these techniques? (semiotics)
-As a preferred reading of her assertive stance, it is signified that Beyoncé is conforming to social myths such as feminism by representing female independence. Only she is featured on her album which connotes possession and pride in what she has achieved, representing strong feminine values of success.

-With Beyoncé wearing a short, low cut outfit on this album, it goes on to act as her USP on other album covers she has. The indexical sign created by her image provides her with a status of having good taste, being fashionable and trendy with the arguable occasion of her appearing too raunchy. For example, in her Crazy in Love video featured on the 'Dangerously in Love' album.

What linguistic devices have been used? (look at emotive language, use of quotations, connotations of song/album title)
-The interpretation gathered from her album being called 'B'Day' can be deconstructed as having a cultural significance of symbolising youth. B'Day is a shortened expression used to signify someone's birthday and so could be manipulated in Beyoncé album to target youth by using a language they can relate to. This provides her with a respected status amongst youths as she is possibly making them feel important by suggesting how even celebrities use informal language.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture? How does this create meaning for the audience? Think about postmodernism here, use of parody, pastiche.
-The pale blue and pastel green colours present on the front cover of the album compliment each other in providing a realistic look. They help to represent a desirable country lifestyle that welcomes the consumer into being a part of the narrative world being conveyed, in this example, of an idyllic rural habitat which creates a relaxed mood. This acts as a selling point in encouraging an audience to want to listen to the songs on the album, as they are being illustrated to have a calming tone. The lighting on both the front and back covers support a realistic feel as they are fairly natural, which help to establish a positive rapport between her and the audience. Adopting Dyers theory of paradoxes, the lighting represents her as being an ordinary person just like her audience, which makes her music more relatable to real life situations.

-As Beyoncé is seen on the back cover of her album with a cigarette holder, it could have a pastiche reference to 60's fashion icon Audrey Hepburn who is better known for her famous black and white pose with a cigarette holder.

REPRESENTATION
How are the band/artist represented? Does this add to their 'meta-narrative' in any way? How does it help sell their product?
-Beyoncé is represented as a strong and passionate woman through the use of CU's emphasising her devoted facial expression. However, her facial expression can also be depicted as seductive which builds upon the idea of her being seen as a sexual figure, luring men in especially to buy her product. This adds towards her meta-narrative of being seen as desirable, but further implies her aspiration to want to be successful.

INSTITUTION AND AUDIENCE
How might this print text be consumed? How is this evident in the way it is constructed?
-This print may be consumed in popular CD shops such as HMV, with the mainstream pop style suggesting it to be worthy of being presented in such respected digital shops.
-The B'Day album was released by Columbia Records, an American flagship recording label under the ownership of Sony Music Entertainment. As SME is a big conglomerate operating within the music industry, they are likely to have the power to vertically integrate the album to other media subsidiary's in order to distribute Beyoncé's product onto multi media platforms.
-This gives the album the opportunity to be a wide spread phenomenon, being available on websites such as YouTube, Vevo and Spotify.
-Due to the album appearing on such websites, it means that it was able to be targeted by youths as they are the main audience for using web 2.0. This would increase the repeatability of the album with it be so easily accessible to people via the internet.