{"id":201,"date":"2025-05-04T21:35:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T21:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/?p=201"},"modified":"2025-05-04T21:35:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T21:35:31","slug":"objecthood-and-temporality-in-pray-you-catch-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/?p=201","title":{"rendered":"Objecthood and Temporality in &#8220;Pray You Catch Me&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In Beyonce\u2019s \u201cPray You Catch Me\u201d music video, she employs what McMillan describes as \u201ctemporal ambiguity.\u201d The video weaves together clips in black and white and in color. The 19th-century fashion, tunnel shot, and southern setting all suggest a reference to slavery, but these are all meshed in with contemporary elements, blurring the temporal boundaries of the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXd7O6XvTTlOoiypFxA-yDQrlW8DkMVur32d7PKVPcu0qDQiYEo-QwlMfsmfBHVPuMTF6sCW06Tjqdo3WmCiYGwkdanTTfWB5ans76RMrcsPTOHRXNzF_tm3P2_PftSSxh095eE5pg?key=BsLTewyO2h9MzJXQ3R52mz5h\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By blurring past and present, Beyonce is able to capture how, as McMillan writes, \u201cwhat has come before is not contained in the past, but is continually erupting.\u201d Beyonce\u2019s video highlights how Black history and Black grief inform present-day experiences of Black womanhood. In the poetry voice-over, Beyonce says, \u201cyou remind me of my father\u2026 in the tradition of men in my blood you come home at 3am and lie to me. What are you hiding? The past and the future merge to meet us here. What luck, what a fucking curse.\u201d She draws parallels between her experience of adultery and generations of Black trauma. The emotional affect of both experiences comes through in the way the subjects in the video are depicted.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXcOSQydR0y-IxI2ClhQZqgflBGIvfIIgVo40q6xco7bWcHdH1s43Zf8lf0FcDZmNFToSQasZOfdTJHRkrLCXG9Yin82Onpo03dL8c2XmhU7n54Rm_oHePgl2uBSJfRXYhQ76A37hA?key=BsLTewyO2h9MzJXQ3R52mz5h\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Read through McMillan\u2019s framework, the women in the video can be seen as both objects and agents. Their white formal attire contrasts with the setting which could have once been a plantation with Black slaves. In this sense, it is a reclamation of space and power. Yet, the women appear stuck, they don\u2019t speak or move, and their expressions are solemn. In their statue-like nature, they are objects. This intentional performance of objecthood (in McMillan\u2019s terms) draws attention to the tension between oppression and subjectivity, trauma and reclamation\/redemption. Like Beyonce, stuck between love and deceit, hurt and forgiveness, the women in the video occupy a liminal space. In one striking clip, a woman rocks on the porch, her face obscured by a leaf. Her pose is comfortable and powerful, yet her gaze is blocked. Is she hidden or hiding? I\u2019d argue both \u2013 or maybe neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXfHLc9PNrWSUfKnXRGfXApsQ6JO_ZYgQYsYkJd_O7MdeUBE2k3Ic2qgfqIbIgeQNA7pje9iM-8onrhLMsYSrG4zQwcuNZ5OaY3iwTu9iCDFO8bSpqk5FgfjL3qXL5OkaWzJEC-zdg?key=BsLTewyO2h9MzJXQ3R52mz5h\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is in this elusive portrayal that I really understand the application of McMillan\u2019s avatar. She is abstract and atemporal, but her affect is palpable, almost tangible. Like the rest of Lemonade, she offers a beautiful exploration of the messiness of pain, pleasure, power, love, and oppression.\u00a0<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Beyonce\u2019s \u201cPray You Catch Me\u201d music video, she employs what McMillan describes as \u201ctemporal ambiguity.\u201d The video weaves together clips in black and white and in color. The 19th-century fashion, tunnel shot, and southern setting all suggest a reference to slavery, but these are all meshed in with contemporary elements, blurring the temporal boundaries [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rgsinpop.2025.cmoore.sites.carleton.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}