Black is King (2020)

Black is King is an experiment showing what can be done by merging the forms of cinema and music video. A collaborative work involving many directors, musicians, creators, and performers, this is a work credited to Beyoncé herself. A visual album, something done by this artist before as well as others, but something evolving.

Black is King is tied to the Disney Lion King remake of 2019. Deriving from Beyoncé's work in that film she crafted her own album out of the themes of the film and then from that came this. She uses James Earl Jones' powerful voice, reciting his famous lines as king to punctuate this story of a king.

In this form she is freed from the sort of narrative constraints we're used to in mainstream films, this approximating something more like an art film or series of music videos. Yet she successfully find a narrative to work through this. It isn't a loosely connect series of videos but a true story thread told through her visually striking  diversions and the music. It is transformative both as film as as music.

And it is a love letter to both Africa and to Blackness. We have a very short history of celebrating the beauty and power of Black bodies and Black people while we also have a long history of art denigrating those very people. Black is King is a conscious and glorious celebration. Black is King is gorgeous to watch while also being rich and nuanced. It is affirming. It isn't easy or delicate. It challenges its audience at points.

It is remarkable that a film like this comes through a machine like Disney. It is very much the story of The Lion King reinterpreted and re-explored. But it also takes those themes to more complex mature place. Yet this is a fascinating mixing of the corporate drivers and the artistic ambition. The Lion King is such a force in our culture, both as corporate IP and cultural phenomenon. There is some interesting critique to make regarding the corporate nature of all of this but for now Beyoncé has capitalized on that in way to tell a story she wants to tell, and send a message she wants to send. And it is just exciting that something like this can come about in this time, now.

Black is King
Starring: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Lupita Nyong'o, Kelly Rowland, Pharrell Williams, Tina Knowles-Larson, Naomi Campbell, Blue Ivy Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, James Earl Jones
Writer/Director: Beyoncé