Beauty and Happiness

Beyoncé’s music video, “Pretty Hurts,” follows the life of a beauty pageant contestant, played by Beyoncé, during and behind the scenes of the competition. In 2013, Columbia Records produced the music video for “Pretty Hurts,” which currently has over one hundred million views on YouTube. Beneath the surface of beauty pageant shots and Beyoncé’s multiple outfit changes, the video is a critique of the ways in which society encourages women to seek happiness by altering their physical appearance. The music video for “Pretty Hurts” effectively communicates its critique by using certain cinematography choices and casting Beyoncé as a character that the audience can relate to.

“Pretty Hurts” employs a visual metaphor to critique western culture’s obsession with female physical perfection. Throughout the video, the camera switches between the glamorous excitement onstage and the tense frustration backstage. When the video shows the contestants on stage, the lighting is overpowering, but backstage the lights dim down. This change in lighting marks the contestants’ transition from the illusion of the pageant to backstage reality. Backstage, contestants argue over tools that will enhance their physical appearance according to the pageant’s standards.

They treat each other as competitors, rather than people. However, once the stage curtains pull back, contestants hide their contempt for each other and put on smiles for the judges. Stage and backstage function as a metaphor for the way beauty is idealized in western society and what beauty means in reality. Western culture teaches women to look “beautiful” in order to be happy. However, Beyoncé’s suggests that if the viewer looks “behind the curtain” of beauty ideals, then he or she can understand that beauty does not guarantee happiness. Beyoncé’s lyrics, “it’s the soul that needs the surgery,” sum up a main message of “Pretty Hurts:” women should step back from the mirror and look inside themselves to find happiness that lasts.

Beyoncé’s audience can empathize with her struggle to live up to society’s beauty ideals, which strengthens the video’s critique. By portraying herself as a woman who also feels pressure to look a certain way, Beyoncé changes herself from a perfect celebrity to a real woman with insecurities. She is shown exercising, watching her diet, seeking medical attention to fix her appearance, and checking herself in the mirror. Scenes that display Beyoncé’s face close-up, emotionally distraught, and no make-up serve also humanize her. She is not just the beautiful singer loved by millions of fans, but also a woman who feels pressure to live up to society’s standards. Since Beyoncé is willing to bare herself like this to her audience, they are more likely to listen to her song’s critique. 

One might respond that it is difficult to look at Beyoncé as a ‘normal’ person because she is a wealthy celebrity with millions of fans. However, the video successfully depicts Beyoncé in a less than perfect light, encouraging her audience to listen to the video’s critique and reflect on how societal standards impact their own lives.

“Pretty Hurts” successfully critiques standards for physical perfection. However, the video does not prompt an active response from viewers. Instead, Beyoncé intends for the viewer to question what their parents, friends, and society taught them about beauty and happiness. Her lyric, “Are you happy with yourself,” asks the audience a thoughtful question: what do you think brings you happiness, and is does it truly lead to a happy life?