Pretty Hurts Critique

“It’s the soul that needs a surgery.” Simple, straightforward, poignant. In the music video for her 2014 single “Pretty Hurts,” feminist pop superstar Beyoncé is a woman on a mission—to denounce society’s dehumanizing emphasis on physical beauty, especially for women. While her message might have the subtlety of a sledgehammer, that’s okay; Beyoncé isn’t trying to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry here. Instead, throughout the video, one gets the overwhelming feeling that she is both a voice of feminine frustration, and ultimately comfort in a world with increasingly distorted values.

                The subject matter here isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but coupled with the vivid imagery of a dehumanizing, glitzy beauty pageant it is nevertheless impactful. This imagery is arguably more important than the song’s lyrics, or at least equally so; It takes a surprisingly long time for the vocals to kick in—almost two minutes. While this would be an all-but unforgivable sin in most instantly-gratifying pop tunes, it actually works to this one’s benefit, allowing the viewer to soak in the visuals and immerse herself into Beyoncé’s artistic vision.

                The music video opens with a shot of a changing room—the bland, oft unseen, soul-sucking underbelly of an otherwise outwardly showy event. This is merely a backdrop, however. The real focus of the video is its inhabitants; women in various states of undress, nervously anticipating an impending beauty pageant. Already, the theme of dehumanizing beauty standards is clear; the competitors face their upcoming event with a certain, defeated stoicism. A quick cut to the pageant itself reveals the stark contrast between its intended aesthetic and what is required it to achieve it—the illusion of beauty is striking in comparison to the previous, bland dressing room. In a sense this can be seen as a metaphor for the song’s message as a whole: outer beauty is not indicative of inner contentment.

                Or, put in simpler terms, physical beauty is not all that it is made out to be. Quickly, we see the dark side of an unhealthy focus on outward appearance in more obvious terms. A dancing, singing, smiling on-stage Beyoncé is contrasted with a pill-popping, stressed, clearly unhappy sack of meat that resembles her. That may be a harsh description, but given her treatment by the judges in the off-stage scenes it is clear that she is little more than that to them—they inspect her like a prize cow that is soon to be slaughtered. The worst part is that it works: on stage Beyoncé is beautiful, radiant, and happy—there is little trace of her soulless off-stage counterpart. It is easy to imagine that for many performers and others in the public eye, this illusion is largely a disturbing reality.

                The lyrics suggest a more intimate interpretation, however. Beyoncé sings to you, the listener, directly. “When you’re alone, all by yourself… are you happy?” We all try to uphold an outward appearance, but true happiness comes from within. No matter who you are or what you look like, you can be beautiful and happy, even if only on the inside. That’s okay, though, because ultimately, the inside is all that matters.