Dissect - BLACK IS KING by Beyonce (Part 5)

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

Our special mini-series on Beyonce’s BLACK IS KING continues with an examination of “Otherside,” “My Power,” and “Spirit.” Simba returns to the river to be reborn, reclaims his royal identity, and reunites with his father in heaven. Assisted by powerful women, Simba defeats Scar and reclaims his throne. Simba then raises his own child into the air, just as his father before him, completing his journey and fulfilling the circle of life. Shop our limited merch for this series at shop.dissectpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @dissectpodcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify, this is Dissect. Long-form musical analysis broken into short, digestible episodes. I'm Cole Kushna. And I'm T.T. Shodia. Today we continue our six-part examination of Black is King by Beyonce. On our last episode, Simba had finally placed the crown back on his head, recognizing the kingship inside him. However, we soon recognize that Sima still needed spiritual renewal,

practical guidance, and emotional healing in order to reclaim the throne and become the leader his people needed. All of these needs were fulfilled by Nala, who brought water for Simba's renewal, light for his guidance, and the loving affirmation of generations of brown-skinned women for his healing. Ultimately, Nala's presence was the key for Simba learning how to give all of himself to another person in marriage. Like the sun, the moon, and the ancestors in the heavens, Simba and Nala's marriage came to symbolize the ideal balance between divine masculine and feminine energy. The love that Simba and Nala have poured into each other has now become the,

baptismal waters that will be needed for Simba to be born again. Child of dust, return to the river. Your roots and your story will be reborn. As we see Simba and Nala on a horse riding away from their wedding, we hear a voiceover from Beyonce that refers to Simba as a child of dust and calls Simba to return to the river so that his roots and story can be reborn. As an extremely concise retelling of the biblical narrative, this passage sets the stage for the final act of the film,

which contains a number of illusions and direct references to the Bible. Specifically, the phrase, child of dust, seems to reference the first narrative of the Bible where God forms the first man from the dust of the ground. This man called Adam, which in Hebrew means humanity, is placed in a garden by a river that runs through a place called Eden. God plants two trees in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, which provides food that will enable,

humanity to live forever, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which will enable humanity to define good and evil for itself without trusting in God. God then places humanity in the Garden of Eden and tells the man and woman not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or they'll die. The man and women are led astray by a snake who convinces them to distrust God and eat the forbidden fruit. Because of their decisions to redefine good and evil for their own advantage, God declares that humanity is now exiled to live in the devastated land outside of the garden where they will struggle to bring forth enough food from the ground. God declares that humanity will die and be buried in the ground because, quote,

dust you are and to dust you will return. As the biblical narrative goes on, God tries to bring life back to humanity through a man he names Abraham, which means Father of many nations. God blesses Abraham and instructs him to teach his children to trust in the Lord and bring justice so that his descendants can become like the stars and the heavens. Despite this divinely inspired guidance, generations after generations of Abraham's descendants failed to trust in the Lord. Finally, one descendant named Jesus began to teach that humans need to be born again of water and the Spirit

so they can finally trust in the Lord. This teaching is the reason that water baptism became a symbol of receiving a new life by trusting the Lord even to the point of death. This seems to be the inspiration behind Beyonce's passage about returning to the river to be reborn. Indeed, at the end of the biblical narrative, humans from all nations who have followed the way of Jesus and learn to trust in God, are invited back to a delightful garden where the tree of life grows by a river. Similar to the story of humanity in the Bible, Simba's story in Black is King seems to serve as an archetypal narrative for the choices all humans must make, and how the effect of those choices can lead to

life or death for humans and for the land itself. We recall that in the film's first act, a man holding a snake initially convinced Simba to distrust his father's instructions, which eventually led to Simba living in exile while those who remained in the pride land struggled to bring forth food from the ground. During Beyonce's voiceover that we just heard, the devastation of the pride land seems to be depicted by a dust storm that begins to envelop an arid landscape. Dust storms are a pervasive problem throughout much of North Africa. The number of dust storms has increased tenfold over the last half century largely due to poor land management and farming practices that take nutrients from the soil without giving enough back. Similarly, Scars mismanagement

of the pride land seems to be depicted here as we see two shirtless men in black pants wrestling in front of a tree, then crawling through the dusty grounds like snakes. We should recall that the last time we saw these shirtless men was during the song's Scar, where they seemed to represent Scar's psychology, which had been twisted by the harsh conditions of the world. The harsh conditions that black men routinely face also seem to be the focus of the audio clip we hear while the two shirtless men crawl through the dust. We've been conditioned to be inside of a box, and we've been created with this image. that black men are supposed to be this way.

And I feel like with kings, we have to take responsibility of like stepping outside of those barriers that they put us in for the next generation. An anonymous man here discusses how black men have the royal responsibility to free themselves in the next generation from mental barriers that an unnamed they have used to constrain them. For black men who have already grown into adulthood, breaking free of mental barriers essentially requires them to return to their childhood by being born again.

Fittingly, as the dust storm spreads, we move inside a small one-room shack and see Beyonce depicted as a mother holding her baby boy wrapped in a white blanket. It's from the perspective of this mother that Beyonce sings the first verse of Black is King's next song, Other Side. Other Side features beautiful, classically inspired arpeggiated piano chords, a rare ballad in the midst of mostly up-tempo dance tracks. Lyrically, the song expresses both beauty and tragedy, as a mother sings to her child as calamity threatens to come upon their meager shelter.

She sings, If the storm comes, if we burn up, if the wells run dry. You're my reason to believe in another life. These lyrics allude to the devastating effects of droughts, including dust storms, grass fires, and a shortage of drinking water. These are the harsh conditions in which so many ancestral African mothers have brought children into the world for generations, conditions that many mothers and rural parts of

Africa continue to endure. Yet despite the potential for devastation and death, this mother declares that her loving relationship with her son has given her a reason to believe in another life. This idea of another life seems to be a reference to the biblical concept of eternal life. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus defines eternal life by saying, This is eternal life, that they know the only true God, and Jesus, anointed one, whom God the Father has sent. According to Jesus, eternal life begins when someone knows God the Father and Jesus the Anointed Son and enters into a loving relationship with them. This idea of eternal life coming from a relationship closely mirrors Beyoncé's maternal understanding

that her relationship with her son illustrates the reality of another life beyond her current experience of devastation. During this verse, the film cuts to a dusty path where people are running away from the camera attempting to escape the impeding storm. In contrast, Beyonce slowly walks in the opposite direction toward the camera while holding her baby boy in a straw basket. This image of a mother with a baby in a basket makes it clear that Beyonce is depicting herself as the mother of Moses. In the Bible, the story of Moses follows immediately after the story of Joseph. If you recall, we discussed Joseph's story when analyzing the lyrics to the previous song, Keys to the Kingdom. As we noted, Joseph was able to be able to...

to rescue his father, mother, and 11 brothers from a deadly drought after Joseph became the most powerful ruler in Egypt next to the Pharaoh. Joseph and his brothers settled permanently in Egypt where their descendants multiplied and became an ethnic group known as the Children of Israel, or Israelites. Hundreds of years after Joseph's death, his accomplishments were forgotten and erased from Egyptian history. As a result, a new Pharaoh rose to power who looked down upon the Israelites and saw them as a threat. This new Pharaoh began to violently oppress and enslave Israelites, who were forced to form backbreaking labor to build up Pharaoh's empire.

When the Israelite descendants continued to multiply, Pharaoh ordered soldiers to kill any baby boys who were born to Israelite mothers. In the midst of this genocide, one unnamed Israelite mother managed to hide her baby boy for the first few months. Then before he got too big, the mother placed. her baby boy in a covered box made of straw and let it float down the Nile River, which we saw depicted in the opening scene of Black as King. By divine providence, the makeship boat floated into the riverbank where the Pharaoh's daughter was bathing. Pharaoh's daughter took compassion on the baby

boy, adopted him as her own royal son, and gave him the name Moses. Pharaoh's daughter found Moses's birth mother on the other side of the Nile and paid her to nurse Moses for the first three years of his life. Having taken the time to hear Moses' story and recall the film's opening scene, we can now recognize how the story of Moses serves as a direct parallel to all the major themes of Black as King. Like Joseph and the Israelites, the accomplishments of exemplary Africans has been systematically erased from history, which allowed oppressive empires to enslave Africans and force them to build wealth for their oppressors. Like Moses' mother, countless African mothers sought to protect their baby boys from genocide committed by

those who are afraid of men from a strong ethnic minority. Finally, like Moses, the deadly waters of the Nile River now seem to provide the way for Simba to find new life, regain his royal identity, and reunite with his mother and father on the other side. If it all is, it's over, if the sky falls fire, believe me, you will save me other side. Beyonce continues to find hope amid the threat of devastation and death. She sings, If it all ends, and it's over, if the sky falls fire, best believe me, you will see me on the other side. The mention of fire falling from the sky seems to refer to several biblical stories in which fire fell from the heavens as a form of divine justice against nations who committed unjust acts against the vulnerable.

Most notably in the story of Moses, fire fell on Egypt as part of the ten plagues that God sent as retribution for Egyptians enslaving the Israelites and systematically killing baby boys. This recurring idea of divine protection for children that face oppression is something that Black is King director Quasi Forjor highlighted when we interviewed him. It represents those mothers of those slaves who were separated from their children and the hopes that their children would be okay and that they would see their children on the other side to see their children again. And then even beyond that, it's just this idea, this notion that as a mother, as a father,

that your child would be forever guided and the spirits would guide your child and you would be there to see them on the other side but that the spirits would be there to see them on the other side as well. As other side continues, we see Beyonce arrive at the shore of the Nile River, place her baby boy in the covered basket, and push it away from her.

As the covered basket begins to flow away, we witness the gut-wrenching moment in which a tearful Beyonce reiterates her belief that she will see her son on the other side. It's a moment that calls to mind the countless mothers who wept as their children were sold into slavery and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean. As the dust storm finally envelopes all who remained in the village, we see several shots at the basket floating down the Nile. These shots are the exact same ones we saw at the very beginning of the film. It was there that we theorized that the basket symbolized the ships that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.

The recurrence of these shots here and other side confirms our earlier interpretation, and also seems to convey that Simba's story is now coming full circle. As the covered basket continues to float down the river, we hear Nigerian recording artist Ban Kuli singing an outro in Yoruba. The inclusion of Yurba lyrics at this point becomes particularly significant when we recognize that Yurba people were among the most affected by the transatlantic slave trade. A 2015 Oxford University study found that the majority of African Americans

have ancestry that's most similar to current-day Yurba people in West Africa. And so most African Americans who hear these lyrics sung in Yoraba are hearing the words of their ancestors. The Yoraba words that we hear first are So Kale, Sokale, Sokalewa, Wao, Wao. This translates to Descend, descend, descend, descend, come, oh come, oh come. Banculi then sings, Waanua Nhuokon, me lo. which translates to, come and enter into my heart. These lyrics were actually taken from an old Christian hymn Ban Culi translated into Yoruba. So what came to my mind was that popular North Free School music called

Into my heart, come into my... So I flipped it down, flip it to Yoruba, you know. Sokale, so kale, so kale wa. And I put on the headphone. I was able to do my thing through the inspiration of Holy Spirit. Brancoulli's prayer asking the Holy Spirit to come down from the heavens is in line with historical Christianity, which is founded on the belief that Jesus descends to enter and transform human minds by the power of God's spirit.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, asking Jesus to come into one's heart is the defining conversion experience for individuals who identify themselves as born-again Christians. As a more experientially focused form of spirituality, Born-again Christianity has become the most dominant form of Christianity throughout Africa, particularly among Yoruba-speaking people in Nigeria, who, like Ban Kuli, continue to use their native tongue when they sing to the Lord. fittingly after we hear another repetition of Mancoulli asking the Lord to descend and come into his heart we see a visual depiction of the born-again experience as we

watch the straw basket go over the edge of a waterfall the film then immediately cuts to an underwater shot where we had expect to see the basket diving into the water instead we see adult Simba falling into the water facing upward this juxtaposition between the basket and adult Simba seems to confirm that Simba is the baby boy placed in the basket. Simba's immersion in the water thus appears to be depicting his baptism. Here we should recall our analysis of the song Water. It was there that we discussed the idea of baptism as a symbol of Jesus' death and resurrection, which we saw alluded to as Beyonce floated in the ocean with her body mirroring Jesus on the cross. As Simba falls into the water, we notice that his body too is in the

same exact position with his arms stretched out. All of these connections to biblical symbolism and earlier moments in the film seem to confirm this scene of a baby floating down the river represents Simba's spiritual journey from a childhood formed by a deadly duststorm, who has now returned to the river where his roots and his story are being reborn. In the midst of this baptism, we see Simba begin to swim through the water and turn his head in different directions as if he's searching for something. We then see the gold crowned king Chess P.E. sunk in underwater. This is the same chess piece that Simba's father gave Simba before the song, Find Your Way Back. Later, during Simba's childhood daydream at the end of Mood Forever,

we saw a TV set that depicted Scar playing a drum that scared Simba and caused him to drop the chess piece into a river. During Simba's adulthood nightmare in Jara, we saw Scar holding the chestpiece after he suddenly appeared as the driver of the hearse that was leading Simba to his death. Now, here underwater, we noticed that Simba is now being baptized in the same buttoned-up shirt and gold chains that he wore when he indulged in a destructive party lifestyle throughout Jare. By recovering the sunken chest piece while wearing his party clothes, Simba is effectively recovering the royal identity that he forfeited during the childhood daydream and adult nightmare. Doing so will allow him to return to the beginning.

of his story alongside his father. This idea of returning to the identity given by a father at the beginning of a story also mirrors the biblical narrative we covered at the top of this episode. It was there we outline how the very first chapter of the Bible culminates with God the Father creating humanity in the image of God to rule as kings and queens on earth, just like God rules as king in the heavens. So Simba's baptism and recovery of the chess piece illustrates Simba's renewed. nude identity as a son of Mufasa and a son of God.

Precisely when Simba reaches out and grabs the chess piece, we hear Beyoncé seeing the word bigger. This of course references the film's opening track. It was here that Beyonce told Simba that white supremacist would try to twist Bible verses to prevent him from recognizing he's the living word, which references Jesus' identity as the Word of God and the Son of God. Then, just as Simba takes hold of the chess piece, the film cuts to a shot of adult Simba in a new setting. He no longer wears his party clothes. Instead, he's now donning the royal leopard print suit and headband he wore during his marriage ceremony with Nala.

Simba approaches an elderly woman, kneels before her, and holds up the gold crowned chess piece that he just recovered from the river. As a film cuts to a close-up of the old woman wearing white beads and inspecting the chess piece, we see that she's the Rafiki-inspired priestess who anointed childhood Simba back on bigger. In that scene, little Simba was all. also wearing a royal leopard pelt and leopard headband during this anointment. The tired face of the elderly priestess is now full of wrinkles, which seems to convey just how long she's been waiting for Simba to return. She hands the chess piece back to Simba,

then proceeds to anoint him with white body paint, just like he did decades earlier in the Zulu village. In contrast to the traditional African aesthetic of the Zulu village, the current anointing takes place in the urban courtyard of an imposing, hollow, cylindrical skyscraper whose open center allows sunlight to reach the courtyard. This iconic structure is the Ponty City Apartments Tower, a 54-story residential building in downtown Johannesburg. The Ponty Tower was constructed in 1975

at the height of South Africa's apartheid system of racial segregation. During apartheid, black Africans were forbidden from renting apartments in the tower. The only black people who lived in Ponty City were servants of white South Africans. Once apartheid ended in 1994, most of the former white South African residents vacated the tower and moved to other neighborhoods. This pattern of white flight created an economic void along with an increase of violent crime, drug abuse, prostitution, and urban decay. As a result, the Ponty Tower serves as a symbol for the environment of repression that led black people to walk around with their crowns in their back pockets.

a sentiment we heard in the voiceover that played when we first saw Simba in Johannesburg back on Jara. Given the way in which Ponti Tower illustrates the ongoing effects of colonialism and white supremacy, it's fitting that this tower is now the place where Simba is anointed as the king who will lead his peers out of this oppressive environment, just like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. However, rather than leading his peers across the sea, Simba now leads his peers up towards the heaven, as he suddenly begins to levitate off the ground and into the bright light above. Salutations to survivors of the world. The elders are tired.

To God we belong. To God we return. You find yourself in a room with all the people you lost. And you dance with joy as pure. as your father's face. As we watch Simba levitate further off the ground, we hear Beyoncé say, salutations to survivors,

the elders are tired. To God we belong, to God we return. This statement seems to have been inspired by the account of Jesus' last supper before his crucifixion in the gospel according to John. The author of that account narrates the scene by saying, quote, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands,

and that he had come from God and he was going, to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him, unquote. Jesus then told his disciples, quote, I have set you an example that you also should do as I have done to you, unquote. While a person knowing that they come from God and are going back to God could lead them to adopt a prideful and self-serving attitude towards others, this account highlights how Jesus' knowledge of his divine origins led him to an attitude of humility and loving service to others.

Jesus thus perfectly exemplified Mufus' teaching that true kings searched for what they can give instead of searching for what they can take. The memory of Mufus' teaching then sets up the final statement of the voiceover. You find yourself in a room with all the people you lost, and you dance with joy as pure as your father's face. Beyonce here seems to be describing the experience of returning to God in the heavens, where one's ancestors or enjoy eternal life. It also foreshadows the forthcoming scene in which Simba, having ascended from the grounds of Pont Tower into the bright light above, reunites with Mufasa on the other side. As we watch Simba disappear into the light of the sun, the screen fades to white before fading back

to a shot of a serene, peaceful river. It's here that Simba's covered basket floats through a lush tropical landscape, which seems to represent the Garden of Eden. On the banks of the river, we see several children watching the floating basket. They all have been anointed with intricate white body paint and wear branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits on their heads. These costumes seem to have been inspired by the ritual face paint and headdresses worn by adults and children in Ethiopia's Omo Valley, where indigenous tribes have maintained a distinct way of life totally separated from modern urbanization. At the same time, the fact that these tree-like children are standing by the river, suggests that they are children of the dust who learn to trust in God,

who return to the river and whose roots and stories have been reborn. Fittingly, as the children catch sight of Simba's covered basket, we hear Banquili singing the Yuraba word, Oluwa, which was previously emitted from the Yorba bridge section of other side. Oluwa is most often translated with the English word, Lord. Within Yuraba translations of the Old Testament, Oluwa is the word for the name Yahweh, the God of Israel who created the heavens and the earth and revealed his personal name to Moses.

In Yoraba translations of the New Testament, the word Oluwa is primarily used to refer to Jesus as the human embodiment of Yahweh. As Ben Kuli repeats Oluwa and So Kale, which means descend, we watch Beyoncé walk through the garden wearing a beautiful angelic white dress with winged shoulders. Beyonce walks to the shore of the river and kneels down to pick up the covered basket. This image of Beyoncé finding baby Simba by the shore while wearing a white dress is a clear reference to the very beginning of the film. It was there Beyonce wore a white dress and held baby Simba by the shore of the ocean. In our analysis of this scene, we discussed how Beyonce seemed to represent the angel-like

Orisha Yomoja and also Pharaoh's daughter who found Moses in the Nile River. But just having seen Beyonce depicting herself as Moses' mother while declaring that she'll see her son on the other side, it seems that this reunion between mother and son, is now coming to fruition. As Beyonce rejoins their older children and holds baby Simba in her arms, we hear her repeatedly singing Mababu, Katika Mawingu, which in Swahili means ancestors in the clouds. The presence of African ancestors in the heavenly Garden of Eden

is then confirmed when the film cuts to a shot of Mufasa wearing an all-white three-piece suit and hat decorated with white cowrie shells. The next shot shows adult Simba taking off his royal leopard tail headband and kneeling in front of his father. Then, in what is perhaps the most emotionally arresting moment of the film, we see a close-up of Simba with both hands clinging to his father and his mouth is wide open as if he can hardly believe his eyes. Simba breaks down into tears as Mufasa places a hand on Simba's right shoulder, indicating

that Simba is now the one true king. For Simba, seeing Mufasa on the other side has finally brought closure to the trauma that he endured since his father's mortal life was cut short by Scars Hengen. At the same time, we should recognize that Mufasa is an archetypal character, an Abraham-like figure who is the father of many African nations. For all of us who have descended from the ancestors, seeing Mufasa in the Garden of Eden has the potential to bring closure to a collective trauma that we've endured since our forefather's mortal lives were cut short by colonialism, slavery, police brutality, and all other forms of racialized oppression.

Mufasa's hand on Simba's shoulder conveys the hope that all the ancestors have put in us to bring about justice for all nations. Of course, bringing about justice will require us to take a stand and challenge the oppressive systems put in place by Uncle Sam and other Western institutions. Likewise, Simba must now stand up and challenge the oppressive rule of Uncle Scar to restore the Pride lands back to their former glory. That's right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we watched Simba ascend from the repressive urban environment of Pont Tower, up to the heavenly garden of Eden. There, Simba's tearful reunion with his father helped him

bring closure to the trauma that forced Simba into exile. We also noted how Mufasa's interaction with Simba further established Mufasa's role as an archetypal African ancestor who has inspired his descendants to bring about peace and justice on earth. These ideas continue into the subsequent interlude, where we're transported from the heavenly garden into a South African forest. When the wind kissed the trees, they sang melodies,

and the ancestors returned. Smiling. Divine archetype. Predaccessor of light. Beyonce here describes a scene in which the African ancestors returned to the land after the wind causes the trees to sing melodies. This personification of trees seems to connect back to the previous scene where children in the heavenly garden were dressed like trees. Given all the biblical references up until this point, we also can't help but think that the divine wind here might allude to a famous biblical passage in which Jesus gives a speech about

being reborn of water and spirit. Quote, do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it. So is everyone who has been born of the spirit, unquote. The wind here seems to symbolize God's spirit, which moves people to make distinct sounds just like the wind blowing through trees. By describing how the wind caused the trees to sing melodies that brought back the ancestors, Beyonce seems to be metaphorically describing how God's spirit is inspiring God's children to reconnect with the ways of their ancestors.

As we listen to these poetic statements about the ancestors, we see a forest in South Africa's Zulu region where six black women lean their bodies and heads against a dome-shaped grass hut that's adorned with purple flowers. Each of the women is entirely covered with some type of earthen red pigment that covers her hair and skin.

This use of earth and red pigment is the distinct work of indigenous women from the Hymah people of northwest Namibia. Similar to the indigenous tribes in Ethiopia's Omo Valley, the HIMBA people have managed to preserve their traditional culture for centuries by separating themselves from the repressive influences of westernized urban environments. The use of red pigment is one such cultural practice in which Hymah women cover themselves with an earthen clay-based paste called Otizi.

As the film takes us inside the hut, we see a real-life Himba woman grinding a chunk of red clay to make Otizi paste. The woman then applies the paste to the braided hair of another woman. While Hymba men don't typically use Oteezy paste, Hymba women cover their skin and hair with the paste each morning for beauty, hygienic, and protective purposes. The daily routine is similar to how women in the West might apply makeup, lotion, soap, and conditioner. But unlike these commercial products, Oteezy paste helps Hymah women maintain a connection with their ancestral land, a connection that is as close as their own skin, a connection that bridges the gap from those living on earth to the those who are alive in the heavens. It's among these Hymba women that we see Simba sit down and

close his eyes as if he's praying or meditating. This spiritual focus while surrounded by indigenous women in his native Zulu land is a direct contrast to his erratic state of mind when he surrounded himself with seductive women and male peers in urban Johannesburg. We also noticed that in place of his urban party clothes, Simba is now wearing traditional Zulu warrior armor, a leopard tail headband, and one large circular earring. We saw Simba wearing the same attire when Mufasa placed his hand on Simba's right shoulder in the heavenly garden, further supporting the idea that Mufasa has entrusted Simba to fight against the injustice of his uncle scar. You who were formed by the heat of the galaxy, who was dusted with a star, who has the

universe in your eye, whose blood keeps the score of your blessings and trials. Beyonce continues her voiceover by using cosmic language to describe the ancestors as humans who are formed from the dust of stars. This choice of words seems to parallel the biblical story of creation, where humanity was formed from the dust of the ground rather than the stars. However, as the biblical narrative progresses, God blesses Abraham and says that Abraham's descendants, who are described to be as numerous as the dust of the earth, can become like stars in the heavens if they learn to trust in God. This idea of a divine blessing passed down from generation to generation

leads to Beyonce's final statement that the blood of the ancestors keeps the score of your blessings and trials. This highlights the inconvenient truth that the blessings Africans want to receive from the ancestral blood also come with a corresponding set of trials, which most would want to avoid. In the biblical narrative, trials are often described as fire from the heavens that God uses to remove unwanted influence and form purified humans, just like a goldsmith uses fire from the earth to remove unwanted metals and form pure gold.

Most notably, the leader of the very first Christian community told his followers, quote, Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and mature, lacking in nothing, unquote. People don't remember who they were, what they were, what they're. they were, what they were taken from, why people tried so hard to make us forget. There's something about Kinsha, you know what I mean? There's something about walking in the room with your head high and not disrespecting your crown

by bowing your neck, you know? After Beyonce's voiceover, we hear an audio clip of an unnamed man who discusses how white Europeans historically tried to make enslaved Africans forget who they were and what cultures they were taken from. The man then theorizes that those white people tried so hard to make enslaved Africans, you know, to make black people forget their African identity because they recognize the ineffable power that comes from being connected to the royal African bloodline. The man then goes on to assert the importance of black people respecting their crowns by holding their heads up high. This statement

mirrors the one heard before water, where a woman said, you can't wear a crown with your head down. This audio clip was followed by a man who said that most often women are the ones who train boys to be men and restore men who have fallen apart. In much the same way, the Himba women seem to represent all the women of the Pride lands who have rallied around Simba as he goes to challenge Scar. Simba's reliance on the strength of these women is then confirmed as we hear the voice of Beyonce playing her role in the 2019 Lion King film. In the Lion King, this bold challenge of Scar's rule is spoken by Nala after Simba rescues

his mother from Scar's advances and threatens to tear Scar apart. Here in Black as King, we hear this dialogue right after we see a shot of Simba standing up from his seat in the hut, which is then followed by a shot of Scar standing up from his seat on the throne. We notice that the throne room looks bare and devoid of life with no people or plants in sight. Mufasa's golden yin-yang lion symbol has also been replaced with the skull of a dead wildebeest. The film then cuts back to the flower-covered hut, where we see the women dance out of the door and take their place on the front line. If you want to get him, you have to get through us.

Are you with me, lions? As the line of female warriors get into their battle stances, we hear Nala call the other female lions to fight the hyenas. The film then cuts to what will become a recurring symbolic shot of a man covered in red dust, facing off against a man in blue dust. The two men seem to symbolize the fight between Simba and Red and Scar and Blue. By representing Simba as a man covered in red,

does similar to the Hymba women, the film again seems to convey how Simba's power comes directly from the powerful women who surround him. These women take center stage as we hear the opening moments of Black is King's next track, My Power. As My Power begins, we see individual shots of Beyonce, Beyonce's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, and the women who are featured on the song. American rapper Tierra Wack, South African artist Moonchild Sanalee and Buciswa, and New Jersey songwriter, Nija. As Nija sings the song's opening refrain, we see a shot from above looking down on Nijja, Beyonce, Tierra Wack, and Moonchild-Sanali, who are lying on a white floor with their heads towards the center, forming an X-shaped with their bodies. On the floor beneath them is a black

outline symbol resembling a clover. The combination of their bodies with the black outline creates a Ghanian adinkra symbol. A dinkra are a set of symbols used to communicate certain values or aphorisms. This specific symbol in my power is called Bece Saka, which translates into literally Cola Nut, a valuable nut found in the tropical rainforests of Africa. The Bezesakha represents affluence, power, wealth, and unity in togetherness. To portray four of the songs female collaborators with this symbol suggests that the power they sing about not only lies within themselves as individuals, but also in their unity as a

collective. This is a reiteration and culmination of a theme that we've seen throughout the film, that we all belong to a unified circle of life, and we'll find our power when we've found our place within the larger hole. We also noticed the red suits that the women are wearing when they gathered around the symbol of power and unity. Recall that the first time we saw a group of people wearing red suits was during don't jealous me. It was here that Scars henchmen wore red suits as they led Simba astray and killed Mufasa. By showing Beyonce and her group of women wearing red suits, the film seems to be depicting how the women in Simba's community have taken their power back from the hyena like men. Following the song's opening chorus, we cut to the image of Tierra Wack and a black cloak.

She wears a golden headpiece along with her intricately braided hair, which forms three rings high above her head and a variant of the traditional Shuku style of the Yorba people. She stands motionless with her eyes closed, and then suddenly her eyes open, and she launches into her commanding verse. Wack begins with a proud assertion of her own power, beauty, and royalty. As her verse continues, she compares herself to three characters of the 1990s sitcoms. Living Single, Sinclair, Regine, and Maxine. Given this context, her line, Raged from a Queen, Queen So Strong, thought she was a machine, likely references the star of the show, rapper and actress Queen Latifah. Living Single centers on six single,

20-something friends living in a Brooklyn Brownstone, navigating their careers and romantic lives. Many have drawn comparisons of Living Single to the NBC hit show Friends, due to Friends' nearly identical premise, albeit with an all-white cast. This fuller context of living single brings Tierra's opening lines to full fruition. It was there that she rapped, I was always in the lead, I'm who they want to be, B-E-A-U-T-Y. It seems Tierra is not only referring to her individual success, but also the broader artistic successes and achievements of the black community, who are so frequently imitated by white creatives. The spelling out of the word beauty is also a clever nod to Queen Latifah's hit single,

U-N-I-T-Y. As Tierra continues her verse, she suddenly throws off her black cloak to reveal an all-white jumpsuit she's wearing underneath. This juxtaposition between dark and light clothing again highlights the motif of duality between good and evil,

as we've heard discussed throughout the film. The failure of white people to recognize this duality then becomes the focus of the remainder of Tierra's verse. Tierra raps, refer to me as a goddess, I'm tired of being modest, 100 degrees the hottest, if we're being honest, Ebony and Ebonyx.

Here Tierra embodies the voiceover we heard back on water, when an anonymous woman said, I can't say I believe in God and call myself a child of God, and then not see myself as a God. Rather than hanging her head down and dropping her crown, Tierra asserts that black people are the hottest. She cites Ebony, a dark shade of black that takes its name from a type of dark black wood that's often used to make black chess pieces. in traditional African sculptures. Tierra also cites ebonics, a term originally derived by combining ebony and phonics, and is the name used to describe African-American vernacular English.

While black people, black art, and black language have clearly been influential throughout Western cultures, Tierra notes that this success has led to more derogatory marks from white supremacists. She raps, Black people win? They say we being demonic, angel in disguise. I hate I have to disguise it, why you got to despise it. Here, Tierra is likely referring to the ways white European colonizers and enslavers tried to suppress the power of African spirituality by saying it's purely demonic.

Ironically, demons don't exist in Ifah and other forms of African spirituality, which teach that all things and all people exist in duality with both good and evil inside them. White supremacists have chosen to ignore the good inside of African spirituality, while simultaneously ignoring the evil, hatred, and justice, and hypocrisy of so many Western European Christians who directly oppose the virtues of love and justice exemplified by Jesus. As a result, white supremacists have chosen to despise and demonize all influences from Africa, which forces black people to hide their black identity and live as angels in disguise, just like Tierra's white jumpsuit symbolized inside of her black cloak.

Yet despite the efforts of white supremacists to deprive black, people of power, success, and wealth, Tierra asserts she's rich in the mind and ends with a call to action. Can't we all empower? It's time to realize it. After a repetition of the chorus, we see Beyonce perform a dance routine with several backup dancers. All the women are wearing red crop tops and red skirts.

We also see several shots of Beyonce and Blue Ivy wearing rainbow printed jersey dresses. This combination of red and rainbow dresses suggests that Beyonce has taken inspiration from Oya, the Ifa orisha of storms, wind, lightning, death, and rebirth. Oya is typically depicted as a warrior holding a sword, wearing a red dress. In some depictions, different colored strands of cloth hang from her waist in a rainbow pattern. Here in black as king, Oya's association with death and rebirth recalls the death and rebirth that Simba experienced during his journey down the Nile River and other side.

Oya's sword also illustrates the strength that enables women to wage war. against oppressors as we've seen throughout my power. Finally, Oya's association with lightning seems to be alluded to in the opening lines of Beyoncé's verse. Throughout her verse, Beyonce refers to the power conveyed by lightning and fire in the African savannah, African rhythm, natural African hair and black skin, African herbal medicine, and African bloodlines. After encouraging her African sisters to get loose and get low in the style of many traditional African dances, Beyonce goes on to say, got to protect my grace, keep it locked in a safe. Here, the word grace can refer to the ability to maintain balance and make else. elegant moves like the dance move we've seen in the video. At the same time, within the biblical narrative, the word grace is most frequently used to describe a gift of divine favor that is bestowed upon

humans by God. In the context of my power, Beyonce seems to be asserting that her power is a gift that has been given by God and must be safeguarded from those who oppose black people. After another repetition of the chorus, we hear a verse by South African singer Buciswa, who appears wearing a large dress with layers of red tassel. The dress prominently accentuates Boussizois's curves and causes her opposed to resemble the illustrated depictions of a 19th century South African woman named Sarah Bartman. Bartman's large physique led to her being taken to Europe, where white Europeans paid money to touch her body and see her paraded around

at freak shows, while Boussie Suas dress reminds us of the tragic ways in which white Europeans have historically taken power away from black women. We should also note that the tassels on her dress seem to be inspired by West African masquerade costumes. that channeled the divine power of a particular spirit, which in this case might be the warrior spirit of Oya. Fittingly, Bucisois' verse is almost entirely in her native Exosa language. She uses a traditional South African-style call-and-response war cry to depict the moment that Nala rallies the female lions to fight against Skar and the hyenas.

According to the English translation on Beyoncé's website, Buciswai first says, Are you with me? Which is exactly what Nala said after telling Scar that his reign is over. Here in Boussie Soh's verse, a group of women respond to her question by saying, We are with you. Buciswa goes on to say, My inner demons have awakened,

which seems to acknowledge the demon angel duality inside of all people, similar to Tierra's whack verse about being an angel in disguise. However, despite the temptation to be permanently overcome by rage and anger, Buciswai briefly switches to English and says, There will be peace when I'm done, clarifying her ultimate purpose for going to war. While we watch Boussizwa perform this militant verse and flex her biceps, the film cuts back and forth to shots of two other black women. The first is an 84-year-old woman who flexes her biceps just like Buciswa.

This is Ernestine Shepard, who was recognized as the oldest competitive female bodybuilder after she began training at the age of 71 and subsequently won two bodybuilding titles. We also see Biont's former lead dancer Aisha Francis, who wears a war. royal purple crop top that reveals her belly that is eight months pregnant and anointed with white body paint. Despite the physical toll that pregnancy takes on women, Aisha continues to dance vigorously as she whips her head back and forth like a weapon. The juxtaposition of Ernestine Shepard displaying stereotypically masculine strength and Aisha Francis displaying stereotypically feminine strength through childbearing reminds us of the same motif used prior to keys to the kingdom. It was there we saw a statue of the household,

warrior, Queen Amina, followed by the statue of a woman with a baby tied to her back. Like the recurring motif of suits and dresses, the 84-year-old bodybuilder and the pregnant dancer shows how women routinely defy all expectations by embodying both masculine and feminine expressions of power. Throughout my power, we continue to see the symbolic battle between the two men and red and blue dust. There's no clear winner until the film cuts to a shot of the women and Red Otizi performing a synchronized martial art-style bicycle kick. After the women deliver the final blow, the film cuts to a nighttime shot of Simba wearing his Zulu armor as he marches towards the camera with the women and Red Otizi marching alongside him.

The film then cuts to a shot of Scar looking back over his shoulder as he runs away from Simba and the women. Scar flees into a dark forest, an exact mirror of how Simba was depicted fleeing the Pride lands as a child. This mirroring effect demonstrates another full-circle moment in Simba's journey, and indicates that this time, Scar is the one being driven out of the kingdom. As Scar stumbles through the forest, we see several shots of a tree that's colored white and decorated with white rope netting. Where we'd expect to see the tree's roots, we see 11 black men and women dressed in white, who sit on the ground in two lines that alternate male and female. Finally, right in front of the tree trunk, we see Beyonce wearing a white lace dress decorated

with cowrie shells. She also wears a cowrie shell headdress and a v. veil that covers the bottom half of her face. As we've seen throughout the film, Cowary shells and the color white is most often worn to symbolize a connection to the spiritual realm and the ancestors, who seemed to be depicted here as the roots of Beyonce's tree. This interpretation would match the final lines of the song Bigger, where Beyonce wore a white dress and told Simba, All Be the Roots, You Be the Tree, pass on the fruit that was given to me, legacy, were part of something way bigger. The connection between trees and ancestors was also alluded to in the voice of her just before my power, where Beyonce said,

When the wind kissed the trees, they sang melodies, and the ancestors returned, smiling. Thus, having seen Scar vanquished and the royal legacy passed down to Simba, the appearance of the symbolic white tree seems to indicate the ancestral way of life has now returned to the motherland. Fittingly, after the screen fades to black, we see a time-lapse shot of the sun rising upon a new day, and we hear the voice of Mufasa speaking on behalf of the ancestors in the clouds. The king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here and will rise with you as the new king. This dialogue comes from the scene in which Mufasa takes

Simba to the top of Pride Rock at sunrise and tells him, everything the light touches is our kingdom. Mufasa goes on to say that there will be a day in the future when the sun sets on his time as king and rises over Simba's reign. We recognize that we are now witnessing that day in Black is King, as the film cuts to a shot of Simba wearing a white suit and gold chains. Ironically, this outfit mirrors the one that childhood Simba wore when he began to lose his white face paint in the dark warehouse. It was there he sat on a worn-out black recliner,

imitating the man with the snake on his shoulders. Now, instead of sitting in an old recliner, Simba sits on his father's royal throne, wearing fresh white face paint and a black crown adorned with goldly symbols that resembled those worn by the Bali people of Côte d'Ire. This is the same crown that was mostly shrouded in darkness on top of Simba's head earlier in the film. Here inside the Zulu hut, Simba and his crown are now fully illuminated in the presence of Nala and Beyoncé, the two women who have served as Simba's guiding light throughout his journey. Both women wear white dresses, and Beyonce in particular

wears the same white dress that she wore when she first held Simba on the shores of the spiritual world. Beyonce's presence here in the physical world seems to convey how Simba and Nala's rule has restored the unity between the spiritual and the physical, between the heavens and the earth, between humans and nature. The ancestral lands have thus been transformed into a Garden of Eden, which is indicated by the trees and flowers that fill Simba's throne room. We also see that the golden Yin-Yang lion's cymbal crest has been returned to its rightful place above the throne. As Black as King continues, we see a close-up shot of Nala, whose pink hair is now topped with a crown made of white and gold circles, which seems to represent the circle of life. This circle of life motif then becomes fully apparent

when Nala turns her head to see Beyoncé holding a newborn baby while wearing again the same white dress she wore when she first held Simba. As Nala gets up from the royal table to take hold of her baby, the film cuts to a close-up of an older woman wearing gold jewelry and sitting at the table. We then hear another piece of dialogue from the Lion King film. This dialogue makes it clear that the woman in gold jewelry is Simba's mother. The dialogue itself comes from the Lion King scene in which Simba first returns home, rescues his mother from scars advances, and reveals that he's still alive. Like Moses' mother, Simba's mother has now experienced the joy of seeing her son on the other side of his journey through a long

period of denial. The presence of Simba's mother with Nala and Beyonce also further illustrates how how the success of Simba's reign is made possible by the loving example of key women in his life. After showing us one last shot of Nala holding the new baby and Simba cradling its head, the film cuts to a shot of a man in a bright green robe walking along an old, dust and path through a dry, rocky landscape. This shot takes us back to the film's opening montage where we saw a group of people in matching green robes walking down the same path. This scene was interspersed between shots of Simba's basket floating down the Nile River and candid shots of various black people and families. Based on our earlier analysis of this opening montage,

it seems that this path represents the spiritual journey that each one of us must travel throughout our lives. This theme of journeys was also mentioned at the very beginning of the film, before we see any visuals at all. I feel like I'm not akin yet, but like I got potential for it, you know, but I'm not dead at 100%, you know, like I know I got the capabilities too, but sometimes I don't know how to navigate. Navigating is typically what a person does when the path is uncharted or unclear. However, as the image of a man walking down an old, well-worn path suggests, black people can easily find their royal identity when they follow the ancient way of life that was passed down by the ancestors. Euretius, hold your hand through this journey that began before you were born. We never forget to say thank you to the ancestors, noble and royal, anointed, our blessings and the stars.

After depicting herself as Yamoja, Oshun, and Oya throughout the film, Beyonce's final voiceover verbally acknowledges the Orisha as guiding spirits who play a role that is similar to guardian angels in Christianity. Beyonce then ends her final voiceover reminding her fellow Africans to always thank their royal ancestors for the heavenly blessings that they have bestowed upon their descendants. This focus on connection between ancestors and their descendants is also visually depicted as the film cuts to a shot of a modern, modest apartment complex. It's here we see a black man and woman holding their baby daughter wearing a white dress, just like Simba and Nala held their baby in the royal throne room. This juxtaposition between wealthy and lower-income black couples holding a baby suggests that the royal identity that black people inherit is not based on wealth.

Rather, black people will become true kings and queens when they love each other and make sacrifices needed to nurture the next generation. That's what really being a king is, taking care of your responsibilities. You know what I mean? Making these sacrifices that, you know what I mean? Our men may not want to make. Sometimes we can't go out, we got to work. You know what I'm saying? That's king shit to me. Taking care of what's really yours. The kids, your family, you know what I mean?

Mom, dudes, all that. Taking care of people, that's king's shit. As we listen to this final audio clip, we see a montage of black parents caring for their children. From a man smiling and braiding his daughter's hair, to a woman and her toddler sitting in their laundry room, to a husband, his pregnant wife, and their son wearing birthday hats. These shots are interspersed with shots of black men wearing suits that are colored purple, which we've discussed was a color reserved for royalty at the time of the Roman Empire.

In the first of these shots, the men in the purple suits are sitting in the bright warehouse, where previously Simba's blue subconscious danced during the song already. Recall that just before this song, we saw these purple suits for the first time as these men covered their faces, unclear or insecure about their true identity. However, now that these same men have committed to take care of their families, they realize that they're kings already. The last shot of the montage show these men in purple suits by the ocean. One man raises his fist above his head, a gesture most commonly associated with the black power resistance movement. After seeing all the black parents and hearing the monologue about taking care of one's family,

this image of a raised fist suggests that raising black children who love themselves and love each other is the ultimate form of resistance against white supremacy. At the same time, as Beyoncé herself noted in the previous song, Power is a spiritual grace that humans receive from God. This is the same point Jesus himself made as he ascended to the heavens to take his place as king over God's kingdom. He told the founders of his church, quote, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has descended upon you,

and you will be my witnesses even to the farthest lands of the earth, unquote. fittingly, the image of a man redefining black kingship and black power leads directly to a black church choir singing a song about the Holy Spirit. This is Black is King's final song, Spirit. Unlike the fully produced album version, Beyonce begins the song here singing Acapella. She stands in the middle of a room wearing an off-shoulder, bright yellow shawl and matching shirt, perhaps a final depiction of the Orisha Oshun. As the camera zooms out, we see that Beyonce is standing on the choir risers of a church whose interior walls are painted white. Beyonce is surrounded

by a 50-person black gospel choir comprised of an equal number of men and women. They all wear the same royal purple suits that we saw in the previous montage. Black men and women participating in such an iconic expression of the African-American Christian tradition, Further illustrates how the royal identity of black kings and queens is based on a connection to God that has been passed down for generations. This generational experience of black church service is a motif that Black is King co-director, Quacey Forger, also highlighted when we interviewed him. That was a celebration of a black man coming home. And at that time, that moment where, especially within black cinema, one of the most purest and beautiful representations of that is in the mother or the matron takes that. boy to church. That is kind of what that represents and celebrating him finding himself

and him accepting his responsibility and his place in the world. Lyrically, the a cappella choir begins with Beyonce singing, The Wind is Talking for the very first time, with a melody that pulls you toward it, painting pictures of paradise. This, of course, recalls the voiceover we heard before my power. It was there, Beyonce said, when the wind kissed the trees they sang like melodies and the ancestors returned smiling. We interpreted the wind to refer to God's spirit, which seems to be confirmed now as the word wind appears once again, this time in a song called Spirit being performed in the middle of a church. It's interesting to note here that in ancient times, the concepts of wind and spirit were so tied together

that they were referred to by the same word in many ancient languages, Old Testament Hebrew, and New Testament Greek. The common idea between the two is that there exists an invisible energy that can act upon humans or objects to create a visible change in the world. Just like wind is invisible but causes branches of a tree to visibly move, so too is God's spirit invisible but animates all living things. In the Bible, God's spirit is frequently depicted as the energy that causes humans to create divinely inspired art, give divinely inspired performances, and speak divinely inspired words. So Beyonce is saying that the wind is talking for the very first time with a melody that pulls you towards it. She seems to be describing the moment Simba hears God's spirit speaking for the first time.

Specifically in this moment of Black as King, Simba hears God speaking through a visible black gospel choir singing a melody inspired by God's invisible spirit. Beyonce then goes on to say this melody paints pictures of paradise. Here the word paradise is derived from the Greek word Paradisios, which originally referred to a style of lush, gardens that were owned and cultivated by kings, queens, and other royal members of society. This association with royalty and abundance likely explains why the scholars who first translated

the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek referred to the Garden of Eden as the Paradisios of Eden, quite literally the paradise of Eden. In the Greek New Testament, there's a pivotal scene in which a repentant thief being crucified next to Jesus acknowledges that Jesus is God's anointed king. Just before the two of them die, Jesus tells the thief, quote, Today you will be with me in paradise." The fact that Jesus promised a former thief would have eternal life and entrance into the Paradise Garden of Eden further illustrates the idea that men who search for things to take can recover their royal identity when they turn from their wicked ways and follow the ancient way of sacrificial love that was exemplified by both Mufasa and Jesus.

As the choir begins to accompany Beyonce, she sings, rise up to the light in the sky, watch the light lift your heart up, burn your flame through the night. This imagery of rising up to the light of the sky seems to be describing the moment Simba ascended through the center of the ponti tower into the light of the sky before meeting his father in the heavens. As we noted earlier, this ascent mirrored Jesus' ascent into the heavens to sit at the right hand of God, where he would rule as the king of the entire universe. We should also note that the gospel according to John introduces Jesus as the quote, light of humanity who enlightens every human.

Beyonce's last line, Burn your flame in the night, seems to reference God's spirit appearing as flames of fire throughout the Bible, including the aforementioned story of Moses. The New Testament also contains a scene in which Jesus' disciples were praying inside of a house when a forceful wind came down from the heavens and into the house. Small flames of fire appeared above each one of their heads,

and the disciples were, quote, filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different languages as the Spirit enabled them, unquote. Because the wind of God's Spirit spoke different languages through these prophetic leaders, the story of Jesus was quickly able to spread to people living in the farthest lands of the earth. And so the idea that Simba and his peers have the fire of God's Spirit burning over their heads in the night suggests that the tumultuous experience of Africans spreading to different lands and learning different languages is ultimately meant to bring blessings to the people all over the world. For the song's first chorus, the choir joins Beyonce as she sings, Spirit, watch the heavens open. Spirit, can you hear it Colin?

Here the description of the heaven's opening seems to be a reference to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River. The gospel according to Matthew states, quote, After he was baptized, Jesus came up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and John saw the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove to rest on Jesus, and behold, a voice from the heaven said, This is the son whom I love, with whom I am very pleased, unquote. Having already seen Simba baptized and her Ban Cooley asked the Lord to descend, the idea that the heavens are now opening up suggests that God's spirit is coming to rest upon Simba.

Also, just like Jesus' identity as the Son of God was affirmed by God the Father speaking from the heavens, Simba and his peers now recognize that they are beloved children of God after hearing the voice of Mufasa speaking from the heavens. Interestingly, after Jesus' baptism, God's spirit abruptly led Jesus into a desert wilderness to face physical and psychological trials for 40 days. In much the same way, after hearing the Acapella version of the chorus, the film abruptly transitions to a desert wilderness where Beyonce sings about facing overwhelming trials.

As the second verse begins, we see Beyonce in a group of black women wearing the same green robes that we saw on the man walking along the well-worn path. As the women gracefully move their arms in symmetric flower-like patterns, their green robes seem to depict them as visual desert plants being moved

by the force of an invisible wind. It's here Beyonce sings, the waters crash in, trying to keep your head up high. While you're trembling, that's when the magic happens, and the stars gather by your side. Within biblically inspired lyrics, the idea of a person struggling to keep their head above water is a commonly used reference to Psalm 69. Quote, save me, oh God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink into deep waters. My enemies outnumber the hairs on my head. This use of deep ocean waters as a metaphor for a persons enemies, was later used by biblical prophets to describe the foreign nations who enslaved

the Israelites and carried them away from their homeland. So for Simba and other black individuals, the crashing water that Beyoncé mentioned seems to represent the enslavers, colonizers, and other white supremacists who have separated Africans from their ancestral lands and traditional culture. While these traumatic experiences might cause black individuals to tremble with fear, Beyonce says that these moments of struggle are exactly when the magic happens. Here we recall Beyonce's Instagram post announcing Black is King, specifically when she said, quote, this is a story of how people left most broken have extraordinary gifts. This idea of hardship transforming pain and fear into growth, wisdom, and gifts is also something

co-director Quasi Forgeur spoke about in our conversation with him. As humans, we need a balance of good and evil in order to evolve. It's like how we persevere through those situations and how we persevere in those moments is how we become wise, right? So, you know, those is, you know, Simba kind of being in the middle of this and having to make those choices and us really using, you know, the two archetypes. to really kind of lead him into these different directions that kind of, you know, thrust him into his destiny is kind of like in many ways how I personally, I'm going to only speak for myself, but that's kind of how I look at life. You know, because, you know, I look at, especially when you talk about rites of passage, right? It's like there's so many different ways to really, you know, dissect this, no pun intended. you know there is i i think for me that that is kind of what the importance of what those two characters

were for simba right because if simba said that you know if if simba ended up staying would he become the same person right if he didn't lose his father if he didn't lose if he didn't have to deal with that with his uncle would he be that same guy would he have learned those same lessons that he learns, you know, throughout the film to teach him wisdom, to teach him, you know, how to be a man, how to be responsible. You know, it's just like, I think, you know, those things are important, especially, you know, again, speaking for myself, especially for men. Like, sometimes we just really need to go through things to wake up, right?

Sometimes we have to lose things to be like, holy shit. Like, I really need to get my shit together, you know? and sometimes we need to find things to understand what it was that we asked. As the song continues into the fully produced chorus, we see Beyonce dancing in various desert scenes that feature a balance of male and female dancers. Most notably, we see these men and women repeatedly raise their feet in the air in a dance that seems inspired by the Sabar dance of the wool of people in Senegal. We also notice that all the dancers are wearing matching blue outfits,

which seemed to further establish the theme of unity between genders. Here's lead choreographer, Cidi Larby Chircawi, talking about this point in ABC's Making the Gift documentary. We are all connected to one another. There was something about it that had a sense of equality, you know, the equality of gender, the way there is a softness in being male and there's a strongness in being female.

And it was nice through this song that kind of like goes beyond gender. According to Shikawi, the choreography emphasizes the softness of men and the strength of women. This strength is exemplified as Beyonce stands up with both fists in the air and sings the song's powerful post-chorus. Recalling the themes of the previous song My Power, Beyonce sings, Your Destiny is Coming Close, stand up and fight. Then as the production shifts away from the orchestral drums and horns to a softer piano-driven section, Beyonce tenderly sings, go into the... far-off land and be one with the great I am. As we've seen throughout this episode, the idea of going into a far-off land is a recurring motif in the biblical narrative. God calls Abraham to leave Babylon

to go to a promised land where God would make him the father of many nations. Moses is exiled from Egypt into the wilderness where he receives a call from God to lead the Israelites for 40 years before they reach the land initially promised to Abraham. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, where he faced trials for 40 days after his baptism. Finally, once Jesus ascended into the heavens, he sent the Holy Spirit down upon his disciples to spread his story to the farthest lands of the earth. The term great I am refers to the meaning of the name Yahweh,

which was revealed to Moses during his exile from Egypt. This phrase simultaneously means I am and I will be, which refers to God's eternal, unchanging existence. Beyonce's idea of being one with God seems to be a reference to the culminating moment in the gospel according to John. It's here Jesus prayed to God the Father on behalf of all current and future humans. All be one just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one, I in them and you and me, that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me and you have loved them just as you have loved me, unquote. Beyonce ends this passage singing, A boy becomes a man. This seems to be referring to the entire narrative of Black is King, which tells the story of Simba and his transformation from a boy to a man. Because Simba is an archetypal character who represents all black individuals,

the call for Simba to go into a far off land and be one with the Great I Am is a call for all Africans in the diaspora to take both Mufasa and Jesus' example of humility and sacrificial love to the farthest reaches of the earth. In doing so, black individuals can fulfill their identities as kings and queens who enable all humans to become united with God and know that they are loved by their father and their ancestors in heaven. This calling becomes the final statement of Black is King as the film cuts back to the shot of Beyonce in the church

and the production version of the song transitions back to the acapella. As we hear the final call to be one with the great I Am, the camera once again zooms out from Beyoncé to show the entire gospel choir. We see rays of sunlight beaming into the church, reminding us of the rays of sunlight that shone down on baby Simba when Rafiki held him up in the iconic scene in the Lion King. Fittingly in Black is King's final shot, we see Beyoncé playing her Rafiki-inspired role as she stands next to Simba, who is holding the newborn baby while he sits on the throne. Beyonce and Nala look on as Simba stands up from the throne and lifts their newborn baby up into the air.

symbolizing the completion of Simba's full circle journey. As Black is King begins its credits, we hear the opening moments of the song Black Parade, a joyous celebratory anthem that reflects back on the themes of the entire film and serves as the film's final call to action. We'll unpack this masterful song note by note, line by line, on our final Black is King episode, next time on Dissect. Today's episode was written by Maggie Lacey, Titi Shodhya, Femi Olu Tade, and me.

Our series intro was scored by So Wiley, audio editing by Eric Bass and me, additional research by Gail Acosta, song recreations by Andrew Ratwood, theme music by bureaucratic. Be sure to follow us on social media at Dysect Podcast and check out our limited merch for this series on our website, dissectpodcast.com.

All right, thanks everyone. Talk to you next time.