Eminem Stan Analysis

The video starts with an establishing tracking shot into a women’s bedroom where it follows with several long take Arial shots of her in bed clearing showing she is pregnant and giving a brief insight into the "state" of the room. This quickly cuts to a young male in a grubby bath room looking in the mirror who the proceeds to pour bleach over his height changing the colour of his hair just like the artist Eminem did. 

The women then rushes to the bathroom as she needs the toilet in her condition and they have a small scrap mentioning "aren't you taking this too far". This immediately shows that the male character in the video is attached and fans of Eminem. The audience learn that relationship isn't stable by the mixture of the bad conditions of the dirty house and the way the male character snaps at the woman while she constantly pleads for his attention or help. In this part of the intro we see a bird’s eye view of the situation despite it being in separate rooms. I think this is a really clever technique which shows us the distance between the characters, not just physically but mentally in the relationship. We can see in the photo below the woman banging against the door but the man barely caring.

The song then starts just as the door shuts with the male character leaving. The song plays as if it was on a radio with the non-diegetic sound of the rain playing over the top of the song. The video cuts to a shot of Eminem sitting in his tour van being handed some letters and then it cuts back to the lady sitting on the toilet singing the chorus. 

The song is being sung from the women’s point of the view and this is the first Intertextual conclusion we have with the video as the lyrics of the chorus are very literal with the scenes shown to the intro of the music video. The sound of the music then comes into full volume after the thunder sound effect and the camera tracks downstairs into a basement as the male character walks in. The lyrics "My teas gone cold and I wondering why I got out this bed at all" Shows how dull and rundown her life is going. She describes her life as "tea gone cold" to show it was hot/good at the start but has now dramatically changed into something she doesn't like.

This is the first time the viewers see the characters enthusiasm for Eminem with the posters all over the walls, the video playing of the singer etc. The video scenes change with the beat of the music, the footsteps and light flashing are in sync with the music beat to give it a dramatic effect. The camera cuts from various angles all looking at and around a desk where the character sits in the centre of the room to show the significance of this scene. 

The light flickers like thunder to relate to the whether outside and creates a very dark and scary atmosphere. The collaboration of the dark basement setting and with the lighting and sounds effects hints to the audience that it is going to be a "dark" rap often telling a story about something the artist has experienced. As the chorus finishes the character starts to write and the lyrics are sung as if they were being said in the characters head as he writes them down. 









The diegetic sound of the pencil scratching against the paper shows this to make the video more realistic and the quiet background non diegetic sound of the rain reinforce the depressing atmosphere across the song scenes as it cuts to numerous cameras shot of him writing. He mentions things to relate the characters to Eminem from naming the daughter "Bonnie" after one of Eminem's songs "97 Bonnie and Clyde" to the suicide of one of Eminem's family members. It is clear that the character is restless and agitated from his body language and certain lyrics are mimed by the character to signify their importance such as "I'm your biggest fan".

The narrative then continues in the chorus showing a small argument between the woman and man and a separate shot of the post office dropping and "losing" his letter. In the second verse it is clear that he is a lot more aggressive and frustrated. The sound effects of the pencil writing have become a little louder to show the emotion of the character. As verse continues it is accompanied with several 360 shots rotating around the camera from low and high angles to show his anger at the singer. 

The voice of the singer has become louder as if he was in a argument and the language is a lot more eccentric swearing more showing his bitterness when Eminem refused to sign an autograph in the "blistering cold". The video becomes a lot more personal with cuts between the character and his girlfriend to how her disappoint and sadness when he says "I talk about you 24/7" and the shot of him replacing a photo of his girlfriend with slim shady in the last line when he says "We should be together". This shows the audience how deluded he is about the Eminem and is a hint to what could happen.






 
This is then followed by the chorus once again and shows a narrative of the girlfriend discovering his "lair" with all the posters and finally the photo of the character and Eminem. The third verse is the final verse from the characters point of view. It’s staged as him talking into a cassette player while driving a car. The weather has got worse with torrential rain which sets the atmosphere and the guy has been drinking, said in the lyrics "drank a 5th of vodka", and the way he is driving. 


 
The final verse is from the third point of view, Eminem himself. It’s an apology letter for why he took so long to reply and the reality of why he was unable to be in contact. The scenes such as when the character was waiting out in the blistering cold are replayed but in a slightly different context revealing that Eminem was ushered and pulled away from the crowd. Externalising the blame Eminem claims his innocence and the audience see how we saw what the character wanted us to see and not the full truth. It also suggests how he interpreted Eminem being pulled away as not wanting to talk to him rather than not being allowed. This reinforces how mentally confused the character is during the video and causes the audience to feel pity for the fan


This narrative is very unconventional for a hip hop song because stereotypically hip hop songs are about upbringing, money, women, and gang influences throwing underlining signs etc. however this brings a totally new approach on hip hop culture. This video also shows how society look up to celebrity influences how much one person can’t reflect on another person’s life. Some people that view Eminem as just an entertainer are opened up to a totally new light and point of view on the inspiration he can have.