Eminem Stan

The music video I will be analysing is Stan by Eminem, the genre of music that it belongs to is Hip-Hop and I have chosen to analyse this simply because unlike most typical Hip-Hop videos it actually contains a structured narrative and it does not contain many characteristics of its genre.

The lyrics within the song are well illustrated through the visuals in the video, as we see the character Stan becoming more increasingly angry as Eminem doesn’t reply to his letters, whilst the vocals of the song are also becoming more aggressive and the subject of the lyrics begins to get more sinister until we come to the end verse of the song and we see the lyrics and visuals in perfect harmony, as the character of Stan is seen shouting into the tape recorder whilst telling the situation on screen, ‘I’m in the car right now ‘m doing ninety on the freeway’, this has been done to add emphasis and create a greater dramatic story behind the lyrics of the song. The props within the visuals, such as the posters of Eminem on the wall of Stan’s basement accentuate how much of a fan Stan is of Eminem.

The visuals are directly parallel to the song, as the fades and cuts are directly on the change of pace within the beat; for example, when the drum pattern begins we see the darkness and eerie scene of the basement, which is parallel to the audio, as the k=notes that the bass is played in create a very dark feeling track and the overlay of the rain and thunder sound effects which are fluent throughout the entire song, which become relevant to the visuals later in the song, during the second and third verse, as we see the rain flooding the car.

The video does not contain many close ups of the artist, but still manages to sell Eminem’s star image as being a famous rapper simply through the narrative of the video and the way we see him rapping on stage from a low angled mid shot creates the idea that he is a important person. The record company aims to sell the track through the serious tone which is being delivered and by the star image that Eminem offers in the video, as we see through the reoccurring themes of sinister violence through Eminem’s previous work that his star image has been created so that we take Eminem as a more meaningful lyricist and this can gain an audiences respect for the artist.

There are intertextual references within the actual song lyrics, as the song 7 Bonnie and Clyde’ which is also by Eminem was referenced during the first verse, but the more obvious references to the star image of Eminem and his previous work would be the posters on the walls also the television in the background of the first scene is playing footage of an Eminem performance. The scene which starts off the music video, before the actual song begins is also a intertextual reference to Eminem and his star persona, as it shows the character of Stan dying his hair blonde, which is also what Eminem has been known to do, accentuating on matters of his personality and personal life.

The video is a mix of performance based footage within the narrative of the video, as we see the character Speaking in sync with the song whilst writing the letters to Eminem and the same thing can be said for Eminem as he is writing a letter in reply to Stan, it can be seen that this is not enough to be considered as a performance within the video, but I believe that it is substantial enough to be classified as a performance/narrative based video instead of simply a narrative based. The main focus of the video is the concept, which it can be seen is primarily the sad, depressing tone of the song, which is further emphasized through the dull, drained lighting and the constant sights of the rain, thunder and snow, as it can be seen that these have been included within the video to increase the feeling of depression which is delivered through the video, although the bright lights within the scene in which Eminem is performing on stage, the lighting becomes more bright and this is to show the difference of emotions from when he thinks he is being ignored by Eminem to where he actually gets to see his idol in person.