Intertextuality- Eminem:Stan

In this Video, Eminem appears in flashbacks in the first three verses of the song, however his presense seems as if it is throughout through the memorial of his fan, Stan. Looking at the basement scene, Stan has re-built Eminem in his basement using the posters and photos which conveys the audience his obsession and the fact that we can hear Eminem rap whilst looking at Stan, this delivers Stan's monologue, and Stan's appearance as a look-alike. This situation echoes many films about obsessive fans such as, The Fan (Ridley Scott, 1996) and The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982).

As soon as the video starts, the audience is forced into claustrophobic rain soaked worlds. Stan has created himself a world in which his obsession has taken over his actions to the extreme that even his girlfriend says to him "Don't you think you're taking this too far?", hence the reason why he comitts suicide. The camera enters a building through window at night in a middle of a song which is significant as this image is repeated again in the last shot where the car plunges off the bridge in a night storm. In the bathroom, Stan his bleeching his hair, transforming himself into an Eminem look-alike. In the style of a horror film, the mise-en-scene with the storm raging in the background, is reminiscent of the killer's lair in Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1990).

Just before the song begins, the first cutaway to the artist himself occurs as we see Eminem, reading a letter as Stan continues writing. The feeling of unease is emphasised when the fragmented cutting and the roving camera is in use. The narrative then developes when we see one of Stan's letters left behind at the office. The character of Matthew is introduced when we are shown a flashback backstage, the victim of the star's apparent lack of interest in his fans, though what the camera shows us which is repeated later from Eminems point of view, is at odds with Stan's interpretation of the scene.

The final sequence begins when Stan's girlfriend finds a photograph where she has been replaced with the star. We are then shown that Stan is speeding with his girlfriend in the boot of the car while he is recording a suicide note to the star who is apparently ignoring him.

As the car sinks, it cuts to Eminem reading the letter, not knowing what has happened. Because the audience has seen a shot of Stan writing a letter, we are again shown a similar shot of Eminem writing a letter, however, to differentiate the two, Eminem is wearing spectacles to give him an intellectual look. As he responds to Stan's letter-writing it in pencil like Stan did- and tells him to seek help, the camera cuts back to the car and then to a cemetery where we see a woman and Matthew in the rain. As we see Matthew's hair bleached like Stan's and Eminem's, it is then the star realises that the tragic story herd on the news must have been from his fan. This sequence unravels with a montage of shots and images from the letter he has read, which completes the narrative for Eminem.

In this video, it portrays star image and a clear powerful story which has references to intertextuality. The visual imagery is closely linked to the lyrics and the camerawork and editing emphasise the impatience of the music. There is strong emphasise on looking; as viewers, we look into people's private lives- in the basement there is a video which plays footage on a screen within a screen.