In-depth Music Video Analysis - Stan, Eminem

The music video for 'Stan' by Eminem is narrative based (as opposed to performance based) and tells a story of a crazed fan who eventually murders his girlfriend and commits suicide. There is controversy as to whether or not the story is based off of a real event or not but it defiantly has relevance in the fact that some famous people have to deal with crazed fans like the character of Stan. The song was set to become the 2000 Christmas number 1 hit but was overtaken by Bob the Builder's 'Can We Fix It?'.

The music video for Stan has a large intro that lasts about 1 and a half minutes. The video begins with a shot outside a window in the rain and zooms in until Dido (Stan's girlfriend in the story) can be seen on a bed, pregnant. Rain outside the window acts as pathetic fallacy to set a dark, ominous mood. lightning strikes light up Dido while she sleeps adding even further to the depth of the problems ahead. More lightning strikes are used to hide the next short dissolves and repositioning of the camera. Firstly, a bird's eye view, then a side-on medium close up of her face, her expression lit up by the lightning is sorrowful and melancholic.

The next scene is of Stan in the bathroom. Instantly the viewer is taken aback as Stan looks very similar to Eminem but is not actually him. Stan has just cut his hair like Eminem's and is admiring it as his girlfriend tries to enter the room. A bird's eye view shot shows Stan getting annoyed with his girlfriend as she demands to come in. Stan is quickly shown to be angry and fanatical.

The song begins with Dido's chorus and the line 'My tea's gone cold and I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all'. Already, the tone and lyrics reveals much about the character which is accented in the video with all of the cool colours in the mise en scene. It suggests that she is uncomfortable with her life and wants change. The next line, 'The morning rain clouds up my window, and I can't see at all' however, reveals that her future is unforeseen and dark. The chorus continues and repeats as the video shows Stan going down to his basement and preparing to write a letter. His basement reveals just how fanatical he is. Posters and newspaper cutouts of eminem cover the walls and his desk with nothing else in the room aside from a TV showing eminem videos (most likely on loop or had been shown many times since Stan waved at it as Eminem waved at the camera).

When Eminem's verse begin, Stan is shown to be writing a letter to eminem (The verse even begins with 'Dear Slim'). This is the scene for most of the verses of the song. The use of panning and tracking shots outline Stan's emotions as he writes, building up tension with each new verse. There are 3 long verses (letters) throughout the song that show Stan become progressively more angry at Eminem and a final verse which is Eminem's reply. Stan's anger builds up to the extent that the last verse involves Stan about to commit suicide and murder of his girlfriend. The pace of the music drives the pace of the editing and as Stan gets more angry the camera begins to move quicker and with shorter cuts. This adds to the tension already created in the story and creates a dynamic and emotional video.

Stan's build-up of anger seems to stem from the absence of a response from Eminem to his letters. After the first letter (in the song) during the chorus a scene is shown of Stan's letter falling off the fan mail trolley which would have lead to the anger shown in the second letter (verse).

The second verse begins again with 'Dear slim' but Stan's attitude is much worse. He is shot in a medium close-up view but in a low-angle shot that amplifies his frustration and growing tension. Stan's words reveal an even greater degree of fanaticism during this verse when he writes 'PS: We should be together too'. He even is shown to paste a picture of Eminem over one of his girlfriend.

With the third verse, Stan has lost it, instead of starting his message with 'Dear Slim', he says 'Dear mister 'I'm too good to call or write my fans'. He is shown in a car talking into a voice recorder with heavy rain and lightning strikes outside acting as pathetic fallacy. The lyrics become heavy with curses as Stan explains to Eminem how he should feel guilty for making Stan do what he is about to do. At the end of the verse Stan drives off of a bridge killing himself and his girlfriend.

The final verse is Eminem writing a letter in response to Stan. Eminem is shown in a positive way in contrast to Stan's personality. He talks about how Stan should calm down and treat his girlfriend better. Another contrast is that although the window is black, there is no rain or lightning until the very end when lightning strikes light up the window to show Stan looking at Eminem like a ghost haunting its killer.