1. Narrative
Eminem’s video “Love the way you lie” is a
narrative driven in a linear formality. The
video is based around the average life of a
“love and hate” relationship. Throughout the
music video we see them aggressively
shouting and fighting and in contrast we see
them two experiencing intimate moments
with each other. This narrative is very closely
linked with the lyrics
For example:
“And right before im about to drown
She resuscitates me
She fucking hates me
And I love it
Wait
Where you going
I'm leaving you
No you ain't
Come back
We're running right back
Here we go again”
Moving on, the narrative at first is completely
separate from the performers. However at the
end they seem to interlink. We see the two
actors on the same setting where the
performers are. Both actors and the
performers are burning aswell as the actors.
This is a direct link to the lyrics:
“Just gonna stand there
and watch me burn
But that's alright
because I like the way you lie”
We can see that this interlink where the
characters’ world come together with the
performers, suggests that the life of the
characters some how resemble the life of the
performers.
Themes within the narrative are Love, Hate,
dominance, jealousy, pain and passion. So
throughout the video we see elements of these themes portrayed through the
acting and lyrics.
In addition, the ideology within this music video is “Love and hate”. The
narrative explores the emotional rollercoaster and confusion that happen in
many relationships – especially in young inexperienced ones.

2. Moving on, the male actor is represented as an average bloke who is really
protective over his girlfriend; however through the mis en scene we see he
has a phone number written on his hands which suggest that he is a flirt. This
behaviour is stereo typical of many men, expecting someone to do something
they are not willing to do themselves. Furthermore, we see that he has power
as most of the time within the music video, whilst fighting he has control over
his girlfriend. On the other hand his girlfriend is represented as a beautiful,
innocent figure. This is a stereotypical in music videos and we could argue
looking at the actress that plays this character, “Megan Fox”, considering her
reputation, some may say she is in the video in order to appeal to the male
fans of Eminem.
Eminem in this video is represented as a story teller; he is isolated in an
unknown area with not a lot of action around him. This is similar with Rihanna.
We see Rihanna standing in front the burning house singing her heart out. So
from both scenes the artists are not part of the story. However looking at
Eminem’s history, we can see that he has had relationship problems with his
once girlfriend. Similarly Rihanna recently had problems with her boyfriend
Chris brown. Therefore we can argue that the artist’s history already links
them with the narrative.
Overall we can come to a conclusion through Eminem’s video that the
narrative some how links with the lyrics of the song, and even though the
artist may not be a part of the narrative, through out to the end of the song the
artist should some how relate to the narrative and this is affective especially
when the lyrics are personal to the artist. Furthermore it is important for an
artist like Eminem to portray to his fans what he raps about comes from
experience.