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LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE

 I won't lie, I prefer the second part's song, but I think the first part's music video is more interesting.
This song was released in 2010, and it is still a masterpiece almost 13 years later. Eminem and Rihanna were on to something when they wrote this song.
My family is a bit concerned after reading my analyses and discovering that my taste in music is dark and sad, and that I almost never listen to songs with euphoria because they do not hit the same.
The song's genres are hip hop, rap and pop.
My goal for today's analysis is to analyse this music differently than the previous two analysis that I've posted.

Technical Aspects in General
The video lasts 4 minutes and 26 seconds.
170 shots were used in the music video.
The number of locations is six.
The number of performers is four.
The number of costume changes is three.

Eminem recorded the song "Love the Way You Lie" for his 2010 studio album "Recovery". On August 10, 2010, it was released. The music video for "Love the Way You Lie," produced and composed by Alex da Kid, was Eminem's third to be directed by American filmmaker Joseph Kahn. Shady Records represents Eminem, while Def Jam Recordings represents Rihanna. 

The record label is hoping to sell these tracks by focusing on a close-up of Rihanna's face. People are drawn to the music video because she uses her appearance to create a male gaze and homo-eroticism. The motives of Eminem are the type of meaningful and passionate music. He doesn't have many happy songs. All of his songs are inspired by past experiences and world events. "Like Toy Soldiers," for example, is about feuds in the rap community.
The abuser narrates the story of a violent relationship in the song. The twists and turns in logic that run through the abuser's mind as he tries to justify his behaviour are revealed - "but your temper's just as bad as mine is," he pleads.

Interestingly, we also see moments of clarity - the shame and humiliation of realising what it means to be a woman-beater. Love the Way You Lie is both fascinating and instinctively repulsive because it is not the ramblings of a deluded maniac, but of a troubled man struggling to draw lines between love, fear, hate, and anger. The music video was influenced by Rihanna and Eminem's ex-relationships, and thus we can see the application of Andrew Goodwin's theory through this.
This music video is both a performance and a narrative. The performance of Rihanna singing at the start, followed by the narrative, by Eminem. The narrative, however, is the primary focus of the music video, as it provides a visual representation of the song's meaning.
Low angle shots, stereotypes of males being aggressive and dominant, should be used in a typical hip hop/rap song. In addition, for costumes, men typically wear athletic clothing and females wear quite revealing clothing to create a male gaze (Laura Mulvey's theory). A rapper's typical location should also be in a separate location, usually a dark warehouse. 
The editing pace of the music video is determined by the song's beats. 
The shots are longer at first because they are slower. Towards the end and the chorus, the beat quickens, the editing pace quickens, and more shots are shown in a shorter period of time. For example, during the fast-paced rap verses, shots are cut more harshly and shot durations are only a few seconds long. Compared to the 5 second shot at the beginning of the video.
Rihanna is the female actress in the video, and Eminem is the male actor, and the lyrics they say are how they feel, and the other actors are acting it out. The lyrics that are sung are very relevant to the music video; each action they take corresponds to the lyrics. For example, when Eminem raps "She f***ing hates me," they are fighting and being very aggressive towards each other; to show how much she hates him, she spits in his face, indicating that she has no respect for him and that he means nothing to her
Also, when he says "where you going? The man lip syncs this and she replies with "I'm leaving you", there is a lot of grabbing and pulling towards each other. "when it's bad its awful, I lay my hands on her I guess I don't know my own strength" when saying this they are arguing, you can see lip movement but don't know what they are saying, he pins her to the wall and goes to hit her. "you know when you love someone so much you can barely breathe, have that warm fuzzy feeling, getting chills, you now getting ***ing sick of looking at them?" It depicts the relationship of the two charcater's in the beginning, when they were truly in love, and how they ended up in an abusive relationship.
If she tries to leave again, I'm going to tie her to the bed and set this house on fire," as seen in the video of him pulling her back into the house, implying that if he can't have her, no one can.
"I'm just going to stand there and watch myself burn, but that's alright because I like the way it hurts." Just going to stand there and hear me cry, but that's alright because I love the way you lie," showing the house catching fire with them both kissing and both ending up in flames, proving they can't be apart.
There are three main locations in this music video: the house where the majority of the narrative takes place; the field where Eminem raps; and outside a burning house where Rihanna sings. The other locations, the bar, the shop, and the roof, only have a few seconds of screen time.

The location of the burning house is revealed through close-ups of Rihanna's face with the burning house in the background and out of focus. It's also shown in a wide shot with the house in focus and Eminem and Rihanna performing. They used this close-up shot to match the song's tone and meaning ( of being trapped in a bad relationship). The use of black and red in this video suggests that the song is deep and passionate. The colour red also represents danger and violence, which is present in the story of this music video. The dark setting adheres to the forms and conventions of hip hop / rap, as it is frequently a location where the artists perform.

The house where the story takes place is the final major location used. The colour scheme remains warm throughout, symbolising passion and anger, which are present throughout the narrative and adhere to typical emotions in hip hop / rap songs. The set design and props used in the house are everyday items that contradict the genre. Typically, a house would have expensive items to demonstrate its wealth.

The field location, where Eminem spends the majority of his time, is depicted in a variety of shots, including close-ups, long shots, high angled, low angled, and drone shots. This location's open framing and colours contrast with the other locations used in this music video. They did this to add variety to the music video and keep the audience interested. The rapper standing alone is also common in other hip hop/rap genres, adhering to the forms and conventions of rap. The high angles used make Eminem appear more vulnerable, and the warm colour adds to the intensity of the music's pace and volume.
Rihanna's outfit in this music video follows the forms and conventions of the hip hop genre. Her outfit is quite revealing, as she is dressed in short shorts and a low cut top. This reinforces the stereotype that females are used to attract a male audience to the music video. Large jewellery, such as a large gold cross necklace and gold hooped earrings, is also used to demonstrate how wealthy and powerful they are. This then challenges stereotypical depictions of women in music videos, as men typically wear this jewellery to appear more powerful.

The female performer is dressed simply in a top and shorts. She is not sexualised in this video because she is not dressed in sexually suggestive attire, which challenges female representation in hip hop music videos.
The rapper is dressed in a tank top and camo shorts in this shot. This type of outfit is common in the hip hop genre, where males wear sporting clothes such as tank tops to appear more masculine by displaying their muscles. Eminem also has tattoos, which are frequently associated with dangerous people. This conforms to the stereotype of the rapper as aggressive, dangerous, and a "bad boy." His camo shorts have a military vibe to them. Because it involves guns, the army is stereotyped as a career for men. 

The male performer is dressed simply in shorts and no top. This is done to make men appear more masculine in music videos by displaying their muscles. The black necklace he is wearing is a masculine necklace, so he appears more manly. Furthermore, buzz cut hair is often associated with people in the armed forces, making him appear dangerous and thus having more power over the female. He also wears a dark green shirt, which is associated with the army and makes him appear more masculine.
There are many hip hop forms and conventions used in this music video, from locations (such as the field) to clothing (like the tank top). However, it also calls into question some stereotypes about women.
Like other music videos out today, this video is sexualised but not hypersexualised. There's also a lot of lyric matching the visuals, as well as the way the music's beat matches the visuals and the tone matches the mise en scene, for example, the slower beginning means longer duration shots.

This has an intertextual reference by having Rihanna and Eminem in the music video, which broadens the audience by having two different genres, hip pop and pop. When you hear the song, you immediately recognise the artist due to their distinct singing style and the combination of the two. This song tells a story to its audience, and you can really imagine it if you listen carefully to the lyrics (Andre Goodwin's Theory). The music video completely connects with the lyrics and shows each lyric step by step. This music video is one that you could watch again and again without getting bored; the audience believes it is real because it is so realistic, and you can participate in the music.
Another aspect of this music video is that it depicts the idea of domestic violence, which is primarily represented by Eminem, primarily through the lines 'I guess I don't know my own strength,' and this female vulnerability is also displayed through the way Rihanna sings in front of burning flames singing 'stand there and watch me burn,' but later in the video Megan Fox throws the first punch— while Dominic is still asleep. And the second, as well as the majority of the punches. As a result, this contradicts the entire concept of male dominance.
We then see scenes in which the male anger is displayed; he tears the house apart and hits the female, which can be taken very seriously, which means that the audience may judge him for doing so, but they will also get the impression that he is not in a proper frame of mind and is simply venting his frustration.

Something significant occurs in these scenes. We return to the beginning, where the female is holding the flame. Except now we see her close her hands to extinguish the flame, indicating that she has had enough and isn't going to take it any longer; she is going to fight back. The song concludes with a series of shots of various objects on fire.Dominic is on fire, which could indicate that he is so angry that he has caught fire, or that now that Meghan has finally stood up for herself, he is burning away. Meghan is also engulfed by flames at one point while cuddled up on her bad looking sad, which could indicate that all of the internal burning is now coming out as she releases it from herself. Just before the end, the singers turn to face the burning house, demonstrating to the audience the devastation caused by this relationship. Finally, we see Meghan waking up in the same bed we saw her in at the beginning, so perhaps everything we saw was a dream or a hope? However, we know that their relationship status was very real.
The audience's perception of the video changes around this point, and the meanings become far more profound. For example, after a quick return to Rihanna's face, we see the female character in a dark room holding a flame. Because red is a good representation of anger, this could be a representation of how she is feeling emotionally. This happens again: a glance back at Rihanna as she sings, followed by a return to the female, this time slightly closer to her. Within this stage of the song, we notice a change in tempo that feels very soft and slow, so the rate of cuts is slow, mirroring how the female character feels, which is very sad/emotional. In addition, the colour of Rihanna's hair should be mentioned. Red is a popular colour (relation there to the fire in the background of most of her scenes). It's a powerful colour that evokes a range of opposing emotions, from passionate love to violence.
This could imply that the female is in a passionate relationship, but with that passion comes violence. When Rihanna's chorus comes on, we see the couple passionately kissing the wall that the man had just punched. This could be to show that even though they fight, they still have feelings for each other, as evidenced by Rihanna's fierce yet sexual facial expression.
I therefore conclude that male dominance is seemingly represented in this music video, and the audience is forced to see male dominance and violence from the male characters, but when they look closer, we see how it is in fact a controversial music video, even though the woman shows a lot of violence, perhaps not as powerful as the man, she shows importance within the video and some mental strength, which is then lost through the choruses where she loses all dominance 
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