Realism Vs. Formalism -- Eminem's Essay

Eminem is also portrayed in a variety of bizarre situations, including an emergency room, an infomercial with Dick Cheney, a national talk show with a fictional Sandy Messy Lezbial, and MTV's reality show "Real World." Throughout, Eminem is shown multiple times rapping in front of a giant bouncing "E" and on several occasions plays outside characters, including his own mother and an audience member. Interpolated between these disjointed situations is the main storyline of Eminem, dressed as a parody of Robin from Batman and Robin, with Dr. Dre heading toward the house of a young boy who has purchased one of Eminem's albums. When Eminem and Dr. Dre finally arrive at the boy's house, Eminem uses his "powers" to prevent the boy from playing the album and points to the explicit lyrics sticker on the CD casing.

The disjointed and surreal nature of Eminem's video "Without Me" demonstrates a clear departure from realism.The storyline is fantastical and exaggerative, and the various bizarre situations which occur, such as Eminem dressed as his own mother or electrocuting Dick Cheney on an infomercial, are inconsistent with an objective reality. Rather, the video is a subjective interpretation and perception by Eminem with relation to his critics and his music. The satirizing of outspoken Cheney, who was highly critical of Eminem's music, and the comparison of Eminem to Elvis, are prime instances of subjective reality. The music video "Without Me" is an excellent example of the formalistic style, wherein the creator presents his subjective reality to the viewer. Eminem utilizes this subjective reality to convey his opinions about the world, himself, and the outside critical perceptions of himself and his music......