No one can deny that Eminem is one of the best artists if not the best artists in the music industry at the moment. Every song he comes out with is almost automatically a hit. Two years ago “Monster” came out and it was no different. It was a HIT. It was played in almost every radio station because of the catchy chorus and of course because it’s by Eminem. The thing is have you actually “listened” to the song? If you have then you probably have realized that the song is pretty dark shit. When you combine the song with the music video …wow. You can see that through the song Eminem and Rihanna convey the fact the all people the media can often use one’s past to create a image that may not be true and is often exaggerated. The video applies this distortion idea to Eminem’s life.

For simplicity’s sake I’m going to split the music video into three parts: the intro, the elevator and the roof (beginning, middle, end) in order to portray the journey he is taking. The video starts with Eminem sitting in a chair in psychiatrist’s room with Rihanna as his psychiatrist. He is watching a television that starts with cards in the following order: Violence, Family, Insanity, Death, Fame, and Addiction. Each word followed with short clips of past videos that Eminem featured in.

First of all why in the world is he watching a TV inside of a music video? The TV is used to represent media’s perception of himself, and is, in a way, there to program this “view” into Eminem himself. He is just starting to scratch the surface of his mind and this is why the television is just flashing images instead of fully showing them. In addition, this flashing images display the fact that images presented are incomplete. He is starting to realize that the media are using his past actions and past songs to show him as this “Monster” he is rapping about.

Eminem then gets out of his chair and he steps into an elevator. This is the next step into the journey of his mind just like “Inception” . By the way if you haven’t seen that movie you should, but I digress. As he slowly descends he can start to see the past actions of his life. This time instead of just flashing before his eyes, he actually relives them in a way. It is interesting that at every stop he is actually reliving his old music videos in that the setting of the Monster music video imitates that of his past music videos. The fact he is “reliving” his past experiences is used to contrast the flashing images in order to show the disparity between the media forced images and the actual events.This is shown to display Eminem’s grasp on his past. He is starting to understanding his past actions and how they have affected him. He sees that they created an image of himself that his doesn’t not necessarily approve of. Eminem is starting to get a grasp on his past. He is starting to understanding his past actions and how they have affected him. He sees that the media created an image of Eminem that he does not necessarily approve of shown by the monster in the box in the next section.

It is interesting that even though he is descending the entire time, his final stop is actually a roof. Maybe it is because he just reached “realization” after seeing his past experiences contrasted with the flashing images.

Here on the roof he can finally see the monster that the media had created. It is in a metal box surrounded by some military looking guards. Damn. This leads to the conclusion that Eminem may in fact not be friends with the monster because this monster is locked away. As he approaches the box and looks in to see himself. Eminem is finally able to see the monster that was created is an image of himself.

For those of you that want to look further into this fact, Eminem referenced the monster in his song ‘Without Me’ in which he says:

“I’ve created a monster, ‘cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more they want Shady, I’m chopped liver. Well if you want Shady, this is what I’ll give ya…”

He knows what he has created. Although he wants to accept it, he has a very tough time doing so. When the monster gives him a piece of paper, he reads and puts it in his pocket. This is to show that he does acknowledge the monster created but he is not fully ready to embrace it.

Throughout the video, there is a constant contrast in images that acts as a critique of media. It is only through the media that we know celebrities such as Eminem. The flashing images are a portrayal of this media image. Due to this fact the media is able to distort this idea and give a twisted view of Eminem. This can be shown between the Eminem in the box (the media distorted Eminem) and the real Eminem. Since he is in the spotlight everything he does is amplified whether good or bad. In this case, because of his songs, he is made out to be a “monster” like figure. The disparity in the way the two Eminems dress contribute to this, as well.

Furthermore, this disparity ignores the fact that Eminem is actually human. The image of Eminem in the cage can be likened to that of an animal at a zoo. The media displays him as a scapegoat we can ostracize. This media distortion happens in everyday life to public figures from politicians to athletes. Everything they do is intensified just because society seems to hold them to a higher standard. Just because these public figures excel at what they do, society see them as “idea humans” in that these individuals should not be making mistakes. Monster is pointing to the fact that people are not who media makes them out to be. The images are often exaggerated and distorted.

You have you can see that “Monster” displays the message that the media creates distorted images of the public figures we see. Society seems to forget these individuals are humans too and the media exemplify this idea. These individuals are put in the spot light for even the slightest mistake or lapse in judgement. Although there is a slight difference between the song and the music video, they still work together to display this powerful message.