Love the way you lie analysis

1. This video featuring Eminem and Rihanna represents a huge contrast between the 2 opposite
genders. Levi-Strauss will describe the whole video a dictation of a conflict between two
'binary oppositions.' Regardless of both Eminem & Rihanna not being physically part of the
narrative, the use of their star power helps us imagine how they would of felt if they were in
the position of the fellow actors. It helps us as an audience to relate to the celebrities.

The video compares the different role of the boy and girl in a relationship and also represents
the difference in perspective of the two genders. As for our creative choice, we have not
emphasised any conflict but have just decided to illustrate a life of a normal everyday couple
through the eyes of a vocalist and are mainly considering the structure that Torodov proposed
about the equilibrium and disruption.

The video starts with a close up Rihanna which
immediately engages the audience - especially those
who are Rihanna fans. Here we are encouraged to
follow and understand the girl’s feelings through
Rihanna's voice and simultaneously the visuals help
us understand the main theme of the video because
the lyrics illustrate the meaning of the song
(Goodwin). For our video the lyrics just
representation girl’s love for a boy but we have, by
no means, intended to provide an exact literal representation of ‘The One,’ however right at
the very end; the idea is that the girl realises that he is the ‘one,’ for her and that they are
made for one another which results with the new equilibrium (Torodov) in the form of a
happy ending.

As Rihanna is singing, we see cross cuts to a girl and
her boyfriend sleeping and cross cuts of her sitting
with fire in her hand. This portrays the 'original
equilibrium' of the video (Torodov). For our video, we
tend to begin with the conflict/disruption and hence the
‘original equilibrium’ will be shown through the
flashbacks of their past lives.


The fire connotates the girl's state of mind and
noticeably, there is also fire in the background when
Rihanna is singing, which represents the destructive
mood the girl is under when they know that their guy
may be cheating on her. This concept goes back to the
general ideology of males being the dominant,
cheating figures that see women as mere objects of
sexual desire (Mulvey) and therefore don't think twice
before committing adultery. The fire seems to give a literal meaning of the lyrics ''....watch
me burn...'' s for u8s, the main vocalist will be a girl and therefore the couple will, for a

2. change, be seen through a female’s perspective which subverts from the norm and provides
something different for the audience. This therefore allows women in particular to relate to
the relationship better.

Suddenly the girl's eyes open, we hear a sudden
breakthrough of Eminem’s powerful voice that goes
hands in hand with the aggressive lyrics that the song
has to offer. The voice of Eminem introduces the
'disruption' in the video (Torodov). The lyrics
correspond with the visuals where we see the boy
pushing himself onto her and almost trying to forcibly
convince her. All throughout the portion sung by
Eminem we see the aggressive conflict between the couple and the visuals seem to conform
to the idea of male dominance because conventionally men have always managed to get it
their way however for our video men have not been represented to be the heartless one in fact
towards the end of our video, you’ll realise that the boy, all along was the one who wanted to
resume the relationship and in contrast the girl was the more unforgiving of
individuals.Interestingly what struck my attention were the equally harsh actions the girl
responded the boy back with which allows the women of this generation to relate with and in
fact allows them to feel in power.

Rihanna re-enters the visuals once the chorus
approaches which to some extent Goodwin will
believe amplifies the lyrics as the star power
accompanying the lyrics helps enhance and
exaggerate the meaning and the main theme of the
song. It emphasises the fall out however
interestingly, the visuals seem to contradict the
meaning of the lyrics because it shows the couple
making out when the lyrics are referring to a break in their relationship. The contradictory
visuals to the lyrics reflect the confused relationship the couple holds.

Just before we experience another breakthrough of Eminem's rap we see fast edits between
Rihanna singing and Eminem just wandering which hints the audience and prepares them for
another portion of visual coming from a perspective of the boy. Throughout this video the
audience is able to understand the conflict of the couple from the two gender perspective and
Rihanna and Eminem's star power defines the relationship and also allows us audience to
relate to the situation and in some cases we are encouraged to follow one's narrative more
than the other's due to mere star attraction. As for us, the vocalist are not aimed to enhance
the relationship as we believe the relationship using ordinary people are sufficient to attract
viewers as it adds to the realism of the situation and so the vocalist will act like any other
viewer, viewing this relationship and possibly relating to the couple’s life herself.

As Eminem is singing, the visuals of the isolated boy sitting
down encourages us to believe that he may be regretting his
actions and possibly seeing himself in the wrong. Here Torodov
will describe to be the 'recognition,' portion of the problem in
the narrative. This cuts to visuals of flashbacks showing how the
couple initially met which allows the audience to follow up the
narrative however it always cuts back to either show the girl

3. crying or the boy screaming and so the fast edits provide a comparison in which we see the
contrast between their current state and their previous state of relationship.

After all these visuals, we see the whole video coming
to a new equilibrium (Torodov) and visuals are
seemingly slowing down. The visuals of Eminem
offering a teddy bear to the girl provides a literal
understanding of the new equilibrium and it shows
some hope of the couple possibly getting back
together. We also decided to show this ‘new
equilibrium,’ when the girl turn back and hugs the boy
thereby our video aims to demonstrate a simple story of a simple couple’s life with all its ups
and downs.

Yet again Rihanna enters the visuals along with the
chorus but this time we also see Eminem
accompanying her which to some extent reflects the
reunion of the two individuals through the stars.
This time we see the couple becoming intimate
again however we see elements of flashback in
which the boy goes attacking a boy for the girl. This
ideally show how the relationship initially worked
out. The action code excites the audience in wanting to resolve the problem (Barthes). Here
we see the constant conflicts that the couple have managed to overcome. Throughout the
whole video the 'men' have been represented as the 'villain,' (Propp) whether its Eminem's
aggressive tone or the boy's aggressive attitude in fact you see the boy breaking the mirror
with his fist as if he's given up but we then see the girl smiling at him from the background
but for our video, there is neither a villain or a princess and instead it is a representation of an
ideal happy fairy tale where everything ends well. Here Dyer will argue that this video
provides an imagery of a perfect ideal relationship that all couples aspire for.

Eminem begins to rap again and this time the lyrics
illustrate the meaning of the narrative because the voice is
accompanied by several close ups of the couple which
builds up the intimacy and also hints the couple resolving
the issue however to a surprise we see the girl walking
again which irritates the boy again and this time he begins
to destroy the bedroom and forcibly grabs onto the girl.
Propp will say that the girl at this moment is represented
as the 'princess,' as it shows her in a vulnerable situation.

A lot of fire is shown during the series of images as
it enhances the idea of destruction in their
relationship in cast we see the girl lighting off a
flame in her hands which conotates the end of the
relationship and we see a literal translation of the
lyrics ''....watch me burn....'' when the boy is set on
fire downward up and the girl is in flames. The mis-
en-scene of the teddy on fire signifies the idea of the
end of love and innocence (Barthes) and we see a shot with Rihanna and Eminem looking up

4. at a burnt house which portrays a very tough and
destroyed relationship but all this comes to an end
with a simple shot of the couple lying in bed together
which noticeably is the shot that the whole video
began with. The last shot implies on a possible
nightmare and thereby suggests that there is more to
the story than all that we are presented with hinting on
a post life after the video ends. This leaves the audience wondering about the whole concept
and the use of enigma code (Barthes) will interest the audience to watch it again to possibly
resolve this problem.


From this video, I am highly influenced by the concept of disruption and equilibrium
(Torodov) and thereby have taken this further into our final music video which will portray a
life of a couple going through all their ups and downs in their relationship. Our video will
start off with a problem that will be seen resolved throughout the duration of our music video
along with visuals of their flashbacks that implies on their recall of memories and their time
spent together.