Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
“Have you ever loved someone so much, you'd give an arm for? Not the expression, no,
literally give an arm for?” Apparently, most people have had someone in their life that they
loved enough, that they are willing to literally give up one of their appendages (an arm) for them.
One of them is the well-known rap artist, Eminem. Officially named Marshal Mathers, the rapper
“Eminem” had written a hit single titled, “When I’m Gone” on December 6, 2005. The song did
so well that it charted at number eight on the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, number
22 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart, number four on the UK Singles Chart, and on the Australian
ARIA Singles Chart, it is the only country where it charted number one. After the popularity of
the song was realized, he decided to make a music video on it for it. After analyzing and
observing it, I have come to realize that the entire video focuses on a specific concept. The main
idea that is portrayed in by Eminem in this video is that his family is much more important than
his work; that is, if he spends too much time focusing on his work instead of his family, then life
will pass him by too quickly and it will be too late to care for them.
The video starts with a group of people(including Eminem) in chairs facing a small
podium where the speaker seems to be this elderly gentleman that is talking about how he
remembers the first time he was came here and how it was a rough six years for him. He goes on
to say how he is glad that he is not the person he was before, and he thanks the group for letting
him share. They clap for him as he returns to his seat. This suggests that the people are at a selfhelp meeting where people with certain problems or addictions can share with others in the
group on how they have been coping with their issues. This also means that Eminem also has a
certain issue that he is dealing with, otherwise, he wouldn’t be at the meeting in to begin with.
Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
This may actually refer to Eminem’s drug abuse with sleeping pills, which was known to be a
problem that he had for quite some time now, to the point where he cannot fall asleep without
taking them. The lyrics from the song, “just take another pill, yeah I bet you you will,” may
contribute to that idea as well. As the video progresses, another man steps up to the podium,
presumably the leader of the meeting, and asks if anyone else would like to share. Eminem raises
his hand and says that he would. He then proceeds to go up to the podium and introduces himself
as “Marshall”. The reason he uses his real name instead of his stage name is to show that he
wants the members of the group to listen to and judge him as any other regular person in that
group, not as a famous celebrity. He pauses for a small instant and takes a moment to look
around the group. The video shows that the group members are all regular people with flaws of
their own. For example, a few of them are smoking, others look restless with bags underneath
their eyes, while drinking coffee, etc. While they are doing this, Eminem starts to speak, but
instead of regular speech, music starts playing from an unknown source and he starts to rap.
As he raps the lyrics of his song, the scenes of the video go back and forth. One moment
he is up on the podium rapping, with everyone paying close attention and listening to what he
has to say, the next moment he is in his house, scribbling down the lyrics as he pronounces them.
As he is doing this, his daughter comes up to him saying (as written in the lyrics), “daddy look
what I made”, to which Eminem responds, “Dad’s gotta go catch a plane.” He then packs up his
stuff as his daughter asks where her mother is, and Eminem says he doesn’t know and that he is
busy writing a song; the very song that he is currently rapping. This portrays that he does not
care about what is currently happening to his family; whether that his daughter wants to show
him something that she is proud of, or the fact that she cannot find her mother. All he cares about
Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
is his work (writing songs). Also the fact that he is shown writing the very song that he is
currently singing suggests that the scenes we are currently witnessing are parts of a story that has
already occurred, and that he is describing it to the people at the self-help group that he is
currently at. She then walks out of the room as Eminem sings the song’s chorus. After he
finishes singing the chorus, he continues the song, telling the group members that he keeps
having a dream where he is pushing Haley on a swing. She tells him that she doesn’t want him to
continue singing anymore and asks why he keeps causing her mother to cry. He then explains to
her that he is no longer leaving, but she exclaims that he is lying to her, saying that he always
says that it would be the last time, but this time he will stay permanently. She then proceeds to
block the exit door of his house by piling boxes, all the while begging him not to leave. This is
another example of how Eminem’s work as a performer has affected his personal family life.
Because he goes out on all these concert tours and trips, his family is stuck hardly ever seeing
him, which “makes mommy cry,” and causes his daughter to feel sad and lonely. When she
realizes that her attempts at stopping him were futile, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a
“tiny necklace locket”, which contains a of picture of herself inside of it. She says to keep it with
him because it will keep him safe. Eminem stands up and, suddenly, appears to be in front of a
mirror, alone. He says that the walls of the room are talking to him; saying that he only has one
more chance to “make things right,” by showing his family that he loves them “before it’s too
late,” and that he can do this by staying home with them instead of leaving. This means that
while his family was trying to get him to stay, even his conscious, “the walls,” was trying to get
him to do the right thing by focusing on his family instead of his work. But even so, as he walks
out of the bedroom door, the setting changes to where he is standing on a stage in a tuxedo, as he
Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
starts to sing the chorus. As he finishes singing to a huge crowd, he looks glances down into it
and sees his daughter, Haley, standing at the front of it. She calls to him, saying, “Daddy it’s me,
Help mommy, her wrists are bleeding!” To which Eminem replies by asking how she got all the
way to Sweden, the country that he is currently preforming in. She tells him that she followed
him all the way here, even though he told her he wasn’t going to leave her again (which is shown
in a flashback scene as Eminem was singing on stage). She explains how he lied to her and made
her mother sad. She had also bought him a coin that said he was the “number one dad.” She
probably wanted to give it to him because of the promise he made to her about not leaving
earlier. She then tells him that she gets the point and that she and her mother are leaving him to
his focus on his career. Eminem that tries to stop her, but Haley exclaims that it’s too late
because he already made his choice to love his fans and his work more than his family. She tells
him it’s no wonder he has trouble sleeping at night, but then tells him it ok because he can just
continue to take sleeping pills to solve that problem like he always does (indicating a drug
addiction). This portrays that even though he promised he wouldn’t leave her again, he left
anyway, which caused Haley’s mother to go into a depression and try to kill herself by slitting
her wrists. Because of that, Haley follows her dad to Sweden in order to get him to help.
However, she realizes that her father is too caught up in his work to help his family so she just
tells him to keep on singing and to keep taking “pills” (the sleeping pills that that Eminem was
abusing). Eminem then realizes all the bad choices that he made; how “the curtain was closing
on him.” He then goes back stage and witnesses, in a mirror, his wife crying while hugging his
daughter. The image turns into his own reflection, which he then proceeds to punch and smash
into pieces. A light shines, and the scene changes into him waking up from the dream, saying
Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
how the plane that he was supposed to be on crashes, and burns to ashes; indicating that he
actually did keep his promise by staying home with his family and not going to his performance.
And because of it, He missed a plane crash that could have potentially killed him. This means he
did make that right choice after all and all the bad things that were happening to him before were
all part of a dream. He then proceeds to get out of the house, walk up to his wife, hug her, and
play with his daughters while they swung from a swing set. He describes it in his lyrics as: “The
sky darkens, my life flashes, The plane that I was supposed to be on, crashes, and burns to ashes,
That's when I wake up, Alarm clock's ringing, there's birds singin', It's spring and Hailie's outside
swingin', I walk right up to Kim and kiss her tell her I miss her, Hailie just smiles and winks at
her little sister almost as if to say, And when I'm gone just carry on don't mourn, Rejoice every
time you hear the sound of my voice, just know that, I'm lookin' down on you smilin', And I
didn't feel a thing so baby, don't feel no pain, just smile back.” This means that he is telling his
daughter that when he dies, she shouldn’t be stuck on mourning his death. Instead, she should
move on with her life because he didn’t feel any pain dying and that he will always be with her
via his songs, watching over her from the beyond. As he pronounces the last few lyrics from his
song, the setting changes again, however, this time, back to the original place that which he
started from: the self-help group meeting. As he steps off the podium, the group applauds and he
thanks them as he returns back to his seat. The video ends with the group leader asking if anyone
else would like to share.
The video did a very nice job in displaying that family is more important than work
because it showed how much of a negative effect on focusing too much on your work can have
on your family. The video supported this by using many pathos examples, targeting a younger
Abdullah Afify
Music Video Analysis
Professor Whitmore
Composition 105
11/6/2015
audience, and those that enjoy the rap/hip-hop genre of music. For example, since Eminem kept
leaving his family to go out on concert tours, his family became depressed, which caused his
wife to almost commit suicide and his daughter to be lonely and sad. This tugs on the heart
strings of the audience, manipulating their emotions to sympathize with the artist. However, after
waking up, from that horrible dream and finding out he actually did stay for his family, we saw
that everyone was very happy because of it. I believe that this video was very well produced and
clearly showed just how much more important it is to focus on family rather than work.