The music video "Stan", by rap artist Eminem, depicts a story of an obsessive fan named Stan who becomes increasingly irate that Slim Shady (Eminem) is not replying to his letters. Stan gets more and more desperate in his attempts to contact Slim Shady until he ends up driving himself and his pregnant girlfriend (who is trussed and gagged in the trunk) off a bridge into a river. From the opening cracks of thunder, pouring rain dripping down a window, and an ominous bass line, the viewer knows things are going to go very bad for Stan.
The music of the video has a slow tempo with a soft percussion beat and an awesome bass line. The beginning of the song starts with a sweet melancholy sigh of a female rap artist named Dido followed by Eminem reading the letter of a fan who idolizes Slim Shady and does not understand why he has not heard back from him. The beat stays the same throughout the video, but the letters of Stan to Slim Shady get more and more upsetting.
As the attention in the video focuses on Stan, the viewer sees a distraught young man getting more and more upset as the video continues. The viewer also listens to the words from the letters, which are the lyrics of the song that Eminem is singing. In the first letter, Stan writes that he is Slim Shady's biggest fan and that he can relate to the personal problems Slim Shady has experienced. Upset because he has not yet received a reply from Slim Shady, Stan hopes that he will receive a letter soon. The second letter is very disturbing. Stan does not understand why Slim Shady will not write back and the video shows a man beginning to lose his sanity. The actor playing the role of Stan does a great job showing the anger and frustration building in this troubled young man. Distraught over the situation at hand, Stan explains he has tattooed Slim Shady's name to his chest and he enjoys cutting himself because of the adrenaline-like rush he gets from it.
