1. Love The Way You Lie By Eminem ft. Rihanna

2. The video begins with a close-up shot of Rihanna as she sings the opening line of the song “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn”. Behind Rihanna, I can see multiple bright lights and the fact that she says “burn” in the lyrics, it is likely that the ‘bright lights’ are actually flames. This suggests that she has experienced spmething bad as fire signifies danger or destruction.

3. The video cuts to a couple spooning each other and they seem happy. However, Rihanna sings the word ‘Burn’ as soon as the video cuts to this scene. This suggests that the couple is simply putting on an act but deep down, they hate each other.

4. Immediately, the video cuts back to Rihanna singing with the flames behind her. She sings “that’s alright because I like the way it hurts”. The lyrics back up my previous point about how the couple is just pretending that everything is okay.

5. Next, the video reveals the woman who was lying in the bed with the man; she is holding fire in her hands as though she cannot feel it. This suggests that she has experienced a lot of pain in the past that she is no longer effected by it.

6. When the woman is revealed again, the camera is showing a close up of her face. We can see how focussed she is on the flame in her hand and she can’t take her eyes off the fire; the fire is drawing her in. This suggests that she was drawn into the relationship and because fire also signifies destruction/danger, this could mean that the man who drew her in is a dangerous person who came across as being kind but is actually abusive.

7. When the video cuts back to Rihanna singing, we can hear the line “I love the way you lie”. This implies that the relationship is very unhealthy and abusive, however, I think that the couple cannot break-up as it is possible that they still love each other too much to do so.

8. Immediately, the clip cuts to the woman waking up; she looks uncomfortable and comes across as being unhappy. This emphasises my previous point about them being involved in an unhealthy, abusive relationship.

9. The video cuts to Eminem rapping “I can’t tell you what it really is…feels like”. While he is rapping, the camera shows the couple in bed still cuddling, however, the woman sees a phone number on his hand with a girls name. This suggests that he is cheating on her with another girl; this woman is his side chick.

10. She immediately pushes him off her and gets out of the bed. We can tell that she is upset and frustrated with him but he just looks confused; he thinks that he hasn’t done anything wrong. This emphasises that their relationship is unhealthy as he is cheating on her and thinks it is acceptible to do that.

11. Next, the video shows the couple fighting. The girl seems really angry but he is still confused why she is acting out like this. This again shows how unhealthy their relationship is. Then, the guy holds her down and starts beating her up. This tells us that he is more powerful then she is and he’s the dominate one.

12. Immediately, the video cuts to the girl wlking out on him but the lyrics say “I’m leaving you…no you ain’t”. This shows how controlling he is and as a result, the girl cannot escape him and their relationship. Then they continue to fight each other.

13. When Rihanna starts singing again, the man pins the girl against the wall and they start making out. This implies that no matter how abusive he is, the girl cannot leave him; another sign of an unhealthy relationship.

14. Next, the video shows the man sitting alone with his face in his hands. He seems to be stressed and annoyed because he is in love with the woman but he keeps messing up and betraying her. This also shows how unhealthy their relationship and how it affects them.

15. Then the video cuts to the couple in a supermarket where the man shoplifts a bottle of alcohol; he steals the bottle confidently as if he’s done it before or he’s not going to get caught but we can clearly see the girl isn’t comfortable with this due to her facial expression; looking down, closed body language, etc. This suggests that the man possibly forces the girl to join him to steal thigs, such as alcohol, and she feels like she cannot say no because she loves him and is possibly scared of him. This shows how dominating he is.

16. The video immediatley cuts to the man on the sofa again. He seems to be in pain/agony and frustrated. We can clearly see that due to his body language and facial expressions; mouth is wide open, looking up at the ceiling but his eyes are shut. This again shows how hard his relationship is with the girl.

17. The video cuts to the couple making out near or in front of a liquor store. We can see they have the bottle which they stole from the store. The location is quite ugly and very far from being a romantic place for a date. This implies that the guy doesn’t care about taking his girl out on proper dates and making her feel special. Once again, this shows how unhealthy their relationship actually is.

18. Next, the video cuts to the man gifting her a teddy bear and a flower. I think that this is his idea of saying sorry for cheating on her and thinks its acceptable. The girl takes the gift anyway. This again shows his dominance in their relationship and how little power she has.

19. Then the video reveals a house on fire behind Rihanna. In my opinion, I think that this is the house that the couple used to live in because Rihanna sings “just gonna stand there and watch me burn” whilst the house is shown.

20. Immediately, the video cuts to the couple in a bar where the man punches another man who’s hitting on the girl. This suggests that he is jealous because she’s his girlfriend, not the other guy’s. This is another sign of an unhealthy relationship. Also, we can see the girl smiling when talking to the other guy compared to she never does that when she’s with her current boyfriend. This emphasises that she’s not happy in her current relationship.

21. The camera shows the couple fighting again with their house on fire in the background. We can hear Eminem singing “If she ever tries to fucking leave again, I’m going to tie her to the bed and set the house on fire”. This again shows how much power he has over her in the relationship which is another unhealthy relationship sign.

22. The video cuts to them both on fire which suggests that their relationship has ended due to how much destruction and pain it caused them.

23. Overall, I found this video really hard to watch because the lyrics and videos are very powerful as they have a huge impact on the viewer. I thought that the use of fire and lyrics were really clever because they show how much pain and destruction an unhealthy relationship can cause and effect someone’s life. Also, the use of real-life unhealthy relationship examples would have a great impact on viewers because they are situations that people have been or will possibly go through in their lifetime.