Puppets & Eminem

Contextually, there is a very fine line between punk and hip hop: Both genres originated from the working class who wish to either escape their hum drum lives or make the world a better play. Anarchy, rebellion and revolution go hand in hand - and musicians such as Eminem are skilled at getting their own personal views and experiences across to their audience in quite a comedic nature. Much like Nerd Rock and Indie Hip Hop, his lyrics are hyper-literate and more narrative than contextual.

In the music video "Ass Like That", he is featured rapping with a puppet on his hand, telling the audience that he can say anything he wants to (very sexist things) if he's behind a symbol or a fun character. This is a metaphor for the music industry and various other platforms in social media: If you are likeable or famous, lots of your mistakes will be ruled off as quirky.

Examples of this vary from Justin Beiber to Amy Winehouse: strong personalities who eventually get away with murder due to their star status; they are puppets of social media and the views of the ruling class (a little bit of sociology in there for you) which keeps the proletariat under the assumption that they too can gain fame if they are talented or hard-working enough: A meritocracy of 'likeableness'.

• Thought Beats: The song is slow and features what I think is called a Tumbi (an Indian string instrument that makes the metallic, high-pitched strums between verses). There are also breaks in the music when Eminem begins to rap in an accent that isn't his own, which is completely out of sync with the slow, melodic backing music. Similar to punk, the lyrics are aggressive and actually conceal a social message.

• Narrative & Performance: The narrative of the music video is that Eminem is shouting out against the media to leave him alone, when he is in fact doing scandalous things such as frequenting strip clubs, making sex tapes and masturbating in a theatre--which he always gets forgiven for because he has a puppet-dog sidekick who can get away with anything.

• Star Image: Eminem is frequently seen being admired on the red carpet by baying crowds, and raps alongside other celebrities. Also, he has an obscene amount of scantily clad back-up dancers as he sings to the camera, creating that theory of looking that caters to an audience of ten year old boy who probably want to be him.

• Relation of Visuals to Song: Eminem and the puppet are lip syncing to the song. A running story of scandals typical to celebrities orientated around Eminem. He constantly drops names of celebrities to improve his credibility - and said celebrities appear as puppets in the video...He also uses a sling whilst singing about his slinky going "doyng doyng (and I quote,) doyng."

• Technical Aspects of Video: At the beginning, establishing shots and crowd scene are quickly shown. There are people cheering. The setting is a red carpet venue and the actors roll up in limousines. Mid shots are a common camera angle due to the fact that puppets and Eminem with a puppet on his hand and most commonly seen. Additionally, there are several low angel shots as Eminem does the typical rapper move of singing into a cameras on the floor to make himself seem taller or more powerful than the audience.

The idea of using puppets in a music video fascinates me. Well, it interests me more than hiring unreliable actors: Puppets are flexible, moderately cheap to make and will stretch me to be more creative in my music video as opposed to lip syncing a person in a plain white background.

Additionally, it is different. The punk genre prides itself in being just that, and it would be a witty take on Eminem's Ass like that due to the fact that the punk song's lyrics are actually quite positive ( and might actually appeal to a younger generation...sans a few curse words here or there.).