Look- if you had one shot one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted... one moment.... would you capture it, or just let it slip? Eminem, “Lose Yourself”
Marshall Mathers. Eminem. A hot topic in any way, shape or form. Either you love him or you hate him, with very little ground for in-between. It’s impossible to ignore the barrage of intentionally ire-provoking lyrics he’s thrown out into the world since first registering on mainstream Rap (and Pop)’s radar. Yes, he stole his flow from Princess Superstar, amongst others. Yes, he’s said hateful, spiteful things. Call him what you will: fraud, sell-out, unintelligent, a wanna-be tugging at Dr. Dre’s bootstraps, unable to do anything on his own. All of that will change with two words: 8 Mile. If the public can come to grasp what it is Eminem’s trying to say. 8 Mile, at its essence, is a struggle of one man’s story to stop the wheel Ayn Rand identified in Atlas Shrugged, and to reach his full potential. At the very end of his song “Lose Yourself” Eminem tells whomever is listening “You can do anything you put your mind to”. It’s that message that translates into 8 Mile.
Eminem’s first starring role in a feature film, as well as the accompanying soundtrack, uncovers a side of the rapper that may take many of his detractors for a loss: depth. 8 Mile, in both of its formats, shows that Eminem has been absorbing everything that’s gone on around him since he broke through the speakers of Middle-Class America screaming the f-word. He knows he’s not taken seriously, both because of the color of his skin and the content of his rhymes. As such, his lyrical content throughout the 8 Mile soundtrack is uncharacteristically adult, not because of his foul mouth but because of his intelligence, and his powerful performance in the film shows just how close to the bone Eminem is willing to go to prove himself.
The most important point to note about 8 Mile as a film is something that will probably and unfortunately bypass most of the audience the it initially attracts: the script is littered with references to postmodern author John Updike’s Rabbit, Run. The most obvious comes in the fact that Eminem’s character in the film is called Rabbit (and the closing track on the soundtrack gives it away with the title and lyric “Rabbit Run“), but it goes deeper than that. Star with the plot: the Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature says “The novel's hero is Harry ("Rabbit") Angstrom, a 26-year-old former high-school athletic star who is disillusioned with his present life and flees from his wife and child in a futile search for grace and order.” Now consider 8 Mile‘s protagonist, Jimmy “Rabbit” Smith. Tired of a life in Detroit’s racially divided and impoverished 8 Mile, Rabbit dreams of Hip-Hop stardom as a way to escape his trailer-park life. While Rabbit, Run’s Rabbit ‘s chance at fame has come and gone, Rabbit Smith plays as a counterpoint, refusing to let his moment in the sun pass him by. In fact, the Rabbit of 8 Mile sees success as his only way to counteract his less-than-ideal home situation. On account of breaking up with his girlfriend (whose fleeting screen time echoes with hints of Rabbit, Run’s Janice), we first meet Rabbit Smith as he chokes painfully in a freestyle Rap battle. Faced with a huge, huddled crowd, Rabbit is on the mic with no words escaping his throat. The crowd screams “Choke!” at him, and Rabbit does what Rabbits do best: retreat and hide. With his clothes slung over his back in a garbage bag, this rabbit’s hiding hole turns out to be his mom’s trailer park home, the only place he has left to turn.
It’s at this point that the major comparison between Rabbit, Run and 8 Mile can be clearly drawn. Living in his mother’s trailer, working a meaningless 9-5 job that barely pays, Rabbit Smith feels the need to run. He wants to run from mediocrity and towards an embracing of what he truly feels he wants to do with his life, but this fleeing from one thing and towards another does not come without consequences. His mother sees him as childish and immature, both of which are things Rabbit Angstrom of Rabbit, Run is accused of being when he flees his wife and child to find the amorphous missing piece of his life. A child also plays a big part in 8 Mile in the form of Eminem’s real life daughter, who plays Rabbit’s sister. The striking scenes of physical violence between Rabbit and his mother’s much younger, financially and emotionally negligent boyfriend, as well as between Rabbit and his dead-beat mom (which comes as more of a surprise and an upset than one familiar with Eminem’s music would expect) all take place in full view of the young child, who is forced to take in the full sensory horror of what her life is before she’s old enough to understand any of it. Rabbit seems to be the only member of the family who can sense the effect the lifestyle they all lead is having on such a young child, as after a particularly aggressive display between his mother’s boyfriend and himself, Rabbit notices his sister curled in the corner, eyes wide, paralyzed by the violence between the grown-ups she has been taught to respect and obey. Rabbit kneels down, and opens his arms. “Hey, c’mere” he pleads with his little sister in a soft, soothing tone. “Come here. It’s all right. Everything’s all right. You’re safe”. In his sister’s moment of terror, Rabbit comes to her with the same things Eminem’s critics have accused him of lacking: depth, warmth and tenderness.
It’s the tenderness that carries all of the poignant moments in 8 Mile, which is why it’s a shame the film will no doubt fail to work on the numerous levels it was intended do, simply as an act of marketing. How many moviegoers who consider themselves “mature adults” will be open enough to a performance by Eminem to allow themselves to see what the storyline is doing? And how many of the group that is considered Eminem’s target audience will know what to make of the more serious images that are presented? On the opening night, when I saw the film, the mostly under-18 crowd, who seemed to distance themselves from the emotional disturbance they were presented with, treated the scenes of domestic dispute with righteous, nervous laughter. It also seemed as though the tender beauty of the lovemaking scene between Rabbit and Alex, Brittany Murphy’s character, a powerful moment of transcending reality for Eminem’s character in the film, did nothing more than bore or amuse most of the audience.
And it’s a shame, because 8 Mile as a film is a powerful, inspirational piece of work, as are the tracks Eminem recorded for the soundtrack. Self-produced, the beats are immediately more emotionally stirring than anything Dre has yet done for him. Dark pianos tinkle in and out, strong, powerful bass lines hold a groove, and Eminem raps his greatest, most meaningful lines ever about what seems to have been on his mind all the time: his music. “I’ve got to formulate a plot before I end up in jail or shot/success is my only motherfuckin’ option, failure’s not” he decrees on “Lose Yourself” quite possibly the most powerful track in recent Rap history. The song proves a strong emotional support and fill-in for missing parts of the film, and the two work together to act as inspiration to anyone who knows there is more to life than a paycheck. Granted, most of the non-Eminem tracks on 8 Mile prove to be mere filler, but when Eminem delivers, oh, God, does he deliver. Unfortunately the soundtrack doesn’t include the skeletons and unfinished tracks used to soundtrack Rabbit’s progress throughout the movie, but the point isn’t what’s left off the soundtrack, the point is what’s included: the most amazing lyrics about fame, power, success, hope and need ever written. There’s art, substance, and beauty. Like Eminem says on the track “8 Mile”, “Ain’t gonna follow no footsteps, I’m making my own”. Words of inspiration. Words coming from love, not hate, inspired by trial, not by anger. This is not the Eminem you thought you knew. He’s telling you something about your job, your life, yourself. Are you listening?
