Applying Andrew Goodwins theory of music videos

The song 'Love the way you lie' By Eminem and Rihanna shows many of the conventions that Andrew Goodwin states in his theory of music videos.

Andrew Goodwin states that there should be a narrative and a performance part to the song. This allows the artist to be involved with the image of the song but also get across and a narrative. It makes the song look more realistic and giving the audience a connection to the song. In 'Love the way you lie' if flips between a narrative of a couple who are arguing and then fine again showing their struggle which you are a part of. Then it flips to performance elements from Eminem rapping or Rihanna singing as then you can feel the connection with the artist and it allows them to be connected to the song too.

This links to Star image being a factor too which means the artist has to be the centre of attention as they make the music video more appealing and they bring their unique style and persona to the video. It helps to show the artists image and this is shown in 'Love the way you lie' by having elements of Eminem showing him looking rugged in a costume that shows where he is from and his sub-culture that he is part of and then shows Rihanna in a different way. She is shown as sexy and a lot of close ups of her biting her lips which show here persona as being flirtatious with the camera to create that image for herself and bring that aspect the the music video.

Another aspect of music videos that Goodwin talks about is the link between the visuals and the music. In 'Love the way you lie' when Rihanna sings the lyrics of 'watch me burn' in the music video the house if on fir and the two people are burning but not in pain. This is to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics. She is talking about watching her burn and she means in a relationship sense which is explained in the video. Goodwin argues that this is to help explain meaning and allow the audience to feel like they have understood the song on a deeper level.  

The video uses many conventions that Goodwin states are in music videos and this shows his theory is relevant to mainstream music as you can see in the 'Love the way you lie' that the conventions are very much used in the whole video.