Intertexuality

Eminem Without Me

Intertexuality.
Intertexuality: Intertexuality is the relationship
between different medias. Usually it is referred to
through references like wearing the same costume as
the original media or speaking the same
lyrics/dialogue.
It can be humorous but can also have a serious effect.
It can spark emotions of nostalgia in the audience as
well depending on the context of the reference.
There are numerous types of intertexuality, some of
which include:
Parodies
Pastiches
Homages

Eminem
Eminem is a rapper from Detroit, Michigan. His music comes under
the genre of hip hop and is considered one of the best selling artists
of the 2000s in the USA. He has been active since 1992 and has sold
of 172 million copies of his albums which makes him one of the best
selling artists in the world.
In his past, Eminem hasnt had connections to his father as any
letters he sent to him came back with return to sender stamped on
them. He was also bullied when he was young. He received a head
injury during one incident and the lawsuit filed against the school in
1982 was dismissed. When he moved to a primarily black
neighbourhood in Detroit he was also bullied by youths too.
He enjoyed making comic books and storytelling. After discovering
Hip Hop from listening to Reckless by Ice-T he was mentored by his
mothers half brother until he committed suicide in 1991.
At 14 he started rapping with his high-school friend and adopted the
name M&M which later became Eminem,

Without Me
Without Me was released in May 2002, recorded in
February 2002, and is one of his most successful
singles.
The song mocks his critics and makes references to
Princes name to symbol change through a parody
and Elvis Presley as being a white man succeeding
in a black art form. He also mocks his own mother
who filed a lawsuit for lyrics he used in My Name Is.
It is both a parody and a pastiche because elements
seem to reflect and almost mock existing medias
and some are more comical than others.

Intertexuality in Without Me
The music video references the classic Batman and Robin comic
books that date back as early as 1940 and the TV show which aired
in 1996. They reference this by wearing costumes similar to those
worn in the original TV show and use comic book style graphics and
typography throughout the whole video. It creates the effect as if
they are in the actual comic book and the viewer is reading the comic
instead of watching the video.
Other references included in the video are:
Osama Bin Laden Eminem dressed up in a costume to represent Osama
Bin Laden and is chased on a news channel called NN which is a reference
to the existing news channel, CNN.
Comic book style motion graphics and text
Intertexuality is used in this video as a parody because some shots like the
one shown below are direct references to the Batman TV Show.
But elsewhere it is mostly a Pastiche and pays a comical tribute to comic
books.