Santillan 1

Kevin Santillan

Professor Granillo

English 103

8 April 2018

Stan

Psychoanalysis is a method of treatment that helps people understand themselves, their

relationships, and how they behave in the world. Sigmund Freud who is the founder of

psychoanalysis is based off or around sex and fixations. Psychoanalytic lenses are used in many

different ways for example its used in music and songs. Having an unhealthy obsession or being

a “stan” for a celebrity or musician isn’t only bad for the person who has the obsession but also

affects the celebrity or musician, however there are some out there that beleieve being obsessed

over an artist is normal and say its a “teenage thing”. By way of psychoanalytic concepts such as

ID and defense mechanisms such as displacement, projection, denial, regression, and reaction

fomation; are used to exemplify the ignorance that people have towards mental health and how

people should take it more seriously. Having an unhealthy obsession or being a stan for a

celebrity or musician isnt only bad for the person who has the obsession but also affects the

celebrity or musician. Eminem’s song “Stan” serves as a reminder that having an obsession over

someone isn’t healthy and should be taken more seriously because it affects one's mental health.

In Eminem’s song “Stan” he strongly uses pathos in the lyrics and music video to target

the audiences emotions so they are able to grasp the message that Eminem is tring to express.

The audience that the song is targeting or who Eminem intended to reach were the crazed fans

who sent him disturbing letters who took his albums lyrics that were violent personally. The tone
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of the song is sad and depressing where the tempo of the song starts of slowly but as soon as

Stans mood starts to change it get faster or the tempo picks up. Instruments that are used in the

song are bass, electric guitar, drums, and piano to create the hip hop/rap genre for the song. Since

the song was first released and named “Stan” after a crazed fan who gets crazier and crazier

throughout the song the term “Stan” has been entered into the dictionary as an obsessive fan of a

celebrity.

Although nowadays most teenagers “stan” celebrities and it’s become a normal thing

among teens its not found to be a problem. When the topic is brought up and people talk about

young teens obsessing over celebrities and artists they usually just brush it off blaming it on their

“teenage years”. They blame it on “teenage years” and say its just a phase because the child who

is obsessing or a “stan” for a celebrity or artist because they are going through the psychosexual

stages latency or genital. Latency happens through ages 6 to puberty and genital is puberty on so

most teens that are crazed obsessed fans are going through puberty which makes adults not to

alarmed on the matter because they believe they will grow out of it.

The song “Stan” uses the psyche ID which according to Sigmund Freud is apart of the

unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is where we are unaware of things and we aren't able

to become aware of them, so the ID is the primal instinct and it’s the impulsive psyche that

responds directly and quickly to instincts which happens in newborns. ID is used in this song

because the fan who Eminem is talking about throughout the song that goes by the name Stan

uses this psyche. Stan uses the psyche ID because when he writes to Eminem and he expects a

reply right away without taking his schedule and life into consideration, so since he isn't getting a

response he is becoming more hostile towards him. This is shown throughout the song lyrics
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when it says “​Dear Slim, I wrote you, but you still ain't callin' I left my cell, my pager and my

home phone at the bottom​” (“Stan” 00:00:50 - 00:00:55) this is where he’s still cool and not so

irritated but impulsively changes and says “​Dear Mister "I'm Too Good To Call Or Write My

Fans" This will be the last package I ever send your ass It's been six months and still no word, I

don't deserve it?” (“Stan” 00:03:37 - 00:03:45) and this is where he just snaps and is impulsively

reacting. Since Stan isn't getting a response and his ID psyche is starting to show he starts to

show his defense mechanisms.

One defense mechanism that is shown or displayed from reading the lyrics is

displacement. The defense mechanism displacement is “taking it out on someone or something

less threatening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger”(Tyson, 28). Stan

displays displacement when Eminem says “Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming' in the trunk

But I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you 'Cause if she suffocates she'll

suffer more, and then she'll die too” (“Stan” 00:04:34 - 00:04:42). Displacement is being used

because all of Stans anger towards Eminem who isn't responding is being shifted towards his

pregnant girlfriend who is a less threatening target. Stan is also most likely displaying the

defense mechanism displacement because it says in the sing lyrics “Remember when we met in

Denver, you said if I'd write you you would write back” (“Stan” 00:02:28 - 00:02:31). Stan

doesnt only use just displacement he also use projection.

Projection defense mechanism is “ascribing our fear, problem, or guilty desire to

someone else and then condemning him or her for it, in order to deny that we have it ourselves”

(Tyson, 28). Stan uses when he takes his pregnant girlfriend and ties her up as well as throwing

her into the trunk of his car so she can suffocate. The projection defense mechanism is being
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used because he’s inflicting all of his impulses onto his girlfriend. It is also used by Stan because

since hes getting no reply he begins to get mad and hate Eminem but in a way he feels that its

unacceptable to hate him so he starts to believe that Eminem hates him so thats why he isnt

responding in order to solve his problem in a way. “That's my little brother man, he's only six

years old We waited in the blistering cold for you For four hours and you just said, No….. He

wants to be just like you man, he likes you more than I do” (“Stan” 00:02:12 - 00:02:24). In

these lyrics Stan is saying that he’s not that big of a fan so he doesnt look so crazy and obsessed

so he’s saying his brother is more obessed with him to not freak Eminem. Stan using projection

can also be a cause for him being in denial about his emotions towards the artist “Slim” or in

other words Eminem.

Denial defense mechanism is also being used by Stan in the song and being in denial

“believing that the problem doesn’t exist or the unpleasant incident never happened” (Tyson,

28). In the song it says “Dear Slim, you still ain't called or wrote, I hope you have a chance I ain't

mad, I just think it's fucked up you don't answer fans If you didn't wanna talk to me outside your

concert You didn't have to, but you coulda signed an autograph for Matthew” (“Stan” 00:02:00 -

00:02:12). At this point in the song hes in denial bevause he’s angry that Eminem or as he calls

him “Slim” didnt acknowledge him or his brother putside his concert. He’s in denial becasue one

can obviuosly tell that he’s mad and angry towards him but he ‘brushes’ it off and still ends up

writing to him again. To go along with denial he also uses repression.

What is repression as a defense mechanism? Repression is a movement back in

psychological time when one is faced with stress. In the song it says “Remember when we met in

Denver, you said if I'd write you you would write back” (“Stan” 00:02:28 - 00:02:31) this is an
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example because Stan is stressed out about not gettting a letter back and not meeting him at the

concert so he goes back to the time where Eminem told him he would. Stan also shows the

defense mechanism when it says “See I'm just like you in a way I never knew my father neither

He used to always cheat on my mom and beat her I can relate to what you're saying in your

songs” (“Stan” 00:02:32 - 00:02:39​). Stan is using repression because he is angry and his head

isnt in the right place and he isnt tryning to come to terms that he has an unhealthy obsession, so

he tries to bring up similarities by going into his past such as talking about not knowing his dad

like Eminem. Not only does Stan use repression but he also uses reaction formation throughout

the song.

The artist Eminem uses the defense mechanism reaction formation alot through his song

and in the lyrics. Reaction formation is the psychological explanation for why certain people act

in the entirely opposite way than how they really want to behave. The defense mechanism

reaction formation is mostly used when someone is embarrassed or in shame, and their actions

aren’t acceptable. The fan Stan uses this defense mechanism with Eminem because he says

“​Dear Mister "I'm Too Good To Call Or Write My Fans" This will be the last package I ever

send your ass It's been six months and still no word, I don't deserve it?” (“Stan” 00:03:37 -

00:03:45). When Stan says this he’s obviously mad and irritated that he says he’s not going to

write or send him anything anymore and he’s mad, but he doesn’t really mean it. Stan doesn’t

mean it because if he was really mad at him then he wouldnt continuously take the time to write,

package, and send him things, but that wasnt the case. Stan shows how he want to be like

Eminem when the lyrics say “Man how's your daughter? My girlfriend's pregnant too, I'm 'bout

to be a father If I have a daughter, guess what I'm a call her? I'ma name her Bonnie” (“Stan”
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00:01:06 - 00:01:13). This shows how he wants to be just like Eminem because he’s going to use

the same name he called his daughter for his own child if his girlfriend and him have a girl.

Artists have many fans trying to be like them but no one ever talks about how that can take can

take a toll on the artists psyche and mental state.

When someone is obsessive or crazed over a celebrity or musician it doesn’t just affect

the mental health of the fan or “stan” but it also affects the musicians mental health. People don’t

talk about the mental health or pain someone the artist or celebrity is going through when one of

their crazed obsessive fans takes their life. One can only imagine the pain Eminem was going

through and where his head was at when he was receiving the packages from Stan while he was

going from show to show. No one can exactly know the toll that was put on Eminem when he

first found out about the news of Stan driving off the road with his tied up pregnant girlfriend in

the tunk of his car. Such trauma is unbearable and for artists to have to go through that when all

they are trying to do is release music for their audience and fans to relate to, so that they don’t

feel alone.

Unhealthy obsessions aren’t good for anyone not for the person who’s crazed and

obsessed with a musician or for the celebrity or musician; however there happen to be people out

there that don’t believe these obsessions are unhealthy. ​Psychoanalytic concepts such as psyches

such as ID and defense mechanisms like displacement, projection, denial, regression, and

reaction fomation are signs that ignorant people need to catch on to faster and take seriously. It

should be taken more seriously because one will never know the mental state someone is in and

what their brain is thinking or what they’re capable of doing. So when a child opens up about

mental health you shouldn’t laugh or say “no you don’t” and take it more seriously.
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Works Cited

“Eminem (Ft. Dido) – Stan.” ​Genius,​ 21 Nov. 2000, genius.com/Eminem-stan-lyrics.

EminemMusic. “Eminem - Stan (Long Version) Ft. Dido.” ​YouTube,​ YouTube, 24 Dec. 2009,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY​.

Tyson, Lois. “Critical Theory Today, A User-Friendly Guide.” ​Google Play,​ Google,

play.google.com/books/reader?id=OhDEBAAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PT27.w.0.0.356.