Rapper and performer Eminem, has just released a new music video for his song “Space Bound”. His songs and music videos have caused controversy in the past, such as his 2010 song “Love the Way you Lie” depicting the harsh reality of the cycle of abuse. This time around however, Eminem’s new music video shows a very graphic re-enactment of a suicide by shooting himself, and many argue that he has gone too far.
With lyrics like “Nobody knows me, I’m cold, walk down this road alone” many people argue that Eminem is just providing an unfortunate but true reality of what many people dealing with loss, such as what the character in the Space Bound video goes through by discovering his girlfriend is cheating on him, feels. Mark Vasey writes in his Mental Health Realities blog, that no one wants to talk about suicide and when piece of art comes along like Space Bound, it is called “offensive, graphic, inappropriate and not suitable”. Mark Vasey believes that Eminem is doing a good thing by portraying suicide in the music “because people need to be able to face the realities of suicide and not just look the other way”.
Others tend to think that the opposite is true when celebrities use art or music videos to create graphic images of undesirable outcomes to mental health issues. On the “Please Don’t Jump” Facebook page, operated through www.preventsuicide.us a member writes “Done responsibly, Eminem can use this video to prevent suicide and reduce trauma. So far he has not.”
What do you think? Does a music video that depicts a graphic suicide go too far? Does it hurt people or help people?
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