Stan

Now that Eminem is highly prased as a rapper today, I can actually look back and see the deeper meaning of this song. It is very morbid and no doubt one of Eminem's most controversial songs. However if you analyze the overall meaning it's really brillant. First I agree the Stan part means ST as in stalker and AN as in fan, symbolism of Stan. When you think about it, a lot of Eminem's songs are about his personal problems as well as society's problems. I think he used himself to represent a society problem, the media and music influencing people. Stan becomes so obsessed with Slim, and lives his life for Slim. I think he's trying to show the person's side rather than the music/media. It almost reminds me of the Columbine Tragedy, many people thought Marilyn Manson's music had an influence on the boys behavior and indirectly caused them to shoot innocent people. I think Eminem is trying to show that music may influence it, it is always initially the person who has the problem and not the music. You can clearly see Stan has mental issues which leads to his suicide and killing of his pregnant girlfriend (when he kills his girlfriend it actually really seems to symbolize Columbine because innocent people were killed because of madness). In the end, you hear Slim saying "You cut your wrists too, I was clowin man, I think you need some help, why you so mad, I don't want you to do some crazy shit." This part is the strongest in saying how you can't literally take all controversial music or use it to blame people's problems.

I think that this song is to send a warning out to his fans. Of course we all know that Eminem's next best talent is stirring up controversy. If you listen to the songs on The Marshall Mathers LP, there are many reoccurrences of a message that says to his fans that a lot of the things he says should not be taken seriously, and that he doesn't really mean what he means.

I think this song is that same warning, except he's trying to use an example of what would happen if you take him too seriously. Stan is writing to Eminem about how he takes everything that Eminem says seriously, and Eminem writes back saying that Stan doesn't really understand him and that Stan should seek some help. Finally, we know what happened to Stan. I think the point of the song was to send out a message to his fans to not take everything he says seriously.

Also stan could be a combination of the word stalker and fan

Stalker + Fan = Stan

I don't think anyone should get offended by the way Stan killed his girlfriend. Eminem was actually trying to send a real message in this video. Maybe he could have done it less morbidly, but then, he could have been more morbid, as well. The point is, if Stan had just killed himself, it would have been sad. But the fact that he took this poor woman and her baby with him adds to the horrific poignancy of the song. This song was about pain, about someone trying to find himself by living through another person. And in the end, when his sanity came crumbling down...well. The part of the song that hit me the hardest was actually at the very end, when Eminem is writing back and suddenly realizes who Stan was, and you know that maybe (lost cause though he was), if Stan had held out just a little longer, all that death would never have occured.

like everyone else says the song is really deep it touches the surface of the soul i mean this is where a drunk would have a clear moment of clarity..and someone whos thoughtfully deep..the truth is that em put alot of thought into this song, this definetley came from the heart and it has multiple meanings mainley towards what us the fans think of it you could just say it was a song expressing how it is for a famous person a dealing with all fans which is impossible because you cant satisfy everyone and for someone like em you can only do that through your songs ..one of the points is you cant write just write him or any famous person and expect them too respond because they got a life just like you ..i mean damn all of us are only human..he speaks too us through all of his songs, which show his personality and his life think of it from his concept not just your own.

its about what can happen to an overeager fan if they take eminem's lyrics too literally. Eminem writes about all the bad in the world and stan says that "everything you say is real, and I respect you cause you tell it" and when he's got his girlfriend in the trunk he says "but I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you" bc he doesnt get that eminem writes, not kills.

I think the literal meaning of this is song is obvious. Perhaps there is a little subtle message that Eminem is trying to say that the stuff he says in this lyrics about wanting to hurt himself and others shouldn't be taken seriously, and if you do take it seriously, you're fucking insane, just like Stan. I honestly think the entire song is about Eminem trying to express that not everything he says should be taken as gospel. The fact that in the end he lets his "1# fan" down, and thus inadvertantly causes his death, is kind of like symbolically Eminem is trying to say, "I'm just human like everyone else! I make mistakes! Don't worship me or take what I say seriously!" Perhaps as an emotional response to this incredible amount of fame and perhaps as a response to all the hate he seems to get from parents convinced he's brainwashing their kids. (I don't think the message is to the parents, I think it's to the kids. In the music video, the "Mom" of Stan looks at the boy and it looks like she's trying to convince the 6 year old not to follow in Stan's footsteps...I'm not sure, but it seems like she's probably cursing out Stan and Eminem and telling the boy not to be like them).

The irony at the end, that Eminem actually does reply back to Stan in the end, makes me think...maybe he's trying to say, "I'm human, I make mistakes, but I always try to come through for my fans."

It's definately one of Eminem's best songs.

I've been an Eminem fan since the beginning. I can remember rapping his songs when I was 6 years old. Imagine a little Mexican girl that grew up on Led Zeppelin and The Doors rapping Eminem. I don't know why I loved him so much because I didn't really like rap too much. I thought he was great. But then, I remember being in 7th grade as a 12 year old and I found Stan on YouTube, and it's the song that made me /really/ become a fan. I've gotten much farther into rap but he's still my favorite rapper and I know he always will be. This song is haunting and brilliant. Definitely my favorite song of his. It's real and raw and emotional. I don't even know how to describe it accurately because there's so many different great things to say about it.

Crazed, obsessed fan communicates to Eminem through letters and, when a response takes too long, ends up killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend by driving his car off a bridge.

naw...really.