Movies - 8 Mile

	Movies - 8 Mile

8 Mile is a movie starring Eminem (Marshall Mathers) as the young white rapper Jimmy Smith Jr. Eight Mile Road is a road which forms the boundary between predominantly African American Detroit, Michigan, United States and the city's mostly "white" northern suburbs. The term "8 Mile" therefore represents a barrier that is difficult to cross.

Besides Mathers, the movie stars actors like Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy, Mekhi Phifer, Omar Benson Miller, Eugene Byrd, Michael Shannon, Evan Jones, Chloe Greenfield, Taryn Manning and De'Angelo Wilson.

Plot outline

The story of the film is about a young man living in Detroit who is supposed to be a prodigy of freestyle rap. The movie starts out with Eminem's character ("B. Rabbit"), at a locally (And less professionally) organized music event similar to the Rap Olympics. He chokes on his first performance (doesn't say a word) and loses the competition.

Rabbit's best friend "Future" is the MC of this event and is played by Mekhi Phifer.

After the initial scene at the music event, the movie focuses on the life of B. Rabbit, a young sheet metal factory worker named Jimmy Smith, Jr., who is struggling with many different aspects of his life: Getting a possible music career started, ending a relationship with one girlfriend (Janeane, played by Taryn Manning), starting a relationship with another (Alex, played by Brittany Murphy), and the constant danger that exists as a result of the people he hangs around with. He lives at the rundown 8 Mile Road trailer park home of his alcoholic mother Stephanie (Played by Kim Basinger), his much-younger sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield), and his mother's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg (Michael Shannon). Over the course of the next few days, Rabbit begins to realize that his life is spinning out of control and the only way he can get it back into control is to lose himself in the music he practices rapping to over and over again.

The final, climactic scene of the movie takes place a week later at a freestyle competition similar to the one in the movie's opening scenes. At this point, Rabbit has been hyped up by his friends as a really good rapper, but until this point we are only shown snippets of his skills.

Rabbit wins the opening round, and viewers see three progressively more impressive freestyle raps by Rabbit. In the lyrics of his last round he ultimately acknowledges with pride his 'white trash'-roots and compares it with the relatively privileged background of his antagonist (His antagonist's real name is Clarence, he went to a private school, Cranbrook, and he lives with his parents, who have a successful marriage) which is usually very unfit in a hardcore environment like the 313, where you're supposed to be someone from "the streets". Not being this, this leaves his opponent speechless and Rabbit clinches the title. As a sign of his growing maturity throughout the film, he humbly resists the pleas of his friends to go out and celebrate his victory, instead quietly walking off into the night to return to his shift at the sheet metal factory.

Tagline: Every Moment is a Chance to Turn it Around.

Debate about biographical nature

There has been considerable debate, in the mainstream press, amongst reviewers, and other viewers, on the extent to which 8 Mile is semi-autobiographical, biographical, or totally fictional. This has been fueled by the fact that events and characters depicted in the movie appear to parallel events, and people, in Mathers' own life (as presented in the media and in various songs).

Some have suggested the character Jimmy Smith mirrors Mathers as a young adult, with an alter ego of "Bunny Rabbit"/"B-Rabbit"/"Rabbit" mirroring Mathers' own "Eminem"/"Slim Shady"-alter ego, although Eminem never made any allusion to this in any of the bonus feature portions of the 8 Mile DVD.

Other suggested parallels include but are not limited to:

Rabbit's 3-1-3 (Three and One-Third) posse to D12's rap group, of which Eminem is a member.
Rabbit's friend, mentor, and promoter Future to Dr. Dre, Eminem's real life friend, producer, and mentor.
Rabbit's friend and contest emcee Future to D-12 member Proof, who was Eminem's childhood friend and a frequent emcee in Detroit (Proof actually appears in the movie as the first person B-Rabbit is supposed to battle at the beginning)
Rabbit's little sister Lilly to Eminem's young daughter Hailie Jade Scott, noting they even sound similar. Eminem's "Lose yourself" video explicitly connects 8 Mile's Lilly to Eminem's daughter. Lilly could also be similar to Eminem's half brother.
The 3-1-3's nemesis, "The Free World", to rap groups like the Insane Clown Posse (although they have reportedly never battle-rapped), or other similar groups with which Eminem has feuded in the past
Rabbit's mother to Eminem's real-life mother, Debbie.
Rabbit's ex-girlfriend in 8 Mile to his real-life divorced and recently re-married (to him) wife, Kim.
Rabbit's rap battles in "The Shelter" to Eminem's participation in "The Rap Olympics".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for 8 Mile ]

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Movies - 8 Mile

Plot outline

Debate about biographical nature

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