Popular Culture Review Vol. 23, No. 2, Summer 2012 | Page 87

Muting, Mortification, and Motherhood 83 explains, male writing is considered (not ^problematically) to be “by nature procreative, while female writing is somehow by nature infanticidal,” then Eminem’s song performs a male version of abortion on himself and his mother through his artistic voice and against hers. As long as the rapper keeps rapping, as long as he apologizes, as long as he preempts her speech, he prevents her from apostrophizing and animating him. By verbally killing himself, he takes away her reproductive rights, rhetorically undoing his birth, negating her decision to keep her baby, and revoking the freedom of choice given her by Roe v. Wade. And, in conclusion—or, I hope, as a point of genesis for further discussion—we thus see how one of the most controversial and antagonistic figures in popular culture manages to construct, however objectionably, through his rap an intersection of canonical poetics, questions of intentionality and free speech, the acute political issue of abortion. Cornell University Lynne Stahl Notes 1 While I am leery o f plunging too deeply into biographical criticism, and I certainly have no wish to psychoanalyze Marshall Mathers, Eminem’s frequent allusions to real people and events (or at least his “creation” o f poetic characters who share names and traits o f actual figures in his life, e.g. his estranged wife, Kim, and his daughter, Hailie) seem to validate and even invite a biographical approach to some degree, and in fact his brand o f poetic verisimilitude serves to make his rap all the more potent by playing on the listener’s uncertainty. Morally questionable though it may be, this blurring o f the distinction between art and reality is a powerfully effective technique for painting a vivid image that involves and discomfits the listener. Throughout this essay, I refer to “the rapper” as I would “the speaker” o f a poem— an entity distinct from Eminem the person. 2 On The Slim Shady LP, Eminem’s 1999 major-label debut album, the songs “Brain Damage” and “My Name Is” both refer to the rapper’s mother in a derogatory manner, imputing drug use and child abuse to her. Works Cited Culler, Jonathan D. The Pursuit o f Signs: Semiotics, Literature, Deconstruction. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell UP, 2002. Print. “Eminem.” Encyclopcedia Britannica Online. 2009. Web 03 Dec. 2009. “Eminem's Mom Ready To ‘Set The Record Straight.’” Market Wire. 2000. Web. 1 Dec, 2009. Johnson, Barbara. “Apostrophe, Animation, and Abortion.” Diacritics 16 (1986): 28-47. Print. Mathers, Marshall “Eminem”. “Cleaning Out My Closet.” The Eminem Show. Eminem. Interscope Records, 2002. CD. Moss, Corey. “Eminem's Mom Nets Measly $1,600 From Lawsuits Against Her Son.” MTV Networks, 8 Aug. 2001. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). FindLaw: Cases and Codes. Reuters. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.