The Nobodies

This has been stated in previous comments but I wanted to put together a concise (whoops, not anymore) summary of both what I feel and others thought.

The main verse section sets the stage for the feelings that the song embodies. Being an outcast, bullied, lonely, that's how the nobody feels. As the days pass by (which is symbolized by the repeats of the verse), the nobody begins to fall spiral deeper and deeper into these feelings resulting in an incredibly bleak outlook on life (Feeling dirty). At first the nobody feels positive that things will change in the future (I want to be pretty) but then those feelings change (wanted to be pretty) as the nobody feels that his case is hopeless. He comes to the conclusion that he will be forever dirt. This state of depression can result in violent behavior, whether it be self harm or the harm of others. I feel Manson is not only referencing Columbine here, but also trying to flesh out how any person who is bullied may feel. They may not take it to the extreme of Columbine, but they may have suicidal thoughts or thoughts of killing others. After spending their whole life beat down, they loose their sense of purpose and feel that the only way they can be heard is to commit violent acts loud enough to catch someone's attention. The middle section of the song (Starting "Two children died the other day") I believe breaks out of the character of the nobody, and begins a commentary on how Marilyn feels about the state of the media and how it affects the nobodies. The media in all their broadcasting of violence sends the message that doing something loud enough will get you attention from the people around you or even the world, if you are drastic enough. These people have reached a point where they don't care if what they do is seen negatively, they just want to hurt people and be heard. They want to show people that they are so incredibly damaged that they will do whatever it takes to come out on top and be heard (in their eyes). I do not feel that Marilyn is promoting these sorts of actions, but rather bringing to light that he thinks no one should be surprised when it comes to this. I also feel that this song intends to create some sort of awareness of those around you - you never know when someone will snap, and we should all be proactive in listening to others and helping them through the feelings that the nobodies feel. One motif in this section of the song, the reference of religion with "...and then we prayed" and "puked up and down in morbid faith" is (I think) bringing out the phenomenon where people begin practicing religion only when confronted by death but later forget. Someone dies, they begin to adopt a false sense of religion and pray, then after time passes, they drop it again only to pick it up when another trial is encountered. I think he is trying to point out the hypocrisy in such actions where they seemingly become spiritual to try and look better and cast the blame on others. The media loves to adopt similar practices - not necessarily becoming religious, but acting as though they care on a personal rather than empathetic level about the tragedies that have passed. I am not sure on this though. Finally, he points out how the TV secretly loves these situations - everyone tunes into the news to learn about the latest development in the tragedy, to get another point to gossip about. The ratings rise. I think this is sort of the punchline of this section. Before, we had this false sense of care from the media for those affected by the tragedy, and now we see the selfishness employed by the media in exploiting these tragedies for money. A media that truly respected those affected by the tragedy wouldn't swoop in to interview the parents of the victims, wouldn't stake out at the funerals of those who died, and wouldn't televise the violent acts. I find their actions incredibly disrespectful and self serving in a time where we should be really evaluating how we can be making a difference to those around us who may be feeling the same way and be inspired in a very morbid sense to do something awful. Repetition and tense seem to be very purposeful in this song. Since there are so few unique words, I feel that each word matters, and that includes the tense. We can see the progression from hopeful to bleak just by the change of tense in a few lines. The repetition I think really drives home not only that this is something that happens over time, but also has a sense of it happening over and over. There will continue to be occurrences just like Columbine, and chances are the reactions are going to be the same. I really think that Marilyn Manson's work can be perceived as very dark by people who don't listen to his music closely, and this song is no exception with it's talk of death and depression. However, I feel he writes these songs not to inspire us to go down that same route, but to inspire us to make changes to those around us and really think about what we do and how it can affect people. I think that is the biggest thing to take away from this song - not that the media exploits people, not that people commit violence to become famous, or any of the corruption that goes along with that because in the end, one person can't bring change to those things and there will always be people doing unethical things for money and fame. What we can bring change to is those around us and create a more positive atmosphere in the areas that we are in, and remind people that they are important by listening and helping them get through hard times in their life, even when it doesn't benefit ourselves. -Rawrishly