…and I know I’m not alone.
This week professional controversialist Marilyn Manson, (formerly known as Brian) has run into some well-deserved controversy following the release of his latest music video: Running to the Edge of the World.
Why controversial? Because towards the end of the video Brian can be seen beating a young woman to a bloody pulp. In fact, he goes even further than that, so by the end of the video he’s actually beaten the woman to death. That’s Marilyn Manson, aka Brian, killing a woman. In a music video. For our entertainment.
Here, watch it if you can, but be warned, this is seriously disturbing stuff, and potentially triggering:
Actually, no. Fuck it. I’m not embedding the video here. Click on this link instead if you want to see what I’m talking about.
Do you know what? I’m really sick of this shit. I mean, really really sick of this shit.
I’m sick of opening the papers or logging on to the Internet and reading about the horrendous abuses women are subjected to on a daily basis. I’m sick of hearing about men like Steve Wright or Anthony Sowell or countless others the fucking world over, men who seem to be running some kind of macabre competition among themselves to see who can get the record and notch up the highest number of femicides ever. I’m sick of the rapes, of the beatings, of the day to day misogyny. And I’m sick and fucking tired of seeing all that abuse, all that undisguised contempt, all that rampant woman hatred, being served back to us all in the guise of popular entertainment.
Because do you know what? It’s not.
It’s not entertaining in the slightest.
Hat-tip to Lady McScamp for drawing my attention to this. And for being slightly more articulate about the shittiness of this video than I’m managing to be at the moment.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Word! I hope Marilyn Manson gets justly roasted for his video. And all those responsible for judging it was appropriate.
Arrrrgh! I used to be a great fan of Manson and thought he was a fairly sensible and decent sort underneath the stage persona, but this is just outrageous. I’m so disappointed and angry.
Jesus Christ.
And I thought the new Dizzee Rascal video was obnoxious and disgusting.
I’m sick of it all too. Sick and tired of it.
What is all about? Why denial, denial and yet more denial. Videos, books, films, pornography, prostitution all are about men’s violence against women but guess what? Why these are all men’s entertainment and hence not male violence against women.
Men such as Steve Wright and others whose names I am not going to name but remember the man who abducted and committed multiple rapes against an 11 year old girl. Then remember the man who supposedly couldn’t get any woman to notice him – what did he do? Why he murdered women who didn’t even know he existed.
There are innumerable other men including one man who murdered his wife because ‘she provoked him!’ All all these men and I include Josef Fritzl are supposedly individual cases which have no bearing whatsoever on our misogynistic and women-hating society.
Back again to denial, denial and yet more denials from powerful male-dominated and male-owned media, denials from the male pornographers and male consumers, denials from the male politicians who are too afraid to admit that yes there is a war against women and it is men who are committing these femicides and sexual violence against women.
Denial that men are accountable for their actions towards women because guess what? It is women’s fault for not preventing male sexual violence committed against them and it is women’s fault for daring to imbibe any alcohol which of course ’causes respectable men’ to rape them, since women who drink alcohol ‘provoke men’s supposedly insatiable sexual desires.’
Back to denial again and look who are the ones denying it – why it is men of course.
Manson’s video is not ‘edgy’ it is not unique it is not intelligent – but what it certainly is is profiting by portraying women as dehumanised sexualised commodities who can be beaten and then murdered by men because guess what? Women aren’t human, they have no feelings or emotions but what they do have apparently is ‘sexualised masochism’ because women want to be beaten and raped and subjected to horrific male sexualised sadistic acts.’
All lies of course but you wouldn’t know this given the male-dominated and male-controlled media is obsessed with male sexual violence against women because it ‘entertains men’ and ‘tells men they are human and therefore entitled to be treated with dignity and respect whereas women and girls are non-human and any male act of sexualised cruelty is not cruelty – just male entertainment!
Do men see it? Most do not because guess what? Such violence is not inflicted on men it is men committing such violence against women and since men are not being beaten or subjected to sadistic sexualised violence by women it doesn’t matter – it is irrelevant.
Am I angry at men? You bet!
I thought you’d finally cracked and were writing about Jedward there Cath (sorry I’m in the camp that wants them to win, even though I don’t even watch it).
But yes, what is he on. Not a lot else you can say, really.
Except FFS get a makeover….(NB Cath your link doesn’t work, but it’s still on You Tube.)
Cheers Polly. Changed the link now so it should work again.
As for Jedward, grrrrrr……
Well let’s face it though Cath, they’ve never faux murdered anyone, so that must go in their favour. I think they’re sweet.
I think Jedward are sweet too. I want more men like them in this world. Harmless and entertaining.
I’m sick too of ‘artistes’ getting recognition from the portrayal of beating women to death. Entertainment? No. Sadistic and misogynist? Yes.
why is this even edgy? its actually sickeningly banal, considering how frequently this happens in real life. why not show MM/brian shopping for groceries, or clipping his toenails? i mean really. this is not a rhetorical question: why is something that happens in real life, so fucking often, considered so “edgy” to reproduce on film? anyone?
Jennifer Drew – what can we do? How can we get round the denial thing?
Just out of interest, the record label is Polydor, but their website have no mention of him. What is that about?
It’s an awful and horrible video for an awful song.
Manson used to be quite good (for what he was), but he’s got two main problems these days. The first is that he’s beset by personal (and, perhaps, pharmaceutical) issues, and is a total shambles of a songwriter and performer. I saw him by accident this year and he couldn’t remember most of the words, couldn’t sing, and had to be helped off stage at the end.
The second is that he’s got no material. He always tried to shock, but it used to be directed with intelligence, generally against the conservative/religious right in the US, and there was some kind of point to it. And in person – in Bowling for Columbine, for example – he was often surprisingly articulate and erudite.
Whereas now, this just seems like shock for the sake of it. I’m not totally against that; for such an allegedly controversial figure, this is the first genuinely unsettling thing he’s produced in ages. It’s just that he hasn’t got anything to back it up with; it doesn’t do anything with the shock.
But I don’t think it reflects a normalisation of violence against women. Quite the opposite – and that’s why he did it. The music alone was never going to get him any column inches, was it?
“But I don’t think it reflects a normalisation of violence against women. Quite the opposite – and that’s why he did it.”
Wrong, wrong and more wrong. Have you read anything on this blog before damagedoor?
earwicga – Yes: I’ve read pretty much all of it, commented a bit, agreed with most, disagreed with some.
My point’s just that Marilyn Manson included this footage to be controversial. If explicit violence against women was perfectly acceptable, nobody would care, would they? He did it because he knew the material would be condemned and get him attention – and it has. Do you think it hasn’t?
Damagedoor
He did not spend time ‘acting’ in this video to make a point or be ‘controversial’. He did it because he had a personal agenda. Go on the link LadyMcScamp and find out the details for yourself. I think you’ll discover that Brian is as moronic as all other women hating men out there. That’s not ‘controversial’ it’s what we women have to put up with on a daily basis.
Get over it.
Maggie – I’ve read the link. And many, many others. I’m sorry, but you’re being overly simplistic about it, and also arguing with me about something I haven’t said.
Let me be clear. I hate the video. But to say it reflects how “accepted” violence against women is – that’s nonsense. Surely, as Cath says, Warner is a professional controversialist? If you want to be controversial, why pick something that’s normal, mundane and unlikely to spark a reaction? And of course he hasn’t. He’s depicted violence against a woman and been roundly condemned over it. Have you not read the many articles, news reports and blogs attacking the video? You really don’t think he anticipated that?
“nobody would care, would they?”
Comments from YouTube:
“oooooh my god this song is sooooooooo fabulous and the video is a little bit strange… but its also really good :D”
“nasty i love it”
” This vid is really similar,but i really like last 2 minutes :] ”
“… The last 2 minutes or so were excellent… why not more of this?”
“Amazing.
Truly fucking beautiful and amazing.”
“Actually, this vid aint that bad, could have been a lot worse…”
“No offense, but I love this video. This is truly honest Manson. ”
And lots of other comments that discuss the music itself.
More of the same on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlSPi1e4SXE
The poster of the video writes:
“video was deleted again due to terms of violation, so i removed the scene with the 3 seconds of nudity to protect the innocent children who flag and complain about the video. Music video for the song, Running to the Edge of the World and please no negative comments such as, “he’s not really crying, its fake. Worst video ever, boring video, wtf he’s only playing with the curtains through the whole video, what happened to the old Manson we knew, etc. etc. etc.” If you do happen to post a negative comment about the new video, it will be removed and you will be banned.”
I doubt comments pointing out glorifying violence against women would be removed though – as there AREN’T ANY.
damagedoor, are you feeling the “normalisation of violence against women” yet or shall I continue?
Ok I’m REALLY not easily shocked (ie I thought the prodigy ‘smack my bitch up’ vid was quite amusing). But really, apart from the turgid music (bad enough), a blood streaked, distressed nude/semi nude woman apparently pleading for her life?
Enough already. Bring back Jedward.
I can’t believe that I went all the way to Milton Keynes in 1999 to see him live. I weep for the teenage goth that still resides inside me. This shit is not cool.
I’d say that he lost his way (violence against women…wow…how edgy – not like that happens every fucking day!) but I think it is more likely that I just grew up.
earwigca –
There are a few negative comments there, although I’m guessing not when you looked. But there’s actually not that many comments there at all in the grand scheme of things, and I don’t think a handful of arseholes and devoted fans commenting on Youtube proves much of anything – certainly not that violence against women is normalised. I don’t believe Manson thought “this is my bid to appeal to the mainstream”. The material’s there because it’s controversial, not because it’s normal. And just to make myself clear, I think it’s shocking and shit.
Anyway – Jedward to win.
Much as I love Jedward, I promised my son I would eat his dressing gown if they won. So I can only say Jedward for second place!!
That’s almost enough to sway me, earwicga (and I’m sorry for mis-spelling your name previously: genuine mistake) – but not quite!
Don’t know if I should say this, but I know someone who worked on the X-Factor and they had lots of revealing things to say, especially about Danyl. Jedward for the win. Partly because it’ll annoy Cowell, partly because it undermines the X-Factor and shows it for what it is, but mostly because they’re just fun.
I could ban the lot of you you know!
Jedward my arse. ‘Strewth, have you people no taste?
Oh dear two comments from KnobTube…
in the video he obviously regrets what happened it must be him looking back on the event and feeling remorse, there’s a little more to this than simply promoting domestic violence, its written from the perspective of a real fucked up dude so its gonna be graphic
So why not just say “I really regret domestic violence” instead of having a naked blood covered sexxayy woman… But noes, noes, what about the poor fucked up tortured menz?
love this video with a passion. Very few videos have made me cry. The emotion and love and hate and passion in it are so moving.
I love how people watching this are getting mad because they think he is promoting the raping and beating of women. He doesn’t even have to try to start controversy anymore, it’s so damn easy to piss people off. ”
Hmmm I know some people are just so picky aren’t they….
Well, as an antidote (maybe – I don’t know what people will think of it), here’s the wonderful Amanda Palmer’s wonderful reinvention of the awful “What’s the Use of Won’drin?” for those who haven’t seen it:
Shit, sorry – I just meant to include the link.
Amanda Palmer is wonderful. This will make up for the shocking admission of mispelling my name, that I didn’t even notice 🙂
Fab video. Thanks for that damagedoor.
Another woman in bath video (and the rest!)
I don’t really know what to make of Lady Gaga. What she does (ie extremely populist dance music) she does very well and with a sense of humour it seems and I’m inclined to admire her even if I don’t think the music’s that great. But stuff like this (and the vid for her paparazzi song) and all that OMG I’m bisexual stuff is very tedious and predictable.
Manson is on Interscope, he is on their web-site, Polydor USA became Interscope, Polydor UK distributes here.
@earwicga
That Gaga video bothers me for the reason that an animal died for that dress/jacket/whatever. But other than that the aesthetics of the video are pretty amazing.
@Toomuch
I’ve never liked Manson, ever, ever, ever. He’s always fucking sucked, been sexist and written boring as shit music. This, however, takes it to a whole new level.
It really bothers me how much all of his gogan-follwers think he’s so fucking edgy and innovative but really all he’s doing is regurgitating what’s happening in the world putting black lipstick on it and then calling it “alternative”. It’s such a fucking crock.
And he’s not even Goth. No self-respecting Goth would ever call themselves Goth either.
*head desk*
this is ridiculous well done everyone, Marylin Manson has acomplished exactly what he wanted. It’s a publicity act so people who dont even know who he is are talking about him and people who hate his music have watched that video. You have all fell for it for years he’s been an idiot and everyone knows this. but everyone gets angry when he does something like this its called shock people and it was what he was aiming for. your all idiots because you give him the time of day and are even talking about it.
You got me there Luke. I’ve gone and bought his album now and everything.
Actually I was talking about Lady Gaga and Jedward. So it’s true I have fallen for a marketing scam.
Seeing that video makes me think it will be a great day when our schools have all the money they need and…
@berryblade
I don’t imagine for a minute that that is a real animal – economics suggest that a fake fur would be much more likely.
Oh well Lady Gaga just reminded me I’m supposed to be in Canal street soon. Why do I think of Hazell Dean whenever I hear her?
PS I knew you’d come round to Jedward sooner or later Cath. The pod people have got you now I’m afraid….
Jedward for second place! 🙂
Nooo… Jedward CANNOT win! They are not very good.
I was devastated by last week’s fiasco, pleeeaaase can someone who can actually sing NOT be booted off this week?
But they are amusing, BFW, they dance around, and are funny and sweet, they bring out my maternal instincts, or at least my auntly ones, since I’ve got nephews that age. Whereas Lucie was dull, dull, dull. Being able to sing isn’t everything. Because the simple truth is most popstars can’t anyway.
Butterflywings Last night none of the acts were particularly good, which is why I suddenly warmed to Jedward. At least they were entertaining….well, sort of, albeit in an OMG what are they doing now! kind of way.
Polly, heh, true that most pop stars can’t sing… and I agree that Lucie wasn’t particularly exciting.
Cath, fair enough 🙂
Meh, each to their own.
I kind of think everyone missed the point of this video. It’s not glorifying abuse against women. It’s just a story. A story about a toxic relationship gone bad. I mean obviously he wasn’t REALLY beating the woman. C’mon. I know abuse against women is a horrid subject that I wish didn’t even exist, but it does, and part of Marilyn’s role as an artist is to point out sometimes uncomfortable topics and make people look at it, make people think and make them examine WHY they have the knee-jerk reaction they do. Sweeping abuse against women under the rug isn’t going to make it stop or get worse and neither is making a music video about it. It was simply a dialogue of what happens when things in a relationship go down a very sinister road.