Analysis Of The Nobodies By Marilyn Manson

Are you Somebody or Nobody? When I first heard “The Nobodies” by Marilyn Manson approximately five years ago, I was going through a self-image crisis. I happened to be living anyone’s most awkward phase in life: puberty. I found comfort in Marilyn Manson’s voice and lyrics, but little did I know what the song was truly written about. “The Nobodies” was written in 2001, two years after the Columbine High School Massacre. In “The Nobodies,” Marilyn Manson uses dark imagery and lyrics to convey his negative opinions of society and how it played a role in the Columbine High School Massacre. Marilyn Manson was born Brian Hugh Warner on January 5th, 1969. The inception of his stage name “Marilyn Manson” came from Marilyn Monroe and Charles Manson.

He uses these lines to portray (what he felt) that Harris and Klebold thought about themselves. It makes a reference to the hierarchy of high school and cliques; Harris and Klebold were seen as outcasts and were not “popular.” Seemingly, the boys did change that about themselves because “when we’re dead/ they’ll know just who we are” (line 9-10) shows that they are now known because of their actions. Manson believes that Harris and Klebold justified their negative actions because they would finally be recognized. The boys had a cause for their shooting, but no one knows what exactly caused them to do it. Their efforts of recognition have definitely worked, though, since their names have gone down in history and they have made changes in the world today. Manson doesn’t forget to add “some children died the other day” (line 25) to make a direct link between the song and the Columbine High School shooting. The media is shut down by Manson in line 28, “you should have seen the ratings that day,” since he is voicing his opinion on how the media will take a terrible event and make it into a popular spectacle. He also references problems in America during line 25; “we fed machines and then we prayed” prods at American lifestyle of watching the television, viewing all the negativity and obscurities of the media, then pray. Manson

He was used as a scapegoat because he was a popular icon that was easy to target for the traumatic, negative event. Manson did not choose to stay silent with the media, and voiced his opinions on the shootings by doing interviews as well as writing an essay. “The Nobodies” was used to convey a serious issue that had occurred and he used his music video and lyrics to convey his negative opinions of society and how it played a role in the Columbine High School Massacre. Are we prewired to use scapegoats for problems that society is faced