Celebritarian Corporation

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Celebritarian Corporation is the name that Marilyn Manson has given to his self proclaimed art movement. Manson has coined a slogan for the movement: “We will sell our shadow to those who stand within it.”

1 Celebritarian History
2 The Name
3 The Meaning
4 The Members
5 The Cross of Lorraine
6 Projects
7 References
- 7.1 Notes
8 External links

[edit] Celebritarian History

Celebritarian first arose as a secret website, Celebritarian.com, which although it was first discovered during the Holy Wood period (2000) its web counter dates back to 1996, the year Antichrist Superstar was released.

The website was hinted at in the lyrics to "The Fall Of Adam" from Holy Wood:

The Abraham Lincoln town cars

arrive to dispose of our king and queen

they orchestrated dramatic new scenes

for Celebritarian needs

And in the liner notes to Holy Wood were the words "Celebritarian™ used by permission". It has since been revealed that Manson coined and trademarked both the terms 'Celebritarian' and 'Celebritarianism'.

Then on 1 October 2005 it was reported that several Celebritarian websites had surfaced including celebritarian.com, celebritarian.net, celebritarians.com and celebritarianism.com all of which feature the Cross of Lorraine which when clicked on forwards you to the official Marilyn Manson website. There is some doubt over whether these sites are legitimate, as the domains are registered with a Yahoo! email address.

MarilynManson.com Screenshot

On 28 November 2005, in an article on MTV's website, the Celebritarian Corporation was said to have been "incubating for seven years"¹ which if correct would indicate that Celebritarian Corporation, in some form, started in 1998.

On 16 January Marilyn Manson's official website was taken down and replaced with the following message on the front page which makes reference to the Celebritarian Corporation.

By novel and EXPERIMENTAL inquest

Not the product of abstract SPECULATIONS

Nor vindicative legalistic theories

This website and all contents herein have

Been SEIZED by explicit orders from

The Celebritarian Corporation

There has been much speculation over this as previously other updates had occurred on the website, starting on 3 January. Each update has been archived and discussed at The Heirophant Council.²

The above quote appears to be a paraphrase of a statement from Justice Jackson during the Nuremberg trials:

This Tribunal, while it is novel and experimental, is not the product of abstract speculations nor is it created to vindicate legalistic theories. (source)

[edit] The Name

Manson has said the reason he chose the name 'Celebritarian Corporation' was because he believes that it provides "a further irony into what it represents",³ because the word Celebritarian could sound like it is pro-celebrity status.

[edit] The Meaning

The whole concept of Celebritarianism would be, ironically, a satire of today's civilisation that focuses on celebrities ; the more cameras looking at you, the more power you have in your hands. It would be about dying when everyone's watching. Doing anything for fame. It's also about worshipping death in medias. The world knew about Harris and Klebold, the columbine killers, half an hour after the tragedy. It's about how we give Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark David Chapman the status of celebrity by showing their masterpiece to the world. Celebritarian Corporation is about giving people what they feel guilty for wanting. It acknowledges our society's worst problem, guilt.³ This theme is also reminiscent of the very name "Marilyn Manson", which is intended to mock America's obsession with death.

[edit] The Members

Below are a list of people who Manson has made mention to taking some part in the movement apart from himself.

Cory Simonson
Gottfried Helnwein
Ashley Rahn
Brad Sears
Lynnz Wilmot
Tom Lero
Steven Klein
Anthony Silva
John Galliano
Charles Koutris (director of photography for Doppelherz)
Perou (London-based long-time official photographer of Marilyn Manson)
Madonna Ciccone (recently introduced to her, Marilyn Manson has openly expressed his admiration for and metaphysical compatibility with her)

[edit] The Cross of Lorraine

Manson has stated that the Celebritarian cross is slightly different from Cross of Lorraine as it is more symmetrical. He also feels that it is a representation of a lot of things they, the artists involved, identify with. Manson himself refers to the cross as "the double cross", which represents a concept of duality fundamental Manson's body of work. However on his website he used an image of a knight who bears the cross of lorraine on him and not just a double cross.³ It should be noted that the cover of the unreleased book companion to 2000's Holy Wood contains an implied "double cross".

[edit] Projects

The major work attributed to the group is the upcoming film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll.

A sixth studio album from Marilyn Manson, which is currently in production soon to be finished possibly for next year.

The Holy Wood book was originally supposed to be released around the same time as the Holy Wood album. Manson has stated in an interview³ that he is going to try and release the book sometime, though he also hints it may not be in book form.

Cryptic in its nature so far is the overhaul of Marilyn Manson's official website. However, his site has undergone similar incarnations—flash movie with Easter eggs. In recent interviews Manson has stated that the site will be the best incarnation of it thus far in his career, rumoured to contain his full song and video catalogue in addition to all of his other artworks, and the Phantasmagoria movies.