"The Lottery" [Review Literary Terms Tab]
We are studying this story in order to explore how the "messages" of stories, the "themes" or "social commentary", can span different artistic mediums. Below you'll find a comprehensive study guide that dissects all of the literary elements of the story.
We'll compare Jackson's message to more modern works that her story seems to have inspired: Marilyn Manson's music video "Man That You Fear" and M. Knight Shyamalan's film "The Village".
The Lottery :
Click here to read the story: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html
By Shirley Jackson (1919-1965)
A Study Guide
Courtesy of: http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/TheLottery.html
Jackson's obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1214.html
Type of Work .......“The Lottery” is a short story in the horror genre. Critics generally consider it one of the finest American short stories of the twentieth century. Date of Publication
..
......."The Lottery" was published onJune 26, 1948, in The New Yorker, a literary magazine. Its shocking ending horrified readers, who deluged the magazine with letters of complaint. Many readers cancelled their subscription to the magazine. After the hubbub subsided, critics realized what an outstanding short story it was. Today, the story appears in numerous anthologies for high school and college students. Setting .......The action takes place between 10 a.m. and noon on June 27, a sunny day, in a New England village. Characters Bobby Martin: Boy who loads his pockets with stones that he will use after townspeople draw lottery numbers. He also helps build a pile of stones.
Baxter Martin: Older brother of Bobby Martin.
Harry Jones: Boy who joins Bobby Martin in building the pile of stones.
Dickie Delacroix: Boy who joins Bobby Martin and Harry Jones in building the pile of stones.
Mr. Martin: Bobby Martin's father. He operates a grocery store.
Mrs. Martin: Wife of Mr. Martin.
Joe Summers: Coal dealer who conducts the lottery. He has no children.
Mr. Summers's Wife: Shrewish woman.
Mr. Graves: Postmaster. He assists Mr. Summers.
Mrs. Graves: Wife of the postmaster.
Old Man Warner: Oldest man in town.
Tessie Hutchinson: Woman who arrives late for the lottery.
Bill Hutchinson: Husband of Mrs. Hutchinson.
Bill Jr., Nancy, Little Dave: Children of Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson.
School Friends of Nancy Hutchinson
Eva: Daughter of Bill and Tessie Hutchinson.
Don: Eva's husband.
Mrs. Delacroix: Mother of Dickie Delacroix.
Mr. Delacroix: Husband of Mrs. Delacroix.
Clyde Dunbar: Village resident who broke his leg and cannot attend the lottery.
Janey Dunbar: Wife of Clyde Dunbar. She draws for her husband.
Horace Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar. Being under sixteen, he is not old enough to draw for his father.
Another Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar.
Jack Watson: Teenager who draws for himself and his mother.
Mrs.Watson: Mother of the Watson boy.
Steve Adams: First villager to draw from the lottery box.
Mrs. Adams: Wife of Steve Adams.
Allen, Anderson, Bentham, Clarak: Residents who draw after Steve Adams.
Harburt, Jones, Overdyke, Percy, Zanini: Participants who draw next. Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings © 2004 .
.......Residents of a New England village gather at 10 a.m. on June 27 in the square between the post office and the bank for the annual lottery. A bright sun is shining down on fragrant flowers and green lawns while the townspeople–more than 300 of them–await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black wooden box from which everyone is to draw a folded slip of paper. Adults chat while children play a game in which they gather stones. Whoever draws the slip of paper with the black dot on it will receive all of the lottery proceeds.
.......Over the years, the lottery rules and trappings remained the same except for minor changes: Wood chips were replaced by the slips of paper, and ritual chants and salutes preceding the drawing were eliminated. Other than those modernizations, the same old rules prevailed year after year.
.......No one in the square knows why or under what circumstances the lottery began. All they know is that it is a tradition–a tradition that they are not willing to abandon.
.......After Mr. Summers shows up with the black box, he sets it down and prepares for the drawing. A housewife, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, arrives late just then, telling Mrs. Delacroix that she “Clean forgot what day it was” until she noticed that her children had left her house and remembered it was the day of the lottery.
.......Each of the townspeople draws a folded slip of paper but does not open it until everyone has drawn. When the big moment arrives, it is Tessie Hutchinson who has the paper with the black dot. Everyone then closes in on her, picks up rocks–the “proceeds” of the lottery–and stones her to death.
Themes Theme 1:.The reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. The villagers continue the lottery year after year because, as one of the villagers would say, “We have always had a lottery as far back as I can remember. I see no reason to end it.” Put another way, this theme says: “We’ve always done it this way. Why change now?” In real life, defenders of the status quo have used this philosophy down through the ages and into the present day. For example, it was used in 1776 to retain slavery even though the Declaration of Independence asserted that “all men are created equal.” Until 1919, it was used to prevent women from voting. Until the 1960's, it was used as an official public policy to allow racial segregation. This philosophy continues to be used today to retain outmoded practices, discriminatory practices, and sometimes dangerous practices. These practices include the use of paper ballots in elections, the use of nuclear weapons, capital punishment, abortion, anti-Semitism, racial profiling, and denial of health benefits to the poor.
AND to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry.
Theme 2:.Society wrongfully designates scapegoats to bear the sins of the community. According to some interpretations of “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death to appease forces desiring a sacrificial lamb offered in atonement for the sins of others. The practice of using scapegoats dates back to ancient times, when Jews ritually burdened a goat with the sins of the people, then threw it over a cliff to rid the community of those sins. Ancient Greeks performed a similar ritual with a human scapegoat, although the scapegoat apparently did not die. In ancient Rome, an innocent person could take on the sin of a guilty person, thus purifying the latter. Early societies in Central and South America offered human sacrifices to appease higher powers.
This theme seems to be what Manson is referring to in his music video.
Theme 3:.The wickedness of ordinary people can be just as horrifying as the heinous crime of a serial killer or a sadistic head of state. From time to time, we are surprised to learn that the man, woman, or even child next door–a quiet, unassuming postal worker, bank clerk, or student–has committed offenses so outrageous that they make national news.
Theme 4:.The unexamined life is not worth living. The truth of this dictum of the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, becomes clear when the townspeople refuse to examine their traditions and continue to take part in a barbaric ritual.
Perhaps this is what Shymalan is exploring (partly) in his film.
Theme 5:.Following the crowd can have disastrous consequences. Although some townspeople raise questions about the lottery, they all go along with it in the end. Thus, they become unthinking members of a herd, forfeiting their individuality and sending Tessie Hutchinson to her death. A List of Horrors .......Some first-time readers of "The Lottery" tend to cite the ending, describing the commencement of the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson, as the only disturbing part of the story. But those who have studied the story know otherwise. Consider, for example, the following:
Black box: (1) Evil or death, suggested by the color of the box. (2) Outdated tradition, suggested by this sentence: "The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained."
Boys gathering stones and pebbles: Indoctrination or brainwashing that is passed on from one generation to the next.
Old Man Warner: Anyone who warns others not to change; hidebound traditionalist; ; obstructionist. Is it ironic that Marilyn Manson's real name is Brian Warner??!
Mr. Summers: The appearance of normalcy and cheerfulness hiding evil and corruption.
Bill and Davy Hutchinson: Betrayers. The narrator says, "Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd." As for Davy, he has pebbles ready to throw at his mother. Hutchinson was the name of an official who lodged a complaint against several women in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
Mr. Graves: Bringer of death; any sinister influence. Graves helps Joe Summers prepare the slips of paper that will send one of the residents to his or her grave. Graves also brings the stool on which the black box rests.
Village: That which appears normal and even benevolent but which harbors inner corruption and evil.
Mrs. Delacroix: In French, de means of and la croix means the cross. Mrs. Delacroix, who treats Tessie Hutchinson cordially when the latter arrives for the drawing, later picks up a huge stone to hurl at the condemned woman. One may say that she "double-crosses" Tessie by helping to "crucify" her.
We'll compare Jackson's message to more modern works that her story seems to have inspired: Marilyn Manson's music video "Man That You Fear" and M. Knight Shyamalan's film "The Village".
The Lottery :
Click here to read the story: http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html
By Shirley Jackson (1919-1965)
A Study Guide
Courtesy of: http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/TheLottery.html
Jackson's obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1214.html
Type of Work .......“The Lottery” is a short story in the horror genre. Critics generally consider it one of the finest American short stories of the twentieth century. Date of Publication
..
......."The Lottery" was published onJune 26, 1948, in The New Yorker, a literary magazine. Its shocking ending horrified readers, who deluged the magazine with letters of complaint. Many readers cancelled their subscription to the magazine. After the hubbub subsided, critics realized what an outstanding short story it was. Today, the story appears in numerous anthologies for high school and college students. Setting .......The action takes place between 10 a.m. and noon on June 27, a sunny day, in a New England village. Characters Bobby Martin: Boy who loads his pockets with stones that he will use after townspeople draw lottery numbers. He also helps build a pile of stones.
Baxter Martin: Older brother of Bobby Martin.
Harry Jones: Boy who joins Bobby Martin in building the pile of stones.
Dickie Delacroix: Boy who joins Bobby Martin and Harry Jones in building the pile of stones.
Mr. Martin: Bobby Martin's father. He operates a grocery store.
Mrs. Martin: Wife of Mr. Martin.
Joe Summers: Coal dealer who conducts the lottery. He has no children.
Mr. Summers's Wife: Shrewish woman.
Mr. Graves: Postmaster. He assists Mr. Summers.
Mrs. Graves: Wife of the postmaster.
Old Man Warner: Oldest man in town.
Tessie Hutchinson: Woman who arrives late for the lottery.
Bill Hutchinson: Husband of Mrs. Hutchinson.
Bill Jr., Nancy, Little Dave: Children of Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson.
School Friends of Nancy Hutchinson
Eva: Daughter of Bill and Tessie Hutchinson.
Don: Eva's husband.
Mrs. Delacroix: Mother of Dickie Delacroix.
Mr. Delacroix: Husband of Mrs. Delacroix.
Clyde Dunbar: Village resident who broke his leg and cannot attend the lottery.
Janey Dunbar: Wife of Clyde Dunbar. She draws for her husband.
Horace Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar. Being under sixteen, he is not old enough to draw for his father.
Another Dunbar: Son of Clyde and Janey Dunbar.
Jack Watson: Teenager who draws for himself and his mother.
Mrs.Watson: Mother of the Watson boy.
Steve Adams: First villager to draw from the lottery box.
Mrs. Adams: Wife of Steve Adams.
Allen, Anderson, Bentham, Clarak: Residents who draw after Steve Adams.
Harburt, Jones, Overdyke, Percy, Zanini: Participants who draw next. Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings © 2004 .
.......Residents of a New England village gather at 10 a.m. on June 27 in the square between the post office and the bank for the annual lottery. A bright sun is shining down on fragrant flowers and green lawns while the townspeople–more than 300 of them–await the arrival of Mr. Summers and the black wooden box from which everyone is to draw a folded slip of paper. Adults chat while children play a game in which they gather stones. Whoever draws the slip of paper with the black dot on it will receive all of the lottery proceeds.
.......Over the years, the lottery rules and trappings remained the same except for minor changes: Wood chips were replaced by the slips of paper, and ritual chants and salutes preceding the drawing were eliminated. Other than those modernizations, the same old rules prevailed year after year.
.......No one in the square knows why or under what circumstances the lottery began. All they know is that it is a tradition–a tradition that they are not willing to abandon.
.......After Mr. Summers shows up with the black box, he sets it down and prepares for the drawing. A housewife, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson, arrives late just then, telling Mrs. Delacroix that she “Clean forgot what day it was” until she noticed that her children had left her house and remembered it was the day of the lottery.
.......Each of the townspeople draws a folded slip of paper but does not open it until everyone has drawn. When the big moment arrives, it is Tessie Hutchinson who has the paper with the black dot. Everyone then closes in on her, picks up rocks–the “proceeds” of the lottery–and stones her to death.
Themes Theme 1:.The reluctance of people to reject outdated traditions, ideas, rules, laws, and practices. The villagers continue the lottery year after year because, as one of the villagers would say, “We have always had a lottery as far back as I can remember. I see no reason to end it.” Put another way, this theme says: “We’ve always done it this way. Why change now?” In real life, defenders of the status quo have used this philosophy down through the ages and into the present day. For example, it was used in 1776 to retain slavery even though the Declaration of Independence asserted that “all men are created equal.” Until 1919, it was used to prevent women from voting. Until the 1960's, it was used as an official public policy to allow racial segregation. This philosophy continues to be used today to retain outmoded practices, discriminatory practices, and sometimes dangerous practices. These practices include the use of paper ballots in elections, the use of nuclear weapons, capital punishment, abortion, anti-Semitism, racial profiling, and denial of health benefits to the poor.
AND to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry.
Theme 2:.Society wrongfully designates scapegoats to bear the sins of the community. According to some interpretations of “The Lottery,” Tessie Hutchinson is stoned to death to appease forces desiring a sacrificial lamb offered in atonement for the sins of others. The practice of using scapegoats dates back to ancient times, when Jews ritually burdened a goat with the sins of the people, then threw it over a cliff to rid the community of those sins. Ancient Greeks performed a similar ritual with a human scapegoat, although the scapegoat apparently did not die. In ancient Rome, an innocent person could take on the sin of a guilty person, thus purifying the latter. Early societies in Central and South America offered human sacrifices to appease higher powers.
This theme seems to be what Manson is referring to in his music video.
Theme 3:.The wickedness of ordinary people can be just as horrifying as the heinous crime of a serial killer or a sadistic head of state. From time to time, we are surprised to learn that the man, woman, or even child next door–a quiet, unassuming postal worker, bank clerk, or student–has committed offenses so outrageous that they make national news.
Theme 4:.The unexamined life is not worth living. The truth of this dictum of the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, becomes clear when the townspeople refuse to examine their traditions and continue to take part in a barbaric ritual.
Perhaps this is what Shymalan is exploring (partly) in his film.
Theme 5:.Following the crowd can have disastrous consequences. Although some townspeople raise questions about the lottery, they all go along with it in the end. Thus, they become unthinking members of a herd, forfeiting their individuality and sending Tessie Hutchinson to her death. A List of Horrors .......Some first-time readers of "The Lottery" tend to cite the ending, describing the commencement of the stoning of Tessie Hutchinson, as the only disturbing part of the story. But those who have studied the story know otherwise. Consider, for example, the following:
- After executing a woman by stoning, the townspeople will go home to eat lunch or go back to work as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The first paragraph says, "[T][he whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o'clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner." The tenth paragraph says, "Well, now," Mr. Summers said soberly, "guess we better get started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work."
- The villagers do not excuse children from the lottery. Even Nancy Hutchinson, 12, and her little brother, Davy, must draw from the black box. If a child draws the slip of paper with the black dot, he or she will be stoned.
- Children take part in the stoning. Little Davy is so small that he throws pebbles.
- Nancy Hutchinson and her brother Bill laugh when they draw blank lots. Only two people remain to draw, their father and mother. How could Nancy and Bill laugh when they know that their father or mother will draw the lot with the black spot and die?
- Mr. Hutchinson pulls from his wife's hand the slip of paper she has drawn--the losing lot--and holds it up for all to see. He does not plead for his wife; he does not exhibit any sympathy. Instead, he becomes one of the executioners.
- The word lottery suggests that the villagers are going to draw for a prize.
- The sunny day suggests that a happy event is about to take place.
- When Old Man Warner hears that the north village is considering ending the lottery, he says, "Next thing you know, they'll be wanting to go back to living in caves." (The lottery is as savage and barbaric a ritual as any practiced by cave dwellers.) And of course, these people live in a cave, as per Plato.
Black box: (1) Evil or death, suggested by the color of the box. (2) Outdated tradition, suggested by this sentence: "The black box grew shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained."
Boys gathering stones and pebbles: Indoctrination or brainwashing that is passed on from one generation to the next.
Old Man Warner: Anyone who warns others not to change; hidebound traditionalist; ; obstructionist. Is it ironic that Marilyn Manson's real name is Brian Warner??!
Mr. Summers: The appearance of normalcy and cheerfulness hiding evil and corruption.
Bill and Davy Hutchinson: Betrayers. The narrator says, "Bill Hutchinson went over to his wife and forced the slip of paper out of her hand. It had a black spot on it, the black spot Mr. Summers had made the night before with the heavy pencil in the coal company office. Bill Hutchinson held it up, and there was a stir in the crowd." As for Davy, he has pebbles ready to throw at his mother. Hutchinson was the name of an official who lodged a complaint against several women in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
Mr. Graves: Bringer of death; any sinister influence. Graves helps Joe Summers prepare the slips of paper that will send one of the residents to his or her grave. Graves also brings the stool on which the black box rests.
Village: That which appears normal and even benevolent but which harbors inner corruption and evil.
Mrs. Delacroix: In French, de means of and la croix means the cross. Mrs. Delacroix, who treats Tessie Hutchinson cordially when the latter arrives for the drawing, later picks up a huge stone to hurl at the condemned woman. One may say that she "double-crosses" Tessie by helping to "crucify" her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rthl_O4_G2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_B_ukrGKo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTDGbLMSts&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so3FidKfczo&feature=related
Manson Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rthl_O4_G2o&feature=player_embedded
Village full movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4NFdLBnD0g
Box at 1:27
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_B_ukrGKo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTDGbLMSts&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so3FidKfczo&feature=related
Manson Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rthl_O4_G2o&feature=player_embedded
Village full movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4NFdLBnD0g
Box at 1:27
Parallels between "The Lottery", "The Village" and "The Man That You Fear":
* Setting in all is a village set apart from society. All portray the dichotomy of tradition versus modernity.
* The story and the film start out prsenting a vision of a seemingly pleasant village, but upon closer examination, we see that there is more to these communities-- that they are shrouded in darkness. The video seems "dark" from the get-go, perhaps Manson's commentary that we can no longer even attempt to hide behind the darkness.
* None of these "stories" are scary by our modern notions of "horror", although they would fall into the "horror genre". "The Village" got poor ratings due to its elimination of classic horror elements. The horror is in the realization of the flaws and imperfections of the human character-- the many "bruises on the human condition", so to speak. In none of the 3 examples does the horror come from a supernatural element; they are examples of enlightenment gothic.
** 3 TYPES OF GOTHIC:
1. High Gothic: Supernatural element remains a mystery and is NOT explained away.
2. Enlightenment Gothic: There's a natural explanation for uncanny events. The supernatural element IS explained away.
3. Ambiguous Gothic: Keeps you hesitating between explanations-- is it a ghost or a psychological manifestation? An example of this is "The Turn of the Screw" or the film "The Others".
*All the villages seem to live by a set of straight forward, simplistic rules that must be followed, NO MATTER WHAT.
* All present the idea of a community that blindly accepts the rules, and all 3 present a "lone voice" in opposition to the norms.
* The children in all seem robotic and are brainwashed into believing that whatever the elders say is truth; they don't recognize the normls as being problematic because they are not taught to think for themselves. They are not examining their lives, just accepting them on faith.
**The stories then could be read as man's insistence upon staying in the cave, refusing enlightenment.
* All contain similar imagery-- setting, characters, ritual.
* These villages are run in response to fear and are "fear cultures". The main fear seems to be modernization and what that means for a "traditional" society.
* In all 3, the fears are unfounded, and the community does more damage to its citizens than good. We can determine this by the reactions of the villagers in each story.
* Imagery of the black box is used in Jackson's story and "The Village". More than just symbolic of death, buried truth, and closed-mindedness, in the film, it also contains evidence of truth-- a dark truth.
* In all, we see the horror of apathy and the destructive nature of blindly accepting the construct of society and not standing up even when something seems so ridiculously absurd. We see, in both, a corrupting power herding their sheep, but it is more terrifying than even that because the powers do not even realize their corruptive nature.
In Jackson's version, we see instinct take over with Tessie-- survival mode. However, in Manson's video, that is absent. He seems to accept his role as "martyr" or "sacrificial lamb", albeit sadly. Perhaps this is a commentary about how society tends to have "given up" on effecting real change. There is a hopelessness in Manson's story that is more profound than the other two.
What hope is there in "The Lottery?" The Village? Manson video of "The Man That You Fear?"
* Setting in all is a village set apart from society. All portray the dichotomy of tradition versus modernity.
* The story and the film start out prsenting a vision of a seemingly pleasant village, but upon closer examination, we see that there is more to these communities-- that they are shrouded in darkness. The video seems "dark" from the get-go, perhaps Manson's commentary that we can no longer even attempt to hide behind the darkness.
* None of these "stories" are scary by our modern notions of "horror", although they would fall into the "horror genre". "The Village" got poor ratings due to its elimination of classic horror elements. The horror is in the realization of the flaws and imperfections of the human character-- the many "bruises on the human condition", so to speak. In none of the 3 examples does the horror come from a supernatural element; they are examples of enlightenment gothic.
** 3 TYPES OF GOTHIC:
1. High Gothic: Supernatural element remains a mystery and is NOT explained away.
2. Enlightenment Gothic: There's a natural explanation for uncanny events. The supernatural element IS explained away.
3. Ambiguous Gothic: Keeps you hesitating between explanations-- is it a ghost or a psychological manifestation? An example of this is "The Turn of the Screw" or the film "The Others".
*All the villages seem to live by a set of straight forward, simplistic rules that must be followed, NO MATTER WHAT.
* All present the idea of a community that blindly accepts the rules, and all 3 present a "lone voice" in opposition to the norms.
* The children in all seem robotic and are brainwashed into believing that whatever the elders say is truth; they don't recognize the normls as being problematic because they are not taught to think for themselves. They are not examining their lives, just accepting them on faith.
**The stories then could be read as man's insistence upon staying in the cave, refusing enlightenment.
* All contain similar imagery-- setting, characters, ritual.
* These villages are run in response to fear and are "fear cultures". The main fear seems to be modernization and what that means for a "traditional" society.
* In all 3, the fears are unfounded, and the community does more damage to its citizens than good. We can determine this by the reactions of the villagers in each story.
* Imagery of the black box is used in Jackson's story and "The Village". More than just symbolic of death, buried truth, and closed-mindedness, in the film, it also contains evidence of truth-- a dark truth.
* In all, we see the horror of apathy and the destructive nature of blindly accepting the construct of society and not standing up even when something seems so ridiculously absurd. We see, in both, a corrupting power herding their sheep, but it is more terrifying than even that because the powers do not even realize their corruptive nature.
In Jackson's version, we see instinct take over with Tessie-- survival mode. However, in Manson's video, that is absent. He seems to accept his role as "martyr" or "sacrificial lamb", albeit sadly. Perhaps this is a commentary about how society tends to have "given up" on effecting real change. There is a hopelessness in Manson's story that is more profound than the other two.
What hope is there in "The Lottery?" The Village? Manson video of "The Man That You Fear?"
Remember? Media Violence Article by Marilyn Manson
Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? by Marilyn Manson
It is sad to think that the first few people on earth needed no books, movies, games or music to inspire cold-blooded murder. The day that Cain bashed his brother Abel's brains in, the only motivation he needed was his own human disposition to violence. Whether you interpret the Bible as literature or as the final word of whatever God may be, Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most homes and around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives. Is it a symbol of hope or hopelessness? The world's most famous murder-suicide was also the birth of the death icon -- the blueprint for celebrity. Unfortunately, for all of their inspiring morality, nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue.
A lot of people forget or never realize that I started my band as a criticism of these very issues of despair and hypocrisy. The name Marilyn Manson has never celebrated the sad fact that America puts killers on the cover of Time magazine, giving them as much notoriety as our favorite movie stars. From Jesse James to Charles Manson, the media, since their inception, have turned criminals into folk heroes. They just created two new ones when they plastered those dipshits Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris' pictures on the front of every newspaper. Don't be surprised if every kid who gets pushed around has two new idols.
We applaud the creation of a bomb whose sole purpose is to destroy all of mankind, and we grow up watching our president's brains splattered all over Texas. Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you could be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses, exploiting, fucking, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity.
When it comes down to who's to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you'll hit someone who's guilty. We're the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we're the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think it's terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don't really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt.
Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black. Of course, speculation snowballed into making me the poster boy for everything that is bad in the world. These two idiots weren't wearing makeup, and they weren't dressed like me or like goths. Since Middle America has not heard of the music they did listen to (KMFDM and Rammstein, among others), the media picked something they thought was similar.
Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? What about David Koresh, Jim Jones? Do you think entertainment inspired Kip Kinkel, or should we blame the fact that his father bought him the guns he used in the Springfield, Oregon, murders? What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? Was it something that Monica Lewinsky said to him? Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason? If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be held personally responsible for what he does with his car or gun? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old?
America loves to find an icon to hang its guilt on. But, admittedly, I have assumed the role of Antichrist; I am the Nineties voice of individuality, and people tend to associate anyone who looks and behaves differently with illegal or immoral activity. Deep down, most adults hate people who go against the grain. It's comical that people are naive enough to have forgotten Elvis, Jim Morrison and Ozzy so quickly. All of them were subjected to the same age-old arguments, scrutiny and prejudice. I wrote a song called "Lunchbox," and some journalists have interpreted it as a song about guns. Ironically, the song is about being picked on and fighting back with my Kiss lunch box, which I used as a weapon on the playground. In 1979, metal lunch boxes were banned because they were considered dangerous weapons in the hands of delinquents. I also wrote a song called "Get Your Gunn." The title is spelled with two n's because the song was a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn, who was killed in Florida by pro-life activists while I was living there. That was the ultimate hypocrisy I witnessed growing up: that these people killed someone in the name of being "pro-life."
The somewhat positive messages of these songs are usually the ones that sensationalists misinterpret as promoting the very things I am decrying. Right now, everyone is thinking of how they can prevent things like Littleton. How do you prevent AIDS, world war, depression, car crashes? We live in a free country, but with that freedom there is a burden of personal responsibility. Rather than teaching a child what is moral and immoral, right and wrong, we first and foremost can establish what the laws that govern us are. You can always escape hell by not believing in it, but you cannot escape death and you cannot escape prison.
It is no wonder that kids are growing up more cynical; they have a lot of information in front of them. They can see that they are living in a world that's made of bullshit. In the past, there was always the idea that you could turn and run and start something better. But now America has become one big mall, and because of the Internet and all of the technology we have, there's nowhere to run. People are the same everywhere. Sometimes music, movies and books are the only things that let us feel like someone else feels like we do. I've always tried to let people know it's OK, or better, if you don't fit into the program. Use your imagination -- if some geek from Ohio can become something, why can't anyone else with the willpower and creativity?
I chose not to jump into the media frenzy and defend myself, though I was begged to be on every single TV show in existence. I didn't want to contribute to these fame-seeking journalists and opportunists looking to fill their churches or to get elected because of their self-righteous finger-pointing. They want to blame entertainment? Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves in eternal fandom. Everyone will agree that nothing was more entertaining than Clinton shooting off his prick and then his bombs in true political form. And the news -- that's obvious. So is entertainment to blame? I'd like media commentators to ask themselves, because their coverage of the event was some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have seen.
I think that the National Rifle Association is far too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom, The Basketball Diaries or yours truly. This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm a controversial artist, one who dares to have an opinion and bothers to create music and videos that challenge people's ideas in a world that is watered-down and hollow. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I've always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us. So don't expect the end of the world to come one day out of the blue -- it's been happening every day for a long time.
MARILYN MANSON
(May 28, 1999)
Posted May 28, 1999 12:00 AM
It is sad to think that the first few people on earth needed no books, movies, games or music to inspire cold-blooded murder. The day that Cain bashed his brother Abel's brains in, the only motivation he needed was his own human disposition to violence. Whether you interpret the Bible as literature or as the final word of whatever God may be, Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most homes and around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives. Is it a symbol of hope or hopelessness? The world's most famous murder-suicide was also the birth of the death icon -- the blueprint for celebrity. Unfortunately, for all of their inspiring morality, nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue.
A lot of people forget or never realize that I started my band as a criticism of these very issues of despair and hypocrisy. The name Marilyn Manson has never celebrated the sad fact that America puts killers on the cover of Time magazine, giving them as much notoriety as our favorite movie stars. From Jesse James to Charles Manson, the media, since their inception, have turned criminals into folk heroes. They just created two new ones when they plastered those dipshits Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris' pictures on the front of every newspaper. Don't be surprised if every kid who gets pushed around has two new idols.
We applaud the creation of a bomb whose sole purpose is to destroy all of mankind, and we grow up watching our president's brains splattered all over Texas. Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you could be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses, exploiting, fucking, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity.
When it comes down to who's to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you'll hit someone who's guilty. We're the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we're the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think it's terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don't really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt.
Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black. Of course, speculation snowballed into making me the poster boy for everything that is bad in the world. These two idiots weren't wearing makeup, and they weren't dressed like me or like goths. Since Middle America has not heard of the music they did listen to (KMFDM and Rammstein, among others), the media picked something they thought was similar.
Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? What about David Koresh, Jim Jones? Do you think entertainment inspired Kip Kinkel, or should we blame the fact that his father bought him the guns he used in the Springfield, Oregon, murders? What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? Was it something that Monica Lewinsky said to him? Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason? If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be held personally responsible for what he does with his car or gun? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old?
America loves to find an icon to hang its guilt on. But, admittedly, I have assumed the role of Antichrist; I am the Nineties voice of individuality, and people tend to associate anyone who looks and behaves differently with illegal or immoral activity. Deep down, most adults hate people who go against the grain. It's comical that people are naive enough to have forgotten Elvis, Jim Morrison and Ozzy so quickly. All of them were subjected to the same age-old arguments, scrutiny and prejudice. I wrote a song called "Lunchbox," and some journalists have interpreted it as a song about guns. Ironically, the song is about being picked on and fighting back with my Kiss lunch box, which I used as a weapon on the playground. In 1979, metal lunch boxes were banned because they were considered dangerous weapons in the hands of delinquents. I also wrote a song called "Get Your Gunn." The title is spelled with two n's because the song was a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn, who was killed in Florida by pro-life activists while I was living there. That was the ultimate hypocrisy I witnessed growing up: that these people killed someone in the name of being "pro-life."
The somewhat positive messages of these songs are usually the ones that sensationalists misinterpret as promoting the very things I am decrying. Right now, everyone is thinking of how they can prevent things like Littleton. How do you prevent AIDS, world war, depression, car crashes? We live in a free country, but with that freedom there is a burden of personal responsibility. Rather than teaching a child what is moral and immoral, right and wrong, we first and foremost can establish what the laws that govern us are. You can always escape hell by not believing in it, but you cannot escape death and you cannot escape prison.
It is no wonder that kids are growing up more cynical; they have a lot of information in front of them. They can see that they are living in a world that's made of bullshit. In the past, there was always the idea that you could turn and run and start something better. But now America has become one big mall, and because of the Internet and all of the technology we have, there's nowhere to run. People are the same everywhere. Sometimes music, movies and books are the only things that let us feel like someone else feels like we do. I've always tried to let people know it's OK, or better, if you don't fit into the program. Use your imagination -- if some geek from Ohio can become something, why can't anyone else with the willpower and creativity?
I chose not to jump into the media frenzy and defend myself, though I was begged to be on every single TV show in existence. I didn't want to contribute to these fame-seeking journalists and opportunists looking to fill their churches or to get elected because of their self-righteous finger-pointing. They want to blame entertainment? Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves in eternal fandom. Everyone will agree that nothing was more entertaining than Clinton shooting off his prick and then his bombs in true political form. And the news -- that's obvious. So is entertainment to blame? I'd like media commentators to ask themselves, because their coverage of the event was some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have seen.
I think that the National Rifle Association is far too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom, The Basketball Diaries or yours truly. This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm a controversial artist, one who dares to have an opinion and bothers to create music and videos that challenge people's ideas in a world that is watered-down and hollow. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I've always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us. So don't expect the end of the world to come one day out of the blue -- it's been happening every day for a long time.
MARILYN MANSON
(May 28, 1999)
Posted May 28, 1999 12:00 AM