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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.”

It is also the namesake of an art gallery owned by Marilyn Manson, called the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art. The gallery, located at 667 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, is home to a collection of watercolor paintings by Marilyn Manson.

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 through researching the databases and records of the United States Patent and Trademark Office 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.

File:CCMansonTakeover.jpg
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"Template:Fn 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.Template:Fn

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)

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",Template:Fn because the word Celebritarian could sound like it is pro-celebrity status.

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 worshiping death in the media. 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.Template:Fn This theme is also reminiscent of the very name "Marilyn Manson", which is intended to mock America's obsession with death. There are also strong hints of derivation from Romanticism, which Manson himself has referenced numerous times when discussing the Corporation and the upcoming album.

Also, note a key phrase that appears on a shirt... "WE DONT BELIEVE IN CREDIBILITY, BECAUSE WE ARE INCREDIBLE."

The Members

Below are a list of people who Manson has made mention to taking some part in the movement and its projects apart from himself. It is speculated that each member will oversee some artistic branch of the Corporation, such as Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano for textiles, Perou and Gottfried Helnwein for photographic endeavours, Angelina Jolie and Lily Cole (possibly also Tilda Swinton) for drama, et cetera. This pattern of duality, there being two artists for each branch, reflects the 'double-edged' nature of the Cross of Lorraine which is the movement's symbol, which Manson has modified and prefers to call the 'Double Cross'. Currently, only Perou has an explicit involvement with the movement, though Jolie, Swinton, and Cole have expressed their involvement with the cinematic elements of the movement. That there are three actresses seems to mirror the Fates and Graces.

  • Gottfried Helnwein
  • Tilda Swinton (set to have involvement in Manson's current film project "Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll"; her portrait has also been painted recently by Manson)
  • Lily Cole (like Swinton, is involved with the Phantasmagoria production)
  • Vivienne Westwood (the replacement of Terri King as Manson's official couturier; also, Manson is the official model for Westwood's famed "Man" collection; his ex-wife, Dita von Teese, is the official model for Westwood's female collections)
  • Steven Klein
  • Anthony Silva
  • John Galliano (with Westwood, foreseen to be one of the Corporation's official couturiers; to be integral in the movement's textile productions)
  • Charles Koutris (director of photography for Doppelherz)
  • Perou (London-based long-time official photographer of Marilyn Manson; also, Perou has stated in his online Diary that Manson recently presented him with a unique 'Celebritarian Ring', featuring the Cross of Lorraine and constructed from black onyx and platinum, the only other of which Marilyn himself has; this seems to confirm an official affiliation with the movement)
  • Madonna Ciccone (recently introduced to her, Marilyn Manson has openly expressed his admiration for and metaphysical compatibility with her)
  • Evan Rachel Wood (is involved with the Phantasmagoria production as well)

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 in 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.Template:Fn It should be noted that the cover of the unreleased book companion to 2000's Holy Wood contains an implied "double cross".

Projects

  • An art gallery, which opened on Halloween, 2006 in Los Angeles called the "Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art". It is by-appointment-only and currently exhibiting the majority of Manson's watercolours. An exhaustive catalogue of these paintings to date is presently available in the 'Body of Work' section on the official Manson website, found under the 'Artwork' section.
  • A sixth studio album from Marilyn Manson, titled "EAT ME, DRINK ME" is finished and will be released on June 5th. Announcement of this, Manson's final studio album, first surfaced in the press release announcing the removal of guitarist John 5 from the band in April, 2004: "The band has decided to part ways with guitarist John 5 as recording sessions for the next album begin."Template:Fn
  • The Holy Wood book was originally supposed to be released around the same time as the Holy Wood album. Manson has stated in an interviewTemplate:Fn 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 numerous incarnations—notably many flash movies with Easter eggs. In recent interviews, Manson has stated that the site will be the best incarnation of itself 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. It is also rumoured that the site will be, when fully online, the product of an entire year's-worth of design and coding, as well as purportedly costing six million dollars—five of which spent just to buy back the rights to the domain name and the branded trademark of the name "Marilyn Manson", the ownership of each previously being held by Manson's label, Interscope Records, a division of music giant Universal Music Group.

References

Notes

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