www.youtube.com/embed/Rl6fyhZ0G5E
^^due to copy right issues I cannot Embed the video please see the link above for the video ^^
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In this post I will be doing an in depth analysis of the music video for "Personal Jesus" by the extremely controversial musician "Marilyn Manson" ever since Marilyn Manson started in his music career he always tried to push the boundaries of what he could get away with in his music and in his music videos, due to this attitude, Manson was banned from performing in Italy because he dressed as the pope on stage and did "disrespectful actions" in this post we will look at how Goodwin's Theory can be applied to this music video also we will discuss the mise-en-scene and what editing skills really make this video stand out and get the reaction that Manson was looking for. WARNING- THIS VIDEO MAY CONTAIN IMAGES THAT SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTRESSING OR OFFENSIVE VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Firstly what we will look at is a feature from Goodwin's theory called "the male gaze" this is basically any form of voyeurism and is not only applicable to men only in this video we see many examples of this, a major display of voyeurism is at time : 1:00
here we see manson holding out his hands and clearly addressing the audience and showing the audience that he is supposed to represent Jesus in a weird ying and yang kind of way, this idea is due to the opposing colour scheme that Manson uses in his unique dress style, featuring heavily the idea of black and white opposition, his name comes from mixing "Charles Manson" and "Marilyn Monroe" trying to show a perfect balance between good and evil, also this is obviously a very big slap in the face to any religious person, by likening himself to Jesus and suggesting that amongst Jesus' good deeds there also had to be some form of evil or darkness.
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Later at 1:41 we see this very clear representation of the female form as being an object of pleasure and sexual gratification, as mentioned in Goodwin's theory, this is done in order to further shock and or disturb the audience, and as we have already established this is what Marilyn Manson is all about. The target audience for Manson's music is pretty much anyone who likes rock music and doesn't like the way that our world works, with most of Marilyn's songs degrading popular topics such as the government, religion and basic human ethics, Marilyn likes to push the boundaries in every way in a desperate attempt to get his message across and of course, to sell records, the reaction to this video would depend very much on who was actually watching it, if it was a loyal fan of Manson's or an open minded analyst they would see the message that Manson is trying to give in this video, how he mocks all of the false prophets and false idols that this world has promoted as role models or good people, we can say this because in the background there is a large screen on which we see images of different historical figures pop up from JFK and Gandhi to people like Stalin all famous historical figures who tried to change the world in their own way, however if you were a religious individual or perhaps a concerned parent checking out what music your kids were listening too, you may have a few problems... as stated earlier here we have Manson portraying himself as Jesus, however this self proclaimed "Anti-Christ Superstar (the name of one of Manson's most successful albums)" is perhaps not the perfect choice to take on the role of Christ, with his reputation and his continual breaking of "normal behavior" it would be very offensive to any christian to watch, also the amount of sexual content would be seen as completely inappropriate and outrageous to any caring parent, women scantily dressed riding the horses of the Apocalypse leaving very little to their young, hormonal teenagers mind... if you get what I mean.
Marilyn Manson fits into the "Gothic Shock-Rock" scene, bands like; Deathstars, Slipknot, Lordi, Mushroomhead and GWAR all fit into this sub-genre, but what are the trade mark signs of a "Gothic Shock Rocker", and how does Marilyn Manson's video fit into this category? well first let's start by examining the dress code,
Here is a still from the songs video, here we see Manson dressed in smart almost "militarily" clothing, this is very typical in Shock Rock videos, people dress smartly in this genre to try and make you feel insecure, by showing that anyone in the street can really be a dark individual taking away our security we build up in our minds, also the color scheme Manson has gone for (black and white) is extremely common among the "Goth Shock-Rock" sub culture, as this style of music approaches the darker points of the human life and society. Here we see Manson plastered in black and white make-up which is also really common in this genre as this style of music and music videos, this is because the "Shock Rock" music scene is very dramatic and the music videos try to incorporate a play or story, being more of a show than an actual song (like taking a "Narrative Video" to the extreme), we can see this in the video for "Black Widow" By Alice cooper.
Alice Cooper took this idea and really expanded upon it getting famous horror actor "Vincent Price" to appear in the music video and putting an extra few minutes of acting into the video, again we see the use of make up on both Alice Cooper and Vincent Price, clearly a major influence on Marilyn Manson and all shock rockers to follow. Also here we see Alice cooper with a leash and chain around his neck which is linked in with S&M another major part of the shock rock genre, we see aspects of this in the personal Jesus video too.
Another aspect of the "Shock Rock" is of course... THE SHOCK! artists today (and through time) have always tried to push the boundaries when it comes to what is socially acceptable, the really ironic thing is that one musician throughout history who definitely influenced all shock rockers was none other than... Madonna, as cheesy and poppy as Madonna is (who is reviled as the queen of pop) she was a major influence on the shock rock Genre and can be attributed to some of the shock rock videos we get today, like Manson she spat in the face of what was acceptable in religion and modern society (at the time) making her extremely relative to this article, even though she isn't donning the black and white make up we can see that this video is overly narrative, another aspect of shock rock as noted before.
All of these things aside this video is and amazing example of the "gothic rock" scene and the musicians and music that comes from this genre, Manson is just one of many musicians that love to stand out and flaunt the fact that they are different, the whole "gothic scene" is pretty much shown in this video, with the dark clothing, make up and the idea of Yin and Yang pops up everywhere in this subculture, Manson along with groups and artists like; Cradle of Filth, Alice Cooper and Rammstein are pioneers in the "Gothic Shock Rock" sub-culture and Genre of music and provide us media students with some amazing Music videos to analyse.
Cradle Of Filth Rammstein
Also we can see here the application of the objectification of women that is talked about in "Mulvey's Theory", Angelina Jolie is stereotypically shown as a very sexually desirable woman in modern media, always dressed in provocative outfits and made up in make up. 
here we see the male gaze that is mentioned in Goodwin's theory, this is very early on coming in at 0:09 prior to this we see the above image of Angelina Jolie walking away from the camera, this shot not only grabs the attention of the viewer, but it also establishes Angelina Jolie as the main subject of the music video. It is also interesting to note the outfit that Angelina Jolie is wearing, a pure white outfit makes her stand out from the otherwise dark background, this is again to objectify Angelina and establish her as the main point of interest in the video, later on in the video her outfit changes when she steps in to the wall of energy with the band Korn.
