#mr. self destruct

[peptoabyssmaal]

my first real attempt at photobashing

[draconabraxas]

i know i already said it but i just re-read Mr. Self Destruct and i love it so much🩷🩷🩷. the charecterization of will is just phenomenal and i cant wait to see all the angst that i can feel manifesting in chapter 2 right now.

OMG THANK YOU!!!! I’m editing chapter 2 right now and it’ll be out soon. brace yourself for angst 😭😭😭😭😭

[hikaruchen]

tw//gore

Some Trent Reznor fanarts based on the downward spiral and broken era

[itscauseimbatman]

I take you where you want to go

I give you all you need to know

I drag you down I use you up

Mr. Self Destruct

[golvio]

[fingersnatcher]

[k00263329]

GRAPHIC DESIGN: STORY PROJECT

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS TRACK 1: MR. SELF DESTRUCT 

I wanted to start this project with something simple to get some creative juices flowing. 

The opening track from ‘The Downward Spiral’ begins with a sample of a man seemingly being beaten or tortured. For years it wasn’t very clear to me what was going on in this part of the song but after a bit of research I discovered the sample to be from THX 1138 (1971) the directorial debut of George Lucas (of Star Wars fame). I decided to watch the film to understand Trent Reznor’s motivation for using the sample. 

The film takes place in a dystopian future where people are merely a means of production who are controlled by android police and forced to take daily doses of drugs that suppress human emotion. The protagonist, like everybody else in this world, goes not by a name but a prefix followed by a series of numbers (he answers himself to THX 1138). It would be fair to say that THX 1138 draws much of its inspiration from similar stories, such as 1984 and Brave New World, respectively. 

The scene in question depicts the THX 1138 viewing a simulation of another man being beaten by one of the android officers. THX 1138 stares vacantly at the simulation, seemingly feeling nothing towards it. Later in the film THX finds himself in a similar situation to the man he viewed in the simulation, as seen in the poster idea above. 

The scene struck me for the stark minimalism of it, seemingly taking place in a vast and endless sea of nothingness. I wanted to incorporate a lyric from the song Mr. Self Destruct, so I went with the line that repeats throughout the song “...and I control you.”

I am the voice inside your head (and I control you) I am the lover in your bed (and I control you) I am the sex that you provide (and I control you) I am the hate you try to hide (and I control you)

Mr. Self Destruct acts as an introduction for the albums protagonist and bears a lot of foreshadowing for his inevitable fate. It establishes the ways in which he is controlled, be it by his own terrible vices (sex, drugs, etc.) or established systems and ideological constructs ingrained into our society (religion, etc.). He is a slave that desires to be broken free from his chains. As the album progress we will see him succeed in doing this, only to find himself in a new set of chains. 

[exclusionzonebird]

Mr. Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails