This might just be a me thing, but does anyone else get (possibly unnecessarily) annoyed when they see someone calling anything with elevated religious imagery as "Ethel Cain coded" or anything related to Preacher's Daughter? For the sake of simplicity, yes obviously the character of the preacher's daughter will naturally have religious imagery with it, but I'm so disappointed that the album and character are only boiled down to the "religious" cannibalised girl
Focusing on the religious aspect, one of the biggest aspects of the album is her religious struggle with her identity. How she was spoon fed this ideology as the daughter of the preacher. How she questions God, her parents, everything she grew up with. She's the preacher's daughter, but the religious trauma isn't the only aspect of her character or the album. Most of the songs don't even focus on that
I know that art is subjective and it's obvious that everyone digested this album differently, but that can coexist with this: if your only takeaway from PD is religious trauma and cannibalism, then you didn't listen to it
Many of the songs focus on her relationships, yes with God, but also Willoughby in A House In Nebraska, easily one of the most gut wrenching songs on the album. Her relationship with her parents as she goes against everything she was raised in when she runs away. The abuse she suffers in Western Nights and Hard Times, and ultimately her death in Ptolemaea-August Underground-Televangelism, because of how sheltered she was, but she doesn't blame her parents. And although it's called Preacher's Daughter (her father) she talks to her mom at the end of Strangers
Again with subjectivity, I feel as though the ending with Sun Bleached Flies and Strangers was open when it came to Ethel's faith. To me personally, it seemed as though that she made peace with the church, but didn't necessarily return to it
Current state of being (when woken up at 4 am with lots of internal talk. Mostly good. Some eh. I also felt a little hungry and slightly itchyβ¦) π€·ββοΈπ€£
Iβm going to scream with laughter! Isssss sβmeeeeeeeee (sometimes)!!!! ππ€·ββοΈπ€£π€£οΏ½οΏ½ (Iβm nothing if not self awareβ¦) π€£π€£π€£π€·ββοΈππ§ββοΈπ