I am Hungry
The flesh is tender between the fingers.
To score a pomegranate, place a blade along the leathery skin.
The skin is tough. Yet, when the blade slices, the fruit yields. The protective wall is stripped bare, and seeds are produced as red fluid stains the fingers.
The toughest exterior. So different from the malleable interior.
The fingers are red.
The seeds and membrane juxtapose its callused skin. The fruit's being must be ripped apart to consume the decadent meat.
The pomegranate is valued for what is inside. Its outward perception is inconsequential.
Greek myths associate the fragile process of extracting the fruit’s seeds and the vulnerability of the food once peeled with love, abundance and fertility.
When Hades, the god of the dead, abducted Persephone, he tricked her into eating six pomegranate seeds. In Greek mythology, consuming any food or drink in the underworld traps the consumer in the realm of the dead for a time, contingent on the amount of food eaten. Six pomegranate seeds. Six months condemned to the Greek version of hell for Persephone.
While the union of Hades and Persephone was produced by the symbolic act of commitment and devotion from the seeds, the fable created an ulterior allegory: destructive adoration. What once represented life, rebirth and romance now can symbolize toxic or abusive relationships.
What happens when a symbol of dedication and passion begins to reflect the deadlier aspects of love?
The process must be gentle and coaxing to access the seeds of a pomegranate without harming the soft interior. But once inside, the fruit is able and willing to give everything of value to its recipient.
Once eaten, the fruit is nothing.
Modern interpretations of pomegranate symbolism focus on the fruit's more complex, dark renderings.
TikTok users have begun showcasing grimmer representations of pomegranate artwork, such as fluid flowing from mangled versions of the fruit that eerily resembles blood.
The flesh of a pomegranate is tough. The inside of the fruit is delicate and delectable.
The human body is a protective barrier for the blood, organs and bones on the inside.
The body serves as the casing for the soul.
And to truly love another being is to peel back the callused exterior of your skin and personally offer your soul to the other.
And to accept that love is to make the conscious decision to hold the other’s soul like it is your very own body.
And what is the easiest way to make another’s body your own? To consume them.
Contemporary multimedia has begun to utilize the grotesque act of cannibalism as an allegory for both virtuous and wicked love, such as Ethel Cain’s album “Preacher’s Daughter” and Luca Guadagnino’s film “Bones and All.” These two works of media are critically acclaimed. But is their use of cannibalism desensitizing us?
Ethel Cain’s 2022 concept album “Preacher’s Daughter” details a fictitious storyline about a young girl’s religious and generational trauma in Western America. After Ethel goes through two tumultuous romances, her third and final lover, Isaiah, murders her and cannibalizes her in the album's final track, “Strangers.”
The line, “You’re so handsome when I’m all over your mouth,” encapsulates the dichotomous dynamic in romantic relationships and Cain’s album.
“You’re so handsome” highlights the childlike nature of love—flattery, empathy and intimacy.
In contrast, “I’m all over your mouth” demonstrates the inherent sexual dynamic in relationships while incorporating an allegory for cannibalism and love.
Cain explains throughout the final act of her album that after she runs away from her hometown, Isaiah eventually gets her hooked on drugs while pimping her out in “Gibson Girl.” Despite Isaiah’s abuse and eventual murder, the lover’s cannibalization of Ethel shows his own sadistic version of undying love.
Isaiah lacks the empathetic capacity and sanity to love Ethel properly. In an act of lunacy and obsession, he cannibalizes her. In his own sick, sadistic way, it’s his only means of demonstrating his love. And from the afterlife, Cain reminds Isaiah to not linger on his transgression or he’ll “never sleep a wink at night again.”
Cain’s use of cannibalism to discuss the fine line between love and hate is a music critic's wet dream. But is the imagery of a human being sadistically murdering and eating another person trauma porn? Or, does the narrative open a different perspective in our minds to more critically analyze media?
Guadagnino’s 2022 film titled “Bones and All” details the tale of two lovers who embark on an odyssey across rural America. However, Lee (Timothée Chalamet) and Maren (Taylor Russell) are part of a hidden group of people who possess an initial desire to eat humans. Fighting and embracing their cannibal urges together, the pair’s romance was considered one of the best screen romances of the year.
Lee and Maren both murdered and cannibalized guilty and innocent people alike. What makes their love transcendent above all others?
Their raw acceptance of both their absolute best and utter worst qualities.
In the titular and heart-wrenching final act, Lee lies bleeding and dying on the floor of their household following a home invasion. Maren grasps him to her, reassuring him that everything will be OK and that she’ll find him help. Lee, knowing that he’s lost too much blood, begs Maren to eat him — “bones and all.”
In the film, the cannibal people only consume the bodies of their victims, disposing of the bones left behind. However, in a few instances, the cannibals would eat people's bones and all, abandoning their humanity and succumbing to their darkest desires.
By Maren consuming his entire being, Lee reverses the antagonistic meaning of bones and all by consciously offering his body to her. He cares for her so deeply that he would do anything for her. Even if that be allowing her to eat his body to curb her undying need for human flesh.
And she does. She consumes him. Bones and all.
He literally becomes her, and she symbolically becomes him.
How in the world Guadaginono managed to make cannibalism romantic is beyond me and calling the scene heartwarming opens the door for analysis of our own behavior and beliefs.
Is Guadaginono such a talented director that we’re willing to see a point of view that completely crosses our moral boundaries? Or, is the audience experiencing tunnel vision upon the realization that the film is not classified as horror but a romance?
Cannibalism and pomegranates. Devotion and obsession. Connection and alienation.
Media consumers and critics alike might have never suspected such a profound connection between a fruit and a deeply taboo act, but artists and producers continue to alter the boundaries of anecdotes, symbolism and allegories.
Despite the innate horror of cannibalism, the deed is made almost reverent and comprehensible by employing an undertone of piety.
Cannibalism is inexcusable. And pomegranates are just a fruit. But the influence of symbols and allegories creates a compelling narrative for storytellers to delve deeper into humanity’s most profound sentiment: love.
Strike out,
Writer: Allie Sinkovich
Editor: Olivia Hansen
Gainesville
