It Ends With Us is under fire for using an inappropriate song by trans artist Ethel Cain in its opening minutes (Jojo Whilden/Sony Pictures Entertainment, Daughter of Cain)
A new film has caused confusion by featuring the song “Strangers”, a track by trans artist Ethel Cain about cannibalism, in its opening minutes.
It Ends with Us, a drama starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed the film), is based on a novel about domestic abuse by Colleen Hoover.
But the movie has been plagued by behind-the-scenes drama, too.
Along with a rumoured rift between the two stars, controversies have included a resurfaced clip from 2016 in which Lively insinuated a journalist was pregnant, and, more recently, several (also resurfaced) interviews where the Gossip Girl star uses transphobic slurs.
Why not add one more to the pile, then?
Cain’s track, detailing a grizzly end for the “Ethel Cain” character in her 2022 album, Preacher’s Daughter, is heard soon after the film begins.
The song is set after Ethel’s death and focuses on her body being eaten by album antagonist and former lover Isaiah, with lyrics including: “You devour like smoked bovine hide/How funny, I never considered myself tough.”
It’s no surprise then that fans were somewhat surprised to hear the song.
“Don’t tell me they are using ‘Strangers’ by Ethel Cain, don’t p*ss me off,” one viewer wrote.
Another said: “Not the It Ends with Us trailers using a song from Ethel Cain’s album that literally has themes of religious trauma, murder and cannibalism. What the hell is the movie about?”
The trailer for the film does use the same track, focusing on the refrain: “Can I be yours?” indicating that, perhaps, the editors weren’t aware of the song’s entire thematic content.
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