Tia Blake

1 submission

Song	Category	League	Submitted by	Votes
Plastic Jesus	Accidentally Flannery O’Connor	League 4 (Jul 2025)	judd.baker	5 ared56 +1 Edward James +1 — Of all the songs, I think this one "gets" the feeling of a Flannery story best. The saccharine, commercialized, ever-present but unimposing sense of Christianity is captured perfectly by the "Plastic Jesus" image. Reminds me very deeply of "Wise Blood". Seems like a Judd pick. Despite my insistence upon theme, I think this one wins a vote for setting up the start of a Flannery story perfectly. The character is poised for some sort of shock, followed up by the kitschy plastic Jesus staring dead eyed into her soul at the end. shea nowicki +1 — Okay this is fun!!! A bop & I totally agree — Flannery coded! fionmul +1 — This was a great pick. Parker’s Back for the lighthearted. Claire +1 — Clearly the lyrics themselves are meant to be ironic from the perspective of the speaker, but I feel like the plastic Jesus motif is the sort of thing that you’d find in an O’Connor story that could end up later being the catalyst for some kind of spiritual experience. Even if keeping the plastic Jesus up there is more or less a joke, I think that still says something about the speaker’s awareness of their sin, and that conscience, however dulled or ignored it might be, could be where grace enters in. Am I reading into this too much? It’s possible Brad Stalcup 0 — This song had potential, but it seemed like Jesus and the Virgin Mary were just things to be ignored. I don't think God is ever one to be ignored (without consequence) in an FO'C story. Joseph Harvey 0 — Kind of cute I guess Regina Scime 0 — I'm not sure that this fits, but it's super cute! judd.baker 0 — Aside from getting the southern aesthetic right, the thing that makes this song thematically Flannery-coded to me is the image of the “plastic Jesus,” a kitschy, even ironic religious symbol that grins while the narrator is sinning in the backseat of the car. The image (blatant sin juxtaposed with kitschy religiosity) is ugly, honest, and secretly grace-filled. You don’t expect the real presence of Christ in the kitschy image, and yet He is really there.