[ Trigger Warning: Brief mentions of sexual abuse as they pertain to the development of Marceline as a character. ]
[ Note: No explicit language is used, and no vulgar descriptions are given. Please read only if you feel comfortable doing so. ]
interpreting Vampire King transforming Marcie into a vampire as an allegory for sexual assault is really interesting and important to her character (and to me). i think.
objectively, it can be interpreted as an allegory for anything done without explicit consent (as her vampirism was forced upon her) and of course not everything is an allegory HOWEVER, this specific interpretation interests me beyond the significance of an allegory of that weight in its natural form.
the specific interpretation of Vampire King forcing himself onto her by pinning her down and biting her neck, thus turning her into a vampire, as sexual assault and abuse carries a weight that ripples throughout Marceline’s character as a whole. Marceline grew up damaged, thinking everyone she’d ever loved viewed her as a scary monster, including her mother. after Simon left to protect her from himself, she was truly alone in a world shaped by apocalypse and destruction, and looked for a new purpose in life.
when she mistook an elderly man for Simon, and killed the vampire that tried to attack that man’s family, she committed to killing vampires all around the world as a way of protecting the last remaining humans, and this protecting Simon by association. it was her way of paying him back for what he had done for her as a child. this is important because it sets up Marceline’s fundamental distaste for vampires as threats of someone she held dear to her heart, which later morphs into a sort of self-loathing after becoming a vampire herself.
during her encounter with the Vampire King, it quickly becomes obvious that she is no match for him, and he overpowers her and pins her down, forcing himself onto her and biting her neck while, at the same time, impaling himself on the stake she holds in her hand. this specific scene being viewed as an allegory for sexual assault sets up Marceline’s own self-hatred and loathing in future episodes and her desire to become human once again.
when she comes face to face a second time with Vampire King, he asks her if it was worth it to simply become a vampire again, and she explains that time repeats itself, and nobody really lives long enough to see that pattern, so whatever. VK notes that she has survived long enough to recognize this pattern, though, and that turning him back into his original form is the only way to stop the cycle (AKA moving on from her abuse and stepping back peacefully). after removing his vampiric essence, VK returns back to his lion form, and PepBut seals his vampiric essence in a container that Jake accidentally opens back up, freeing VK’s essence as a giant cloud of black fog.
Marceline initially decides to sit this fight out, until Ice King appears and mentions that, as survivors, they sit on the sidelines and watch the big fights happen around them. this encourages Marceline to fight back, and she engages with Vampire King’s essence, flying inside of the cloud in an attempt to communicate. when she finds no traces of him there, it becomes clear that this embodiment of VK is more a representation of Marceline’s fears and doubts about her vampirism and her life as a whole. accepting this, she re-absorbs VK’s essence and once again becomes a vampire.
afterward, when Finn asks her if he’s supposed to feel bad, and if she herself is upset by becoming a vampire again, she mentions that it’s okay, because she’s gotten a new perspective on her life and her vampirism. importantly, a miniature version of Vampire King appears next to her on the couch as a figment of imagination/memory, but he is much smaller and less intimidating than she remembers. she asks if he’s just in her head, and he responds “for now” before promptly disappearing when she looks away. it is then that she sings Everything Stays, as a final send-off to the miniseries.
i believe that Marceline’s interpretation of her vampirism and herself as a result can come from a place of trauma, especially considering that her life was forced upon her. as a survivor, i can say that part of the process of moving past the part of you that feels wretched and scared is to embrace it, and leave behind the part of you that hates itself for being abused in the first place. that is exactly what Marceline has done. throughout the miniseries, we see Marceline confronting her self-hatred as a result of her vampirism, and trying to run away from this identity by becoming human again. after realizing that so much of what she loved about life came after she was a vampire, she walks away from her trauma and accepts her life as a vampire, even getting a new spin on it that lets her be happy with who she is, even if the edges are jagged and rough.
and, again, not everything is an allegory, but this specific interpretation means a lot to me, and brings a lot of comfort in fellowship as someone who identifies heavily with Marceline and her character as a whole.
