Ants, Eyes, Butterflies, and the Hole in Marcyโs Heart
[CW: child sex abuse, rape, incest, body dysphoria, Christianity, transphobic hate crimes]
Ever since True Colors aired, Iโve wondered at the sexual implications of Andrias skewering Marcy with his flaming blade. Sometimes a sword is just a sword, I know. Sometimes a large man ramming his gigantic sword through an adolescent girl in a way that draws attention to how small and vulnerable she is by comparison, is just a large man ramming his gigantic sword through an adolescent girl in a way that draws attention to how small and vulnerable she is by comparison (220).
But the sexual violence imagery kept piling upโespecially in the Coreโs possession of Marcy (307b).
As this anon points out, Andrias puts a person inside of Marcy (307b): symbolic impregnation, foreshadowed by the fertilization imagery that precedes her impalement (220, above). The binary data that floods her body, ganking her physical autonomy (307b), is akin to a swarm of gametes, the โDNAโ of the Coreโwhich is itself both impregnator and, as a disembodied robot head, the child.
Compounding the impregnation imagery is the facehugger-like claw that snatches Marcy from the safety of Olivia and Yunan (307b). This might seem like a stretch, but Alienโs facehuggers are referenced more overtly in Marcyโs debut episode (206), so the callback seems noteworthy.
Finally, the Core keeps Marcyโs consciousness โlocked in a little roomโ while piloting her body (314b). This strikes an eerie parallel to Apothegaryโs spores, which make Sprig feel like โa prisoner in my own bodyโ (119a) and which symbolize sexual abuse.
The big question is: Why does Marcy live out an extended rape metaphor within the dreamscape of Amphibia? Letโs start with the most obvious explanation.
Answer #1: Marcy was sexually assaulted and impregnated sometime before leaving Earth. Her impalement and possession is a reenactment of that trauma. If Andrias is a mythic stand-in for Marcyโs father, then her dad is the likely perpetrator.
I think itโs important to sit with this reading and not dismiss it out of hand for being too upsetting. Amphibia is a coming-of-age story, and sexual violence is, horribly, a part of many peopleโs childhoods. Young teen girls are assaulted more often than any other age-gender demographic. About half of child sex abuse is committed by family members.
That Marcy willingly returns to her parents is a strike against this idea, or at least against her dad being the rapistโalthough itโs not out of the question that Marcy would choose a known evil over fear of the unknown after all the horrors she experienced in Amphibia.
But in any case, itโs not the only explanation.
Ants vs. Newts
Mind-body dualism is a recurring theme for Marcy. The Shadow Fish are incorporeal ghosts, defeated only once they become flesh and blood (210a). Triple B declare themselves โanalystsโ as they scoff at โfield workโ (206). Decapitation, a literal separation between head and body, shows up three times in conjunction with Marcy: the ant head presented to Olivia (206), the Toadstool clock tower (215a), and Fleafy (216b). The Core alienates Marcyโs brain from her own flesh (314b). And way back in her debut episode, Newtopia is a paragon of intellectualism and culture, while the invading barbariants are driven by animal instinct (206).
The barbariant-newt conflict is also gendered. The ants have a queen with no king; Newtopia, a king with no queen (206). They are earthly, bodily, mortal, female; we are enlightened, disembodied, our rulers immortal (307b, 314b), our king male. They procreate and die; we preserve and persist.
So when the ants threaten to โturn Newtopia into a giant anthillโ (206), the fear is not just body overwhelming mind, but also female displacing male. Accordingly, the anthill evokes a uterus (given the focus on queen-as-mother) and breasts (a mound of female earth). This is firmly Marcyโs episode, Marcyโs mission, Marcyโs triumphโand Marcyโs body dysphoria.
He witnesses his own reflection, and it is horror: a jump scare that causes him to recoil in fear (210a). Apparently, Marcy doesnโt like looking at himself. I count this as another point for body dysphoria, backed up by the fact that he alone doesnโt keep his copy of the trioโs photo.
Marcy, like a Shadow Fish, fears the mirror because it embodies themโmakes the fact of their female flesh undeniable. (Or, well, โfemale.โ Iโm sacrificing perfectly trans-inclusive terminology for the sake of clear communication, with the justification that Marcyโs unconscious also seems to conflate sex and gender.) The butterfly which distorts their visage signifies metamorphosis, changeโpuberty.[1]
The recurring rift between mind and body is symbolic of Marcyโs tendency to get โin the zoneโ: to shut out her physical surroundings and focus with single-minded determination on a puzzle, game, or some other mental task (206, 214). This is plausibly the result of an innate neurodivergence; autism and ADHD are common headcanons. But dysphoria provides an alternate, or at least supplementary, explanation: Marcyโs body is the unbearable reality from which she escapes to her head.
Answer #2: For some trans folks, the mere existence of unwanted sex characteristics feels like a violation on par with rape. The extended sexual violence metaphor of Andrias and the Coreโthe betrayal, the loss of autonomy, the abject horrorโcommunicates Marcyโs relationship to his own body as puberty takes its hold.
The Penetrating Gaze
Marcyโs psyche spawns monsters with prominent, leering eyes: the Core (307a) and the Shadow Fish (210a). This could just be a symptom of Marcyโs social anxiety, their โtrouble looking people in the eyeโ (207a). But given the sexual symbolism already present in the Coreโs treatment of Marcy, Iโm inclined to view it as a kind of ogling.
Andriasโ sword is part of a Biblical allusion that weโll dig into later. For now, just note that โa flaming sword turned every wayโ (Genesis 3:24) evokes the omnipresent, red-orange glare of the Core, and thus conflates the act of looking with the act of assaulting.
During the mirror jump scare, Marcyโs gaping, toothy maw is a callback to โbad boyโ Branson, whose open trap (210a) is both lepidopteran and yonic.[2] Through the plant, butterfly with teeth becomes synonymous with vagina dentata, a fantastical defense against rape. For Marcy, then, puberty is a time to throw up defenses against the possibility of sexual violence.
Answer #3: The leering gaze which haunts Marcy represents unwanted sexual attention from peers or adults directed at her maturing body. Rape and pregnancy are not reenacted traumas, but unrealized fears: the horrifying endgame of all this attention.
Between Anne and Sashaโs dueling and Andriasโ flame blade, swords are sexualized. Marcy is the only one of the trio who doesnโt wield a sword, a possible hint that heโs ace.
Answer #3a: Marcyโs discomfort with sexual attention is compounded by their asexuality.
A popular interpretation of the prom poster and Sashanne fusion (Amphibia 307b) is that Marcy is attracted to both of her friends; sheโs afraid that theyโll start dating each other and that sheโll be left behind. After being confronted with this nightmare, Marcy becomes the leering eyes, villain of her own story (307b). Even earlier, Marcyโs fear of her own reflection likens her to the other set of oglers, the Shadow Fish (210a).
Perhaps Marcy fears the power of his own gazeโthinks heโs hurting Sasha and Anne just by looking at them, wanting them. And perhaps the fiery phallus (220) belongs not just to Marcyโs rapist, but simultaneously to Marcy himself, sprouting unwanted from his heart, which will soon bear one of a set of red eyes (307b).
Answer #1a: As a result of an assault, Marcy was forcibly given sexual knowledge beyond their years, which colored their perception of both Anne and Sasha. Marcy has a lot of shame attached to the assault and to their own experience of sexual attraction.
Answer #1b: Marcy believes her assault to be the source of her transmasculinity.
Back to Paradise
Marcy thinks he and his friends can keep adventuring โforever and everโ and โnever have to grow apartโ (220). Perhaps Andrias hinted earlier (off-screen) at his ability to cheat death, or perhaps Marcy just assumes that heโll find the secret to immortality somewhere in the great wide multiverse. Either way, Marcy does not want to die.
The phrase never grow also implies not growing up. Weโve already discussed Marcyโs fear of puberty, which they might associate with unwanted sexual attention, sexual trauma, or dysphoria-inducing body traits.
The dual anxieties of mortality and puberty are united in the image of the butterfly, which symbolizes not only metamorphosis and change, but also (as any postโseason 2 Amphibia theorist would tell you) death; and in the barbariants, who play not only the queen to Newtopiaโs king, but also the fleeting individual lifespan to its timeless immortality. Female flesh, mortal fleshโfor Marcy, itโs one and the same.
This duality is reflected in the Biblical story of original sin. For those unfamiliar with the myth: After God creates the universe, he makes two humans, Adam and Eve, and gives them free reign of the bountiful Garden of Eden (Genesis 2). The humans are allowed to eat from any tree in the garden (2:16), except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:17). A malicious serpent tempts Eve to disobey this rule (3:1โ6), who in turn tempts Adam (3:6). The humans previously existed in a state of childlike sexual innocence, โnot ashamedโ of their nakedness (2:25)โbut after eating the forbidden fruit, they become able to conceptualize evil and shame, and they cover their naked bodies (3:7). For their disobedience, God casts them out of Eden (3:23).
The show alludes to this passage rather strongly with its inciting incidentโAnne is tempted to disobedience and theft, with the music box functioning as the forbidden fruit, and then the friends are cast from the only world theyโve ever known: literally Earth, but also childhood, symbolized by the gated playground from which they depart (Amphibia 101b), and on Anneโs thirteenth birthday (120) no less, a cultural milestone for the start of adolescenceโso Iโm comfortable mining it for further analysis.
The myth shares with Marcyโs dreamscape a tight connection between sexual maturity and death. In forbidding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God cautions that โin the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dieโ (Genesis 2:17). He makes good on this promise after they disobey, cursing them with a mortal life full of struggle and strife: โIn the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou returnโ (3:19). God exiles humans from Eden to make sure they stay mortal, for within the garden is a tree whose fruit grants immortality (3:22โ23), and if the humans ate that, it would completely undo the whole dust unto dust punishment.
Marcy has a particular, peculiar concept of immortality: she wants to escape death by returning to a state of perpetual physical childhood. This helps to explain many of the seemingly arbitrary infant symbols which coalesce around herโzombies are babies because they defy the natural cycle of life and death; disembodied heads are babies because Marcy wants to decouple physical growth from mental growth, freeing her consciousness from the baggage of an aging, growing, sexual(ized) body; robots are babies because of her transhumanist aspirationsโas well as Marcyโs affinity for those symbols, especially plants (210a, 215b, 216b) and robots (215b, 216a).[3] Deathless childhood is loosely synonymous with transmasculinity, and in particular medical transition, since sexless is loosely synonymous with male under the male = mind, female = body schema.
God leaves a flaming sword to guard Eden against the humansโ return (Genesis 3:24). Remember that Earth is the Eden from which the trio have been cast. Marcy tries to go back (Amphibia 220), symbolically signaling a desire for immortalityโi.e., medical transitionโand Andrias impales him with a flaming sword (220).
Answer #1d: Marcy is a victim of homophobic rapeโsometimes called โcorrectiveโ rapeโassault motivated by a desire to โfixโ their non-normative gender identity.
Conclusion
Well, that was a lot. In lieu of a single overarching thesis, I hope this post serves as a more up-to-date record of how Iโve been thinking about the sexual violence metaphor built into Marcyโs character arc.
Some of the explanations I provided are mutually exclusive, but most of them arenโt. Marcy could be trans and a survivor of assault and generally uncomfortable with sexual attention and guilty about desiring Anne and Sasha. Or any combination thereof. Maybe sheโs dealt with rape threats but hasnโt been assaulted. Maybe she was actually raped, but pregnancy is an unrealized fear. Or Iโm wrong about everything.
In any case, thereโs a lot thatโs left unstated, a lot to be unpacked, and a lot that Iโm probably missing. Further lines of inquiry that Iโd like to pursue include:
Darcy as a twisted wish fulfillment of Marcyโs immortality fantasy: body no longer maturing (per the axolotl helmet), mind uploaded to the Core.
The justification for patriarchy written into the myth of original sin.
The โbad boyโ comment directed at Branson in light of Marcyโs possible transmasculinity.
Marcyโs relationship to plants more generally.[3]
Heart as the severed bridge between mind (Wit) and body (Strength).
I might update this post if I turn up anything coherent.
Footnotes
[1] If Marcyโs fears are manifest in the butterfly, why is he so enthusiastic about dressing up as โthe personification of metamorphosisโ (219b)? Perhaps itโs the agency: choosing to roleplay as puberty and change allows Marcy to engage with those fears on his own terms, which is quite different from unexpectedly coming face-to-face with them while already anxious and scared.
[2] If it seems far-fetched to consider the Branson yonic, then contrast with Grimeโs murderplant in 120, a โsheโ with a big olโ phallic tongue (below). I donโt know what this says about Sasha or Grime, but the total reversal of it in 210aโflipping the gender from female to male, and the sex from male to femaleโlends a sense of intentionality to Bransonโs design.
[3] Plants are the only baby symbol that arenโt explained by Marcyโs immortality fantasy, yet they play an important roleโthe central role, arguablyโin establishing Marcyโs fascination with childhood. At a first guess, maybe plants represent a kind of โnaturalโ childhood (born of earth and water, dying like the rest of us) which might not fit Marcyโs fantasy but with which theyโre nonetheless fascinated? Anyway.
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Credit to an anonymous AO3 commenter for the observation that Andrias' flaming sword might be a Biblical reference.
Amphibia citations are SEE, where S is season number and EE is episode number. a and b denote each episodeโs first and second segments, respectively.
Biblical quotes are from the King James Version.















