I thought we were going in narrator order so this wouldn't be until next week! OMG! Huzzah!
So anyway, Marco is my favorite. Duh. I just love how through the whole series, he walks that thin line between humor and deadly seriousness, between confidence and crushing insecurity, between meltdown and full-blown repression, between being straightforward and stuck in fantasy, between being a jackass and being a team player, between just being a kid who wants his mom back and being a ruthless, deadly, hopeless tactician. I don't know how to do this without bullet points because I have like a million thoughts on Marco, so.
-Humor! Personally, I love that his humor isn't always funny. It strikes me as very true to a young, smart teenager: pop culture references, hyperbolic babble and dry sarcasm, and only about 70% of it is actually funny and it's sometimes downright mean. That makes sense to me given his age range. The humor also aids in the emotional repression, which I'll get back to. Basically, Eva taught Marco how to deal with the world by using humor, which works for most things but for the life of a child soldier caught between killing and saving his mother, just makes him really, really repressed and confused about his own emotions.
I think Marco's sense of humor and sense of strategy originate in the same place: he's essentially an opportunist. He sees the silver linings, punchlines and weaknesses in the enemy (and when he puts himself in the enemy's position, weaknesses in their strategies) because he's always working an angle to make the best of any situation. Marco's the type who doesn't ask for much so as not to seem needy, but will happily help himself to whatever opportunities present themselves - ref: dragging all that crap in Ax's scoop by #49.
-Confidence and insecurity! Marco exudes probably the most confidence of any character besides Rachel, and is very good at laughing at himself as well as everyone else. However, I will posit that this is actually because he's deeply insecure. Throughout the series, we see indications that he cares very deeply about what the other Anis think of him, especially Jake, and is very insecure about his position within the group. We see indicators of this throughout the series - in #2, Rachel jokes that he's not her friend and he seems genuinely hurt, and she mentions that he's really bothered by his size. In #4 and #6, it's mentioned that the others think he's really embarrassed by his financial situation. Throughout the early series, he says he doesn't care what the others think, but when he feels he's being called a coward he shoots back with low blows and potshots. In #15, he explains that he can't talk to Jake about his problems because he thinks Jake only likes him as the smart, funny friend. And most tellingly, in #30, when he's justifying his actions to his theoretical people, one of them is to Jake - "don't ever doubt me again". I think the confidence and ego Marco puts on is a front for the fact that he wants to be a valued member of the group; he's confident because of his insecurity, not in spite of it.
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timeasmymeasure
IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY
Date: 2010-09-13 05:58 am (UTC)So anyway, Marco is my favorite. Duh. I just love how through the whole series, he walks that thin line between humor and deadly seriousness, between confidence and crushing insecurity, between meltdown and full-blown repression, between being straightforward and stuck in fantasy, between being a jackass and being a team player, between just being a kid who wants his mom back and being a ruthless, deadly, hopeless tactician. I don't know how to do this without bullet points because I have like a million thoughts on Marco, so.
-Humor! Personally, I love that his humor isn't always funny. It strikes me as very true to a young, smart teenager: pop culture references, hyperbolic babble and dry sarcasm, and only about 70% of it is actually funny and it's sometimes downright mean. That makes sense to me given his age range. The humor also aids in the emotional repression, which I'll get back to. Basically, Eva taught Marco how to deal with the world by using humor, which works for most things but for the life of a child soldier caught between killing and saving his mother, just makes him really, really repressed and confused about his own emotions.
I think Marco's sense of humor and sense of strategy originate in the same place: he's essentially an opportunist. He sees the silver linings, punchlines and weaknesses in the enemy (and when he puts himself in the enemy's position, weaknesses in their strategies) because he's always working an angle to make the best of any situation. Marco's the type who doesn't ask for much so as not to seem needy, but will happily help himself to whatever opportunities present themselves - ref: dragging all that crap in Ax's scoop by #49.
-Confidence and insecurity! Marco exudes probably the most confidence of any character besides Rachel, and is very good at laughing at himself as well as everyone else. However, I will posit that this is actually because he's deeply insecure. Throughout the series, we see indications that he cares very deeply about what the other Anis think of him, especially Jake, and is very insecure about his position within the group. We see indicators of this throughout the series - in #2, Rachel jokes that he's not her friend and he seems genuinely hurt, and she mentions that he's really bothered by his size. In #4 and #6, it's mentioned that the others think he's really embarrassed by his financial situation. Throughout the early series, he says he doesn't care what the others think, but when he feels he's being called a coward he shoots back with low blows and potshots. In #15, he explains that he can't talk to Jake about his problems because he thinks Jake only likes him as the smart, funny friend. And most tellingly, in #30, when he's justifying his actions to his theoretical people, one of them is to Jake - "don't ever doubt me again". I think the confidence and ego Marco puts on is a front for the fact that he wants to be a valued member of the group; he's confident because of his insecurity, not in spite of it.