Everything is Baby

April 21, 2022

Amphibia contains a bunch of apparent metaphors for infants and young children. These are the major ones that I'm aware of.

Robots Are Baby

In Wartwood's town square, Frobo stands askew on one leg with both his arms curved and outstretch, smiling. Polly is riding on his shoulder, also smiling.

Polly refers to Frobo as "a big tadpole" and "a baby" upon their first encounter, coos over his first spoken words, and promises to be "his big sister." (215b). Anne calls him "a big metal baby" (220). Even before his premiere episode, we see him stumbling around, slowly figuring out how the world works through trial and error (202b)—like an infant does.

This may or may not generalize to all robots. There is, for example, a case to be made for Anne's Calamitous awakening (220) as a puberty metaphor, which relies on reading all the enemy frobots as symbols of childhood. Regardless, Frobo himself is definitely baby.

The Undead Are Baby

The background is dark as four menacing young human children turn toward the camera. Their eyes are stylized as stars glowing with intent, and their mouths are wide open. Many are missing teeth, and all but one are smiling.

Apothecary Gary refers to his zombified minions as his "children" (119a), and the kids in Dr. Frakes' Brainasium are framed as zombies (308b).

Additionally, Marcy and Maddie's magical resurrection of Fleafy draws heavily on pop-culture imagery of Frankenstein (216b). In the original Frankenstein novel, the creation of the undead creature symbolizes—among other things—childbirth.

Disembodied Heads Are Baby

A severed ant head, sticky green with blood, lies on the streets of Newtopia at Lady Olivia's feet. She looks surprised. She's flanked by uniformed and hooded newt guards.

Marcy journeys into an underground site of procreation, dives into the belly of the mother queen to rescue a child, and returns to Newtopia with a severed head as proof of her success (206). The whole thing kind of reads as delivering a child.

Disembodied heads might stand in for infants more generally. They overlap with other baby symbols in a few key places (see below), plus pollywogs are, in a sense, heads without bodies.

Plants Are Baby

A plant like a Venus fly trap, with teeth-like green bits on the exterior, and actual teeth in its stem-hole. From off-screen, Marcy points an accusing finger at it. It's spread, shaped like a moth.

There are a handful of reasons in isolation to think that plants symbolize infants and young children. "Baby's hungry," says Grime about his carnivorous executioner (120). "Branson, no! Bad boy," Marcy scolds her flytrap (210a). And Maddie's young tadpole siblings are all named after plants: Ginger, Rosemary, Lavender (216b).

But most of the evidence comes from the fact that plants often show up in conjunction with other infant signifiers:

Baby Symbols Frequently Overlap

In Wartwood, Frobo stands with arms outstretched, one hand holding a scythe, the other a watering can that he's using on a small patch of cultivated pink flowers.
In the forest, a smiling Marcy holds up a potted plant, a large yellow flower with wide eyes, long eyelashes, and a mustache. The stem has two dirt-stained leaves. Marcy's hair covers one eye.

Plants + Robots: Frobo spontaneously grows a flower bed to impress Hop Pop (215b), and Gardenton defeats several frobots by planting them in the ground like vegetables (314a).

Undead + Plants: The necromantic brew intended to Frankenstein-resurrect Fleafy is spilled on some flora, turning them into animated plant monsters. As Marcy learns the ropes of witchcraft, she replicates this feat with a potted flower (216b).

Polly stands atop Frobo's inert head wearing overalls and a backward cap, holding a big red button, laughing maniacally. Lightning flashes behind her.
Polly stands atop Frobo's inert head wearing overalls and a backward cap, holding a big red button, smiling sweetly. Flowers bloom around her.

Undead + Robots: + Plants: Polly's reconstruction of Frobo is likened to Frankenstein-style necromancy, then immediately followed up with a flower pattern (305a).

Marcy, Maddie, and Maddie's sisters all gasp at Fleafy, whose head has just fallen off, although his eyes still glow yellow.
In a crater of the Boonchuys' destroyed backyard, the IT girls and Polly fawn over Frobo's animated disembodied head with yellow eyes.

Heads + Undead After what looks like a successful resurrection, Fleafy's head falls off (216b).

Heads + Robots: Two robots are also disembodied heads: Frobo for most of season 3, and the Core for most of its existence.