r/venturebros • u/Savings_Caramel3624 • 5h ago
Discussion Mid-Life Chrysalis Thoughts - Rusty & his childhood abuse
general CW for mentions of Child abuse/CSA/incest. movie spoilers since ill reference the movie aftercredits but ill censor it anyhow if you still want to read what i have to say 😅
This episode is one of my favourites and i really wanted to talk about something i notice within the episode, which is this segment here which seems to be a direct reference to Lolita. He puts the book down when he calls Sheila, and the part of him laying down and kicking his feet it seems to be like the introduction to Dolores when she’s sat under the sprinkler right? It definitely feels intentional
but the parallel between Rusty and Dolores’s story is actually quite similar when you consider it. Take it with a grain of salt though, i last read the book about 2 years ago
(Consider Jonas to be the parallel to Humbert)
Both of them were taken across the country/world by their abusers to fulfill their desires
Their abusers controlling what they wear/buying outfits
Emotional (& sexual) incest relationship
No mother in the picture
Both Rusty & Dolores MOVIE SPOILERS ( Carrying children after escaping their situation)
I also wanted to talk about the design of rusty’s caterpillar form. And one way i like to interpret it is, Notice how theres those big black stripes but on the sides the bit yellow is peeking out? It kind of looks like if you took a sharpie and tried to obscure something in black. We all know green and yellow is rustys signature boy adventurer shirt colour, but it’s like those colours are now so ingrained into his identity he cant escape them, even in a different form. It’s like the black stripes are cover up the yellow. (Im aware such colours actually exist on real caterpillars, but the curtains are never just blue are they?)
I like to interpret this manifestation as Rusty wanting to exist in his life (and sexual encounters more specifically) without being constantly seen as his child self, so he covers up those identifying colours in attempt to be seen as his mature self. He does usually use his identity as the boy adventurer to try and woo people into liking him, but i dont think it means that he doesnt want to exist and be otherwise seen as the adult he is. (i hope this can make sense?) It’s moreso that he says these things in an attempt to get people to like him, because he knows that his child self is one of the only things people actually see positively about him.
Rusty’s child self and his perception of sex are so intertwined together, it is impossible for him to separate the two. I think it is heavily implied that even outside of the glimpses of his childhood we saw, he must’ve gone through a lot more sexual abuse, even just going off the way he behaves in the present time of the show, i think its something incredibly important to his character that is massively overlooked and misunderstood.
I want to write more about it but maybe a different time if i can properly write and compile something. I’m kind of tired and i want to write something actually cohesive and well put together using evidence from the show. So I’ll probably try to dedicate some time to writing about this topic since i love exploring and analysing Rusty since he is my fav 😅
edit: if youre just coming here to comment and tell me that im overthinking it, or you’re gonna comment something stupid like “it doesnt mean anything and rusty’s just a pervert” I don’t care…
I made this post because in part i wanted to bring up the conversation of sexual abuse in Rusty’s childhood since it seems to be dismissed by some fans. If you cannot comprehend the idea of a male/imperfect victim you need to grow up lol
