There's an episode in Love, Death, and Robots that I really enjoyed. Well, I liked it... well, it kinda hooked itself into my brain...


"Jibaro". It's on Netflix.




It's visually interesting. very realistic CGI with slightly cartoonish aspects (faces seem distorted at times).
I found a writeup on reddit, which explains it in great detail.


I first saw it on a small screen, (phone) then on a larger one, (TV) which revealed a lot more of the subtle details that I missed the first time around.


Maybe watch it, with good speakers or earbuds. then read this stuff below, and then watch it again. or read the stuff below, and then watch it.

If you don't wanna read all of it it, just read this ---> A lot of people have a kneejerk reaction to it, just know that the main guy is deaf, and he is greedy, and that one aspect of "sirens" is a healing ability. (to her and those who drink of the water...) and there is some "modern dance" stuff going on...the movements seen in the animated short are kinda "different". This was definitely "different" than the standard tale where "entranced" victims are slowly led to their watery demise by the siren's song.

OK, the reddit stuff:

Personally I found it to be a masterpiece, but I can understand how the stylistic elements plus pacing can cause confusion.

In the very beginning we are introduced to a group of conquistadors. Note at this point that the Siren is watching from the lake, but not attacking anyone. As the conquistadors approach the lake, the deaf Conquistador Jibaro sees a golden scale in the lake. Fascinated he pulls it out of the lake, marveling at the scale and looks to see if anyone has seen it as well, proceeding to pocket the golden scale. This is the first instance in which we can interpret that the conquistador is greedy- particularly as he is more concerned with the golden scale then being blessed with his other conquistadors.

Meanwhile, the other conquistadors have broken away and are being blessed by what appears to be the Catholic Church (needs creator clarification). While this can be left up to interpretation, it seems the Catholic Church have hired the conquistadors to rid the lake of the Siren and likely steal the Siren's gold (as the Catholic Church has a rich history of stealing valuable items). Whether the Siren has been indiscriminately attacking people or simply defending herself and the lake, the conquistadors are sent on a death mission.

Upon removing the gold scale, the Siren appears out of hiding, and begins her magical and fatal screaming. The Siren, covered in her own golden scales and adorned with jewelry and other valuables likely from her attackers and possibly own prey, uses her bejeweled body to her advantage, dancing in a seductive and disarming manner. The Siren appears to collect the gold of those that she has killed, either out of shame for her own appearance, loneliness, fascination, her own greed, or a mixture of all four. The conquistadors AND the catholic priests/nuns (some appear to be facially ambiguous, will use both sexes to be safe) become filled with a crazed magically-induced lust, even attacking and killing each other in order to reach the siren, driven mad by their own greed and selfishness. The deaf Jibaro, unable to hear the Siren's scream, watches in confusion and horror as the other conquistadors are dragged to their deaths. However, Jibaro seems less concerned with the deaths of the conquistadors and catholic nuns and priests, and instead cannot keep his eyes off the siren before eventually attempting to flee.

The Siren, now realizing that the Jibaro cannot be lured by her screams, becomes fascinated- infatuated even. The Siren has only encountered those filled with greed that she can easily lure to death. Having never encountered a person immune to her screams, she appears to believe Jibaro is different than the other conquistadors. She even clutches her own throat at one point, seemingly distraught that her voice isn't working. This is the first instance of the toxic relationship being implied to the audience- the Siren is fascinated with the deaf Conquistador, but in an entirely unhealthy way and for entirely the wrong reasons.

Meanwhile the deaf Conquistador is still fleeing, and gets knocked out in his attempt to run away. This is the second instance that indicates he is greedy, as when he wakes up he seemingly ignores his injured horse, but takes the time to steal all of the gold off of it, leaving it to die. The Siren meanwhile stalks Jibaro, observing him in his sleep, even smelling him, and ultimately laying down beside him in a human-like act. When the deaf Jibaro wakes up, he is startled by the Siren, but does not appear scared- grabbing her in an attempt to stop her from fleeing from him. When he grabs her several gold scales become embedded in Jibaro's palm. Realizing that the gold scale he picked up earlier in the lake in fact belongs to the Siren and the value of her bejeweled body, Jibaro becomes even more greedy, and starts pursues the fleeing Siren, despite the danger it puts him in.

The Siren, realizing that he is not afraid, attempts to lure him into raging waterfalls, clearly unconcerned that this could result in his death- although it is up to user interpretation whether the Siren is aware of this danger, or is lacking understanding of human fragility. The Siren begins seducing him in the waterfalls and attempting to communicate her infatuation to him using her body. It is not clarified whether the Siren can speak in human language. She begins a cat and mouse game, succeeding in luring him into the raging waterfalls and even briefly smiling in one shot, appearing to enjoy the chase. Once he is close enough, she begins dancing against Jibaro, and he quietly pulls a gold scale from her stomach, causing her to bleed and foreshadowing the following events.

Distracted by her pursuit of Jibaro, the Siren tries kissing Jibaro, accidentally hurting him in the process with her bejeweled tongue and lips but appearing to not care. Jibaro, now fully aware that sex is out of the question prepares to strike; The Siren realizes she has drawn blood, but still fascinated tries to kiss him harder despite the pain it causes Jibaro- it should be noted that when Jibaro pulls away there is a lot of blood but seemingly no damage to his tongue or lips outside of some surface cuts, likely due to the Siren's healing properties. In old Greek Folklore Sirens were thought to be the products of two Gods, and often were immortal and/or had some form of healing magic or healing properties. Using her intense attempts at seduction to his advantage, Jibaro pushes her back, kissing her a few times softly on the face as a further distraction ploy and then knocking her unconscious. (It can be interpreted as her being killed as well, then resurrected by the lake).

While the Siren is unconscious, Jibaro violently rips all the gold scaling and jewels from her body, ignoring that its harming the Siren and causing her to bleed out, a nod to the pillaging and raping done by Spanish conquistadors. Just as a rape violates and strips a woman of her self worth, Jibaro stripped the Siren of her self worth...literally. Once satisfied with his spoils, Jibaro pushes the Siren down the waterfall as if she means nothing, no longer of use to Jibaro now that he has gained his gold. The Siren's body drifts back into her lake, and her desecrated flesh bleeds into the lake, causing the lake to become imbued with magical healing properties. Jibaro, still consumed in his greed and trying to haul the gold back to his campsite which he can now claim entirely to himself and not share with the other dead conquistadors, fails to realize that he has backtracked himself to the Siren's lake. He drinks the bloodied water, and finds himself able to suddenly hear, which causes Jibaro to panic and bring himself even closer to the lake.

As Jibaro realizes that the noises are actually sounds that he is hearing, which is shown by him slapping his hand into a puddle of water and listening, screaming, and then ultimately connecting the sound of chirping to birds overhead, the Siren, now regaining consciousness, comes out of the lake and upon looking down realizes that in her naivety, she was violated, stripped down to essentially nothing and robbed of her ornamentation without consent. Realizing that Jibaro is just as greedy as the other conquistadors, and that she has allowed herself to be fooled in her infatuation, the Siren begins screaming in shame, pain, rage, and humiliation. Jibaro, now able to hear, cannot resist the Siren's screams any longer, and is ultimately drowned by the Siren. The Siren was a monster, killing anyone who may attack her or the lake, but Jibaro was greedy, consumed by his own need for financial gain. The siren was born a monster, but it can be interpreted that she was largely just following her own nature, defending her own jewels and lake; while the conquistador who was not born a monster became a monster by his own greed. Even then however, the Siren is not without fault, inflicting her own pain on Jibaro with little thought and pursuing him for wildly wrong reasons- just as one would see in a toxic relationship.

The siren while initially implied to be the predator, is shown in reality to be the prey- doomed to never receive love or affection and be pursued to the death by those filled with greed, but abusive and harmful herself by her own nature. In the end, Jibaro's greed was his own downfall, but both parties suffered the consequences of the toxic relationship and each other's abuses to each other, just as the forced colonization of the central, south, and latin american communities. The Siren, though stripped and ashamed, gets the last laugh, using Jibaro's own shortcomings to bring him to his demise.

Extra:

Jibaro is the name of the deaf Conquistador yes, and the word Jibaro is a Puerto Rican word referring to traditional self sustaining farmers who worked with the land; an ironic name given to the greedy conquistador who steals from the land for his own gain as opposed to working with the land. The creator has stated he did not intend for either character to be named, but that most associated Jibaro with being the conquistador, which he has no problem with.


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Not sure if you will enjoy this, but I did. Especially the end scene. the music and what was goin' on, visually... YMMV.


It's under 20 minutes so its not like you spent/wasted much of your time, even if ya watch it twice...

[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 07-25-2022).]