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Was there also a biblical angle to the soldier consuming something and becoming more aware of his surroundings and his guilt. I think the colonial reading is very spot on granted that the siren's character design was so Orientalist, draws a connection to the unprovoked and predatory sexualisation of the "exotic" women of colonised countries, a theme also present in that bionic cat girl episode.
But I also feel like the toxic relationship angle is pretty valid in the sense that I've personally seen gold diggers who've bled their partners dry right to the last drop then left them for dead, like the knight does. I've seen people impose their love on someone relentlessly not bothering to see how their love was hurtful. Like the sirens bejeweled kiss.
Love, Death + Robots: Jibaro Analysis
The synopsis of the episode (16-17 mins long) revolves around a siren and a deaf soldier. In the very beginning we are introduced to a group of conquistadors. (Spanish colonialists, this is where my belief that the theme is about colonialism and greed instead of just toxic relationships nowadays. I’ve seen people say it’s about toxic relationships and they’re free to hold their own beliefs, but I kindly disagree.) 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. Meanwhile, the other conquistadors have broken away and are being blessed by the Catholic Church. While this can be left up to interpretation, it appears 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 lmao literally look at all the museums in Britain, 99.9% of artifacts are stolen). Whether the Siren has been indiscriminately attacking people or simply defending herself and the lake, the conquistadors are sent on a death mission. (special note: I don’t want to write the entire summary on my own because it’s around 1:30 a.m. and this isn’t a school paper where I have to cite my sources so I copy pasted info about the episode and then wrote my thoughts) Moving on, upon removing the gold scale, the Siren appears out of hiding, and begins her magical and fatal screaming. The Siren, covered in the gold of her attackers and likely her 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, greed, or a mixture of all three. The conquistadors AND the catholic priests and nuns become filled with a crazed 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 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 greedy, and pursues the fleeing Siren.
The Siren, realizing that he is not afraid, attempts to seduce him in the waterfalls and communicate her infatuation. As she is dancing against Jibaro, 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. 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 blood but seemingly no damage to his tongue or lips, likely due to the Siren's 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.
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 (this isn’t to say that a woman has no worth if she’s raped, just that the act itself is extremely brutal both physically and mentally) Jibaro stripped the Siren of her self worth..literally. Once satisified 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 may have been born a monster, but is 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- 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.
Another note: I don’t know if the soldier’s name is actually Jibaro, the name itself is a Puerto Rican word referring to traditional self sustaining farmers who worked with the land (funny because the soldier is so greedy). Regardless, I’ve seen some people say the soldier is Jibaro while others say it’s the siren. I have no idea who is right so I just wanted to include that here.
I also saw another analysis that the siren is the embodiment of greed itself. Here is the theory verbatim from another person:
“ It is in its nature to lure things to it. It doesn't kill. They kill themselves reaching for it. But it cannot help but lure things to it. That is its nature. It longs for someone to reach for it but not out of greed. The Jibaro is innocent at the start. His deafness is his innocence in this case. It pursues him because it cannot help but to lure. It feels he is one that can reach for it but not out of greed. He grows greedy and strips it of its gold and throws it to bleed out in the river. The river is filled with red. This is his guilt. He cannot out run his guilt. He drinks from his guilt. In imbibing his guilt... He loses his innocence. He gains the ability to hear.
The Siren is heart broken that he has lost his innocence. She cannot go against her nature. And he cannot go against his.”
I think this theory might be valid, especially since she saved the soldier’s horses and didn’t kill any of them since they are innocent creatures. I don’t know why this episode hit me so hard but as a woman and as an immigrant I could relate to the siren and I felt her pain when Jibaro betrayed her and tossed her aside like she was nothing. Overall, I just really enjoyed this episode and I sometimes go a bit manic and overanalyze shit so thanks for bearing with me. Goodnight!
jade parfitt for jean paul gaultier haute couture fall 2003 // siren from ‘love, death + robots: jibaro’ (2022) dir. alberto mielgo (3x09)