Zima Blue Tells Us The Story Of Ourselves

Zima Blue is an episode from Netflix's Love Death and Robots that never quite left me after watching it. Having had a lot to say about this episode, I decided to make a video on it where I do an episode breakdown and have a discussion about the writers intentions and how i interpret the meaning of the ideas behind Alastair Reynolds work of art.

Wasn't sure what else to call this besides a "video essay". I guess you could consider it a review but it felt more like a deep dive into the philosophical questions that the episode poses. Hope you enjoyed!

[unprocreations]

If you want to dive deeper into Zima Blue, I made a video talking about some of your comments on this video!

[dayarrhea]

I also find it interesting how Zima essentially made himself in his creators image, black. There aren’t many black people throughout this film. Zima could’ve made himself into whatever he wanted to be, he even could’ve made his body using the infamous Zima blue but he didn’t. I think it really speaks to his connection and his love for his original creator.

[ez]

It’s not about “forgetting”. It’s about “disregarding”. Just like Zima did. A conscious choice.

[aaaknowkneemoos]

i think it reflects how us humans long for satisfaction we have when we were young, before we used to dream of becoming adults so that we could do whatever we want, we buy things, we watch tv, we do what we can to make us happy, now there is still an emptiness inside, thats when we realize that being a child is the most perfect time of our life

[smr_]

6:33 it's actually the ship of Theseus, which is a paradox regarding identity over time. In the case of Zima, is he the pool robot he was in the beginning, or the man he became over many generations. In the end he chose to return to his humble beginnings

[babygorilla]

His story rings very true to Zen and Dao appreciators. Seeking constent fulfillment brought nothing but confusion to Zema. But by shedding his higher intelegence letting go of thought and desire and returning to simplicity he became whole. He is Zema Blue and the only way for him to truly live his life fully was to return to his nature, a pool cleaning robot.


Edit what was I on about 42 likes was I right?

[Commander_keen-sw]

i believe that the whole point of this piece is to show the futile efforts people go through to seek satisfaction. even upon achieving his life’s goal, understanding the meaning of life, zima still has nothing. he realises that it is pointless and his life is better spent subconsciously cleaning a pool than doing anything else as this is what he was made to do.

[chamachuchi]

My favorite episode. Makes me cry everytime.

[LiquidChamploo]

Her perspective makes Zima seem like this all mighty and legendary figure.

Zima is a robot that was created, upgraded, learned everything he could and decided to go back to the simple mundane life of cleaning pools because it limited him enough to appreciate his surroundings.

I find this hard to relate with humans because we aren’t instantly born with tasks at hand.

You could say, this form of AI (Zima) was able to capture the attention and admiration of humans for years with a simple blue tile, learning the simplistic origination of Zima blue was just… the walls of a pool.

An amazing story.

[poenpotzu]

I will say its nice to see a robot story that doesnt turn evil. Not saying those story are bad. But Zima Blue has this weird blend speculative science fiction and spiritual ponderings. This personally has a weird impact for me. The art design for this episode was the same for a show i watched when I was younger Tron: Uprising. This weird chance for my adult self to watch this episode wondering why it feels so familiar hits with the thematic nature of Zima. Zima was pursuing the color of blue he first saw cleaning the pool. For me I forgot a cartoon i really enjoyed and seeing its art direction and style coming back after all these years. Anyway thanks for listening to this rambling of mine.

[DamDSN]

I always come back to it too
this is (for me) the best story of the whole serie.
by far

[jorgeirodriguez]

“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”


‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

[lomtiptak]

One of my favorite short films ive ever seen.

[elsorzis]

This is basically a beautiful and very profound way to say "i wanna go back to monke".

[DarkArtistKaiser]

I often describe it a very zen like end for Zima. I feel him on a spiritual level and while the rational part of me finds it illogical, the emotional part can't help but be awed by his sacrifice for greater purpose and meaning as he saw it.

[clayhyuran]

Zima Blue is by far my favorite episode because it tells us something about Self Actualisation aka Contentment; this is the highest but also the hardest to achieve in Maslow’s hierarchy or needs.

This need basically is achieved when someone reaches their full potential and become the “best” one can possibly be. However in order to achieve that one needs to go through meeting the other needs like food, shelter, security, belongingness, confidence etc. We can see that Zima has altered his body to look for answers. The day he found the answer is that time when he transformed back to the pool cleaner robot which actually is “perfection” to him cause of its simplicity and it did remind him of that young girl who made him, take care of him and gave him the chance to roam the earth and then universe. This is where he achieved Self Actualisation. Thanks for your video i love to see people appreciating this episode 👍🏻

[Sofia]

This video and the episode has tons of different interpretations of our thinking and our perception of life and the world. But isn't it terrifying that after gaining conscience the main thing he did for possibly hundreds of years was art the pure creation of our creativity and our ability to think and fantasise ? And how after doing it whilst having already a high intelligence he preferred to abandon his own self ? That is a terrifying thing to do !!!

[peermoritz]

Thanks for this video essay!
You’ve done an amazing job describing the different aspects of this short story that it has really given me a much more interesting and diverse perspective!
Keep up the amazing work!

[markprice]

I have theorize 2 possible lesson (its a uneducated guess of course)
1. The "zima blue" is the shade of blue that is close to the color of the sky. Which many people overlook and forgot since they only care about human advancement and forgot about mother nature (this was my first thought during the 1st half of the episode, before zima explain his origin story).
2. The 2nd lesson or the 2nd act is that its the enjoyment of being young. The life of being a child is much more happier and simple, cause you are only given simple task: such as eat, sleep, go to school and play (and probably do house chores). But as you grow older (when zima explain he used to be a cleaner and progressively advanced his technology) life become more complicated and you tend to forget to enjoy the life again. Which the quote " ignorance is a bliss" speaks closer to this episode. Which speaks louder on the end act when he disassemble himself, turning back to his early model....his younger self

[budahbugah]

i find myself envious of zima's ability to know the thing that will bring him happiness and mourn that i don't believe i could ever achieve that sort of peace.
because he absolutely gave up his human complexity in order to achieve it.

i hate the message this is sending me. how can something so much more advanced and capable than me also still find life so meaningless?
it makes me want to have had a creator who could have given me a purpose worth giving up my humanity for.

because i don't want to end this so negatively, i kept this open trying to find some solace in all of this heart ache for a good while.
evolution, the insatiable itch of life, that is my curse and in this story humans were able to even spread it to a machine.

and look at what it prompted him to accomplish.
i like being human.