How Dib “inspired” Zim in ETF or How Zim Learns the concept of Family in a negative way
“My schmoop was no act. I truely felt I had failed the Tallest, but then, you told me about the power of the bracelet, inspiring me. It’s funny, really.”
I wanted to talk about this for a long, long, long, time because it’s my favorite scene ever in Enter the Florpus, but I didn’t know if I wanted to make a comic about it specifically or not. (like I probably will but.. with far more emotion….)
But like… screw it. Because it’s just my favorite thing in the whole Movie and I rewatch it so frequently I could probably lipsync it when I show it to my friends.
I might just be stating the blatantly obvious here, but I really did miss it my first viewing, and I wonder if a lot of others did too? I said I had theories in a bucket for how Dib “inspired” Zim… and if it wasn’t all that obvious to everyone else, I thought I’d share.
“I lost the respect of my Tallest”
I’ve talked at great length about Dib sympathizing with Zim here. He feels almost bad for this alien he’s been hunting for most of his childhood. Like Dib has been uncomfortable the moment he walked in the door and was just trying to ignore the obvious about Zim. Because Zim is his greatest enemy and alien scum. He can’t really be…. sad… because that means Dib needs to admit all the tormenting he put him through in the series and humanize him in a way. It visibly makes him uncomfortable, and Dib does have a moment of weakness expressing empathy for Zim.
Like he was happy to win, once and for all… but it’s not really at all how he imagined. (we saw his imagination play out in the glorious anime intro)
You know, my dad, doesn’t respect what I do either
Dib is relating his situation to Zim’s and it’s the only time one acknowledges that they are actually pretty similar. He even uses the same exact word of… “Respect.”
He is directly comparing HIS DAD to ZIM’S TALLEST
This is the best and worst thing Dib has ever done.
Because Zim didn’t really understand what Dib’s Dad means to him.
He even labeled the clone (Clembrane) “Dib’s Master” in the tank. And pronounces the word like “DAAAUAAAHHHDDD” and just thinks his job is ground him forever and make him pudding (food?).. because he doesn’t know what it means. (Even in Future Dib when he was imitating Dib he called Dib’s Dad “Membrane” because he was just unfamiliar that Dib refers to Membrane as “Dad” )
Zim does not know what Membrane means to Dib at all.
So when Dib expresses empathy for Zim’s situation, that his leaders aren’t coming and don’t respect him, and relates that to his own family situation…..Zim just doesn’t ignore that sentiment.
“He thinks I’m crazy like the rest of the world, the world I just saved without anyone even knowing”
I am for certain the zoom-in on the bracelet is meant to foreshadow future events, but I do not think Zim has the mind to betray Dib at this moment.
Dib compared his Dad to his Tallest and things are starting to click for Zim!
No wonder Dib was trying to stop him at every turn, annoy him and consistently ruin his plans. HE WAS TRYING TO GAIN THE RESPECT OF HIS TALLEST TOO!!!
Membrane is Dib’s Tallest.
Zim knows that he is defective and his leaders think him as crazy. Zim already knows all these things about himself which is why he tries so hard, and because Dib compared that situation he is beginning to understand why Dib tries so hard as well.
Which is why Zim even bothers to kidnap Membrane and lock him in prison in the first place:
“If you’re so worried about the Florpus, just get your DAD to help!”
He knows what his Dad means to Dib now, and uses that as a huge gloating point over him. (The way he instantly broke into Dib’s house to gloat about his plan. After his schmoop he is SUPER SUPER proud about this one and wants Dib to acknowledge what he did was truly amazing) He is doing exactly what he imagines what a “no-win” scenario is like, and for him, it’s a scenario where Dib takes away his Tallest and locks them up somewhere. Because he figures without Dib’s Tallest, Dib won’t try as hard to stop him, because there is no Tallest to gain the approval of. (and that is so sad)
And who knows what would have really happened…
If Dib didn’t decide to completely repress his feelings of empathy towards Zim in favor of approval and recognition from the whole world and his Dad. Hoping to completely take advantage of Zim’s mental state to actually show the world that he won. Because Dib was upset that he did save the world, without anyone knowing. Dad’s keynote is the place for him to show the world what he did and have his Dad look at him as not crazy. (I still stand by this is one of the most awful things Dib has done. Understandable, yes. But terrible.)
He reached a hand for empathy out at Zim, and Zim doesn’t think it was EVER sincere, because Dib follows his sincere sentiment with completely selfish motivations.
Make way more sense. Dib’s complement isn’t sincere, because his empathy wasn’t sincere. Zim pretty much had to betray Dib if he were to not die. Dib really put Zim in a pretty bad unwinnable situation. Zim just can’t believe the hand of empathy Dib reaches out to him was ever genuine at all. Even for a brief moment, because why would it be. Of course, Dib would just use him to expose him.
But I’m getting ahead of myself….. what…. exactly about Dib’s speech triggered Zim’s “inspiration”
“The keynote! Dad’s announcing the new Membracelet tomorrow! The whole world will be watching!”
“If I could somehow take control of Dad’s Keynote Stream….”
“…I could expose a real alien, you, Live in front of the entire planet!”
“I believe you, Dib. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
The parallels to Zim’s plan and Dib’s speech are for more evident then you could ever imagine.
And it makes way more sense that when Membrane gets involved in killing off GIR’s robot brothers (and Maria) That this line is really the one I think about way too much:
“DESTROY THE MEMBRANE FAMILY”
Not just Dib. His whole family. He acknowledges them as a unit and a team. Saw how Membrane had Dib’s back through the thick of it all. GIR is terrible, Mini-moose ended up working with the enemy, Clembrane’s programing for wanting to be “Dib’s Dad” overrides orders from his Master, He had to FORCE his Tallest to come to Earth (again) He sees Dib’s whole entire family as a not only a threat to his mission but angers him in ways he can’t understand or describe. The Tallest would never work with him and have his back in the way that Dib’s Tallest does.
Zim’s desperate need to be acknowledged by the Tallest in the same way that Dib’s Dad does for him is…. heartbreaking.
Not only that but for Dib to acknowledge him but have his family acknowledge him too.
Because the Membrane family is closer than ever before and it’s all Zim’s fault.
And I really mean that. Every single part of the Membrane family becoming “better” is a direct result of Zim tampering like the hurricane he is.
Membrane spending more of an effort to come home for mealtimes and request that Gaz be “more patient” with her brother is because of a direct result of Dib’s obsession with Zim. Witch only intensified due to phase one of Zim’s plan.
Membrane having Dib’s back throughout the majority of the Florpus climax, and I think realizing that he was “wrong” in some of the ways that he has treated Dib in the past and how he’s handling it currently.
Zim’s Florpus really gave Membrane full freedom to express things that he felt afraid to say or just didn’t really know how to convey properly.
Zim’s Florpus really gave him the freedom he needed to get things off his chest he’s been wanting to say to Dib for awhile. Considering how he told Gaz that giving up the paranormal would be like giving up videogames. He does know on some level of what it means to his son, even if he thinks it’s nonsense. (I might talk about that on its own… but Membrane can be a controversial topic in this fandom.)
But every little facet of the Membrane Family development, Gaz and Dib, Membrane and Dib, it is just all Zim’s fault that they become closer than ever before, as shown in the shot when Dib is at the dinner table.
SOMEONE HELP THIS MISERABLE SPACE GOBLIN!
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