Heh. But:
One thing I read was that director Denis Villeneuve decided to forgo a lot of the internal monologue and narrating exposition (i.e. Princess Irulan reading from her “Shit I do to Pass the Time in my Loveless Marriage to Muad Dib Vol I through XV” books). I think the result of that was characters like Lady Jessica “emoting” a lot more to show their thoughts and emotions as opposed to just standing stoically while describing their thoughts in their head. But it also provides a much less detail around stuff like what a “Mentat” is or the significance of Dr Yueh’s diamond tattoo.
Zendaya as Chani was fine for how little she was in the film. But I thought she was still a bit the “too cook for school” chick she plays in every film I see her in. “Have fun getting murdered in a knife fight…nerd.”
Totally. The way they pronounced in the movie sounded silly.
Hey, how about not using skin color to designate fictional groups? All kinds of people could have been “good guys.” (I don’t really recall thinking of Paul and the Fremen as “good guys” when I read it … it didn’t seem like there were any good guys.)
(We are talking about a story that clearly has a T.E. Lawrence style white saviour.)
Anyway, I just said to not make it seem like white westerners versus Middle Eastern Islamic types. The gives one room to make anyone of any color any kind of role. It doesn’t require all the Fremen to become white.
It would however, require the removal of Arabic sounding terms like muad’dib and jyhad, which … ugh … so cringe.
If you’re going to remove the term “Muad’Dib”, you may as well call it “Doon” and be done with it being based on the novel.
Doon. Arukkus. The Dessert planet.
So change the savior to not be white.
I never read the Dune story (and I’m talking about the one novel as a stand-alone,* not the series) as about a savior imposing their will on a lesser people. The story is a subversion of that–the would-be savior is subsumed by the strength of the people. Paul is the knife-point, but the Fremen are the arm that’s in control.
*I’ve read the whole series, but I think the Dune novel works best as a stand-alone. The later books don’t add anything for me. Some things are better left unsaid.
The Fremen culture is not subsistence; they have a large surplus, which they use to gather spice and water. The spice they use to bribe the Spacing Guild to prevent satellites surveillance. The water they store for the future. They intentionally project a subsistence lifestyle as part of a ruse to hide what they’re doing from outsiders.
Better to be a woman, drinking beer without a head, than to be a man without a head, drinking beer without a woman.
I watched the movie last night. A couple of caveats: I’ve read the novel, but it was decades ago. I’ve seen the Lynch movie, but it was decades ago. And I watched the movie at home, when it clearly was a movie that really would benefit from the full theatrical experience. That being said…
I thought it was…ok. Again, I think it really would benefit from the full theatrical immersion experience, and watching it at home it probably really did lose something. But beyond that, it just seemed kind of…flat. I have only vague memories of the novel, but watching the movie it felt like it watching scenes being lifted directly from the book, without any of the internal monologue or narration to put everything together.
So, we see Mentats, but it’s not at all clear from the movie what they are. We see Doctor Yueh’s betrayal, but no indication of the fact that it’s supposed to be unthinkable, much less why. We get passing references to the baroque, byzantine politics of the Empire, but actual explanation of any of it.
That last bit bothered me the most, probably. There’s somehow a system where the Emperor can just transfer a ridiculously wealthy fief from one noble house to another by imperial fiat, but at the same time the noble houses can just go to war with each other to grab each other’s fiefdoms? And the Bene Gesserit (sp?) are a shadowy power behind the throne, and everyone knows they’re a shadowy power behind the throne, and just…lets them do that? For reasons? And Baron Harkonnen is afraid to outwardly cross them or violate the letter of his promise to them, for reasons, but has no hesitation with double-crossing them with the barest pretense of plausible deniability…for other reasons?
And the movie makes a big deal about how House Harkonnen sabotaged the Spice harvest operation on their way out the door and how important it was for House Atreides to make their quota, and how it seemed to be impossible now, especially with the loss of the harvester and sacrifice the Duke made to save the crew, and then…none of that actually matters at all, because House Harkonnen just invades…later that night?
Just to be clear, I’m not asking the Dune afficianados here to explain any of the above to me. I’m sure it all makes sense in the book. And the movie gets by on mood and spectacle.
But watching it just left me kind of flat.
Yep. It’s the fundamental tension in visual productions vs written works. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but some words can’t be pictured. The media are too different for a simple translation between them.
Another factor: our geek culture is very obsessed with explanations. We want to understand everything that’s happening. That’s a good thing, but sometimes good storytelling needs to leave things implicit. The mystery is part of the experience.
It is a Finnish name, and I believe the HARK-o-nen pronunciation is closer to reality. Maybe someone who speaks the language can chime in.
That said, I am glad that they stuck with Chani being pronounced “Chon-ee” rather than “Chain-ee” which Herbert said was what he had in his head. I get a Dick Cheney vibe whenever I hear that pronunciation.
Also, am I misremembering the book, in that I thought Lynch made up the weirding modules, which would explain their non-existence in this movie.
And for the record, my son (age 21) never read the books nor had he seen the Lynch version, and he loved the film and understood everything.
This is perhaps a bit of high-jack, but it reminds me of something I once read–I think it was in relation to Doctor Who. Something like, “It’s a mistake to believe that fans want a detailed explanation of every tiny aspect of the fictional world, What fans want is to argue about every tiny aspect of the fictional world. Having an official detailed explanation ruins everything.”
Yup. Hence the much hated voiceovers in the 1984 Dune movie. Either something is explained or…it’s just not.
I still think the foundation needs to be laid. We need to understand the galactic power struggle that is happening a bit more than some cursory mention that yeah, there are some politics at work. We don’t even see the emperor in this movie. He’s barely a thing. And the spacing guild, the third side of the power triangle, just is not in it at all.
I mean, ultimately that is the struggle…the fight against the current power structure. But we really know little about it. The movie makes it seem the struggle is a very local thing and only a spat between two houses. We don’t even get a good sense of just how fabulously valuable and crucial spice is to everyone. It’s mentioned but you never really feel that this stuff is literally the crux of galactic civilization.
I watched it the other day and was searching for the appropriate word to describe my feelings about it, and this is it. Flat.
At least the 1984 version was full of memorable stuff. I missed all the bizarre David Lynch stuff, even some of the stuff he completely made up. The Harkonnens are cartoonishly evil and Lynch portrayed them that way. Kenneth McMillan’s over-the-top portrayal of the Baron was spot-on I thought.
Embarrassingly, I always assumed the “Ch” in “Chani” was a guttural (or technically, a voiceless uvular fricative), like in “Chanukka”. “Chani” is a common Hebrew nickname for Chana (or Hannah).
You’re absolutely correct - the “weirding way” in the books was the Bene Gesserit fighting method, based on total muscle control. It’s how Jessica was able to take out Stilgar, as well as gain his respect. He convinced the rest of the tribe (except Jamis) that they should allow Jessica to join, so she could teach them.
I think Lynch added the “weirding modules” to explain why the Emperor wanted to take out the Atreides - they had a completely new fighting technology. They left the reason alone in this movie - Leto was wildly popular and respected by the other Great Houses so the Emperor feared him.
That’s who I think of every time I see a picture of Steve Bannon.