Posted on 03/19/2020 8:33:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Dune is destined to be another crashing bore, because the actual characters in the story are not very relatable or likable.
True story. Years ago, even before dudes wanted a Dell, a gaggle of Army generals gathered to ponder how to integrate computers into military operations. One prefaced his prognosticating by admitting to being a “Trekkie,” having grown up watching the 1960s TV-series. He went on to talk about the future of warfare as though they would all be Captain Kirks firing photon torpedoes from the command deck.
Science fiction and the future have a messy relationship. Much science fiction either meditates on the present or mines the past. The technology may be mundane (taken from the pages of Popular Mechanics) or magical (casting aside the laws of physics).
Since it’s often not really about the future, using science fiction to plan the land of tomorrow is life imitating bad art. Yet, good science fiction, like all good fiction, can tell us much. We should not ignore the entire genre.
Which brings us to the new film version of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 sci-fi novel Dune, slated to come out later this year.
This sprawling story first hit the silver screen in 1984. It was a mind-numbingly bad adaptation. Then came two so-so TV mini-series: Dune (2000) and Children of Dune (2003). The latter was largely inaccessible to those who had not already read the books.
Will Hollywood’s latest try be a hit or a flop? Time will tell if it’s the next Star Wars (1977) or just another Jupiter Ascending (2015).
The makers of this Dune start with a serious advantage. The original book sparked decades of writing by the author, his son and a co-author. At last count there are about 18 books on the Dune universe spanning from when humans started to exploit space travel to their scattering to the ends of the universe. The original Dune book sandwiches somewhere in the middle of the story. Thus, the screenwriters start with the advantage of understanding the whole saga, being able to reflect and foreshadow on everything that ever happens. This would have been like George Lucas starting Star Wars knowing who Luke’s father was.
The history of Dune is particularly important. The past turns out to be a vital driving force in Herbert’s version of science fiction. Technology is a bit player. There are no robots, no computers, and a lot of sword play. That is because of a much earlier event called the Butlerian Jihad, when humans destroyed all the “thinking machines.” No Terminators (1984) here.
The lack of advanced weaponry significantly impacts the nature of governance and war in the Dune universe. Great houses compete for power using weapons of intrigue like spying, disinformation, diplomacy, double-dealing, assassination, and troops that look suspiciously like special forces.
Contemporary audiences may relate more to Dune than Cold War audiences identified with the original novel. The interstellar politics of Dune feel a lot like the geopolitics of our age of “great power competition.”
The environment is also a key component of the Dune mythology. That, too, should resonate given our own debates over climate change.
And, like the world of Dune, everyone is fighting over the great substance that controls the universe. In Dune it’s called the “spice melange”—a drug necessary for space travel that is a billion times more powerful than opioids on steroids. In our world, it’s data. The power that can collect, analyze, manipulate, and exploit the most data is on its way to becoming the master of our universe.
Here is the big disconnect between us and Dune. Our future is inextricably intertwined with technology. Unless the screenwriters can figure out how to bridge that divide, Dune will be no more relatable than the dragons in the Game of Thrones.
In the real world, how we handle technology could dramatically impact the course of great power competition. If those challenges are woven into the film, it might well provoke some serious thinking about our future—making the movie truly great science fiction.
Otherwise, we’ll have to hope it has terrific special effects and a music score equal to what John Williams produced for Star Wars. Lacking that, Dune is destined to be another crashing bore, because the actual characters in the story are not very relatable or likable.
Two articles about Dune. I assume you like Dune.
I read Dune. For the life of me I can't remember why. I was into SciFi at the time so I guess it was holy canon and simply expected.
I only remember a few scenes I read; like the awkward moment when the male lead asks the female to hold on to his rings. Drugs timed to body metabolism. Glowing blue eyes. Some other stuff.
I can understand why film makers want to tackle the 'epic' nature of the work; the worms plowing through the sand is a spectacular image to bring to the screen.
I didn't find it memorable.
If it gives you joy, that's fine with me but because it's such a large work and everyone has their own individual vision from their own imagination (which is why people keep remaking the film) it's almost un-filmable.
What I'm concerned about is yet another leftist remake that'll turn it into pure garbage. Paul will be formerly Paulette, a tranny. The fremen will be obvious surrogates for illegal aliens. The navigator guild will be portrayed with obvious parallels to big oil or big pharma or some such as the bad guys. The heroic saviors will be orphans and illegals and muslim stand-ins who reluctantly take up arms, then shun them immediately and proclaim Arrakis a peaceful and disarmed planet open to all... They'll water it down and slather so much PC BS on it that it will be almost unrecognizable.
What about three three-hour movies? I think that’s the minimum that’s needed. But could the market handle it is the thing. This isn’t exactly Harry Potter.
No. I base my opinion on having read the book
There was definitely a 'Bedouin' vibe. You can extrapolate from there.
I would love to have seen what Alejandro Jodorowsky had in mind. Salvador Dali as the Emperor? That would be a quick path into madness.
Did you know Salvador Dali and Walt Disney had a joint animation?
I originally saw it at the Dayton Art Institute in 2010. I probably sat through the video a half dozen times that first day.
Wow, lots there.
Lynch didn’t ‘fsail’.
On a radio show in the 1980s, a woman caller described for Herbert how Dune saved her life. She was abducted, raped, tortured, stabbed, and left for dead in a rural cabin. In spite of great pain and fear of death or the return of her attacker, the woman crawled to search for and find a telephone hidden in the cabin to call for and direct the help that saved her life. As the woman was doing so, she found essential calmness and resolution in repeating Herbert's saying from Dune that "fear is the mind-killer."
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
So much of Dune takes place inside the characters heads that it becomes difficult to translate to the screen. The 1984 movie tried to use voice overs to deal with this and it didn’t work.
Considering Herbert was quoted as saying his inspiration for “Dune” was to show the world someone with superpowers was a bad thing, the movie might only appeal to fans of the Duneverse.
Disagree, politely. I was born and raised on sci-fi and it’s still my favorite genre. Dune, both book and movie, left me completely baffled by whatever was going on. I couldn’t relate to the characters, couldn’t follow the plot, and thought that whatever was going on was plodding and dull.
How many people would set through a 3 hour movie? Much less 3 movies on the same book?
The Super Bowl is the only 3+ hour event the public will set through.
It would have to be presented as a multi night event like Band of Brothers was. Nine or ten hours spread over as many days. The public would go for that because, unfortunately, the attention span of the average person is only about one hour. Anything longer loses them.
The upside of a nine or ten hour event is the ability to thoroughly present the culture and characters created by Herbert. As long as Hollywood could keep it’s PC SJW hands off and stick to the book.
Wast Roots spread over days?
>>Time will tell if it’s the next Star Wars (1977)
even the Star Wars franchise didn’t live up to the promise of those first 2 films that were made
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.