by LoveUniHateExams 22 Replies latest social entertainment
Not that I can remember the movie Dune 1984 ,but I do remember I liked it.
This new version ? I wasn`t impressed at all ,in fact I could see Star Wars in it in certain scenes and one on one fight scenes you just see so many times nowadays it just gets boring .
Still ,I will watch part 2 whenever it is released here in OZ land and hope it`s a lot better and more substance in it than part one.
Frank Herbert wrote the first six of the series. I have read all of these six. The remaining books, I'm not sure how many, quite a few, were co-written by Herbert's son and another writer. I haven't read any of those.
The first one comes across as a star wars-type adventure with a hero's story, but as you make your way through the rest, you realize it is a harshly critical portrayal or societal problems, placed in a science-fiction universe. Heroes, charismatic leaders, use of religion as a control mechanism, ecological disaster, sexual roles, you name it, Herbert really had a lot of social commentary.
Some, after reading the first novel, have claimed it was just another version of the White Savior theme. Just reading the first one might give that impression, but the remaining novels, if read, make it clearer that it is a criticism and damnation of the charismatic leader theme.
They are doing a podcast on the Islamic influence on the movie Dune.
Loved the original novel, indeed the whole series. The first two movies were simply awful but I am hearing good things about the new one. Looking forward to seeing it.
They are doing a podcast on the Islamic influence on the movie Dune - yes, I was gonna mention this in the OP but I forgot all about it.
I was gonna say this: there are some names in Dune which are clearly influenced by Arabic.
The main character, Paul Atreides, is also called 'Mu'adib'. This sounds like an Arabic word.
Also, the planet with the spice is called Arrakiss. And this name sounds like the British English pronunciation of Iraq, with '-iss' added onto the end.
Turning a book like Dune into a movie is a difficult project. It is too easy to end up with either a bunch of people sitting around talking, or the point of the book gets lost in gunfire and explosions (for example Starship Troopers). Rarely you see movies that are better than the book.
I'll put Shawshank Redemption in that category. I may take some heat for this but I think Kevin Costner's The Postman is better than the book.
I did not like either of the two Dune movies. I'll see this one when its on HBO.
Edited to add: the Islamic influences are obvious in the books. Paul is terrified that a Jihad in his name will sweep the whole universe.
I obviously dislike the islamic stuff but found the movie quite interesting. The knife fight with Sting in the end was cool. The flying fat Baron was gross. In the "extra-canonical" Star Wars litterature, Darth Vader is said to have a planet on of his own called Mustaphar. That bothers me too.
Just ran across this: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/dune-better-in-hebrew
Worth reading as a look at the linguistics of the books/movies. Interesting minor point -- he says that David Lynch didn't read the book before he made the movie. That would explain a lot.
Thanks for the link JeffT
Re. Dune ‘84…
…personally I think Lynch was given an impossible task.
