Somehow I have survived the Pandemic and been independent in 2024 and still not seen Dune one or two until today.
And I still would not have seen it if not for some random second hand ticket I got from a friend of a rerelease, I got it and then spent two and a half hours watching Dune one then rushed to Dune 2
How stable
Well, now I have seen it, and you can finally hear my worthless opinions on this franchise.
I think the Star Wars comparisons to this film are true, in the sense that, this is like a more Dark and gritty star wars.
Imagine if Luke instead of being the pure paragon of the Farm boy breaking free from his shackles was actually a rich nobleman who lead a bunch of Tribals to commit genocide while acting as a parallel to the religious extremist leaders of the past.
Like, come on, I am not the only one who saw the problematic aspects right?
Well I know I am not the only one, Chani who is the first love interest of Paul, sees it as well.
And the Star Wars parallels first came to me when I first saw Paul staring in the distance with his father beside him, when I first saw him wanting to be out there and in the action, and when he was called by his dreams to action.
But unlike those classic heroes journeys this movie has a lot of politics, nothing is straight forwards, So it is more akin to game of thrones than anything.
But the main thing that separates this franchise from classic Hero's Journeys is the fact that this Hero isn't driven by self improvement, this hero just want's revenge and does what needs to be done, all while being manipulated by the one he calls mother.
There is a saying, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not after you, similarly just because they are after you doesn't mean you are not Paranoid.
Similarly just because you align with the Prophecy, doesn't mean you aren't a false Messiah, because maybe the prophecy was bullshit to begin with, prophecies can self fulfill, just because it happened doesn't mean the prediction was correct, even if it is true doesn't mean it wasn't manipulation.
A true manipulator can use truth and lies in tandem to get what they want.
And Manipulation isn't always deliberate either.
A true manipulator lies to themselves the most, that is why it is so important to turn the spotlight inwards and see what is up with you... Just as much as it is important to do what needs to be done do you can survive.
I'm pretty sure Paul told himself he was doing what he was doing for the right reasons.
When Paul took the water of life, or as I like to call it, worm piss poison, I have no doubts that this worm piss poison made Paul more perceptive as it did the reverend mothers before him, who for some reason kept men out, I mean sure, maybe cannot survive the process, but Paul's mother survived because she knew the ways of the Bene Gesserit, and Paul survived cause he did.
Now why do the Bene Gesserit not allow men, sure there is a reason, maybe it can be deconstructed, maybe it can't but from what I said I think it is clear it doesn't matter. And clearly Paul came out fine enough, until a Bene Gesserit named his mom put dangerous ideas into his head, or gassed up the ones that were naturally taking effect.
At the end of the day, the Bene Gesserit are an ancient Manipulative religious Organization.
And there is no two ways about it.
The Dune movies show one thing, that this space faring star gazing civilization is no different than and not that much above the petty squabbles of us earth dwellers, now part of it may be on purpose, because the person writing this had a message he wanted to give.
Some of it maybe true, here or there, We are humans, not that far fetched to think we would have some constants.
Hey did you know Star Wars was meant to represent the Vietnam War?
And the author of the novel that this movie is based on, Frank Herbert, he was born during the World Wars, one would think it is no mere coincidence that this Movie and by extension the Book has so many Nazi Parallels.
I mean just look at the Harkonnens
And we see it with what Paul makes the Fremen do
We see it everywhere.
Every faction in Dune is in some way broken, the message that The author is giving is not that we are all evil, because if he were, he wouldn't have Chani, what he is giving, is that we are all capable of evil, that the greatest weapon that evil has, is our undying desire to be free of it.
It is like they say, the Devil is in each of us, he wears many faces.
The people who are oppressed rally around people like Paul, those with charisma, and want to fight the real oppressors... And this belief affects the leader even if he means well.
The biggest believer in the Lisan Al Gaib story is Stilgar, and you need only look at him to see how the believers affect the leaders.
Truth is in Hebrew, the original Word Satan, meant adversary.
It could be any adversary.
That doesn't mean he doesn't exist...
Truth is we all have it in us to do evil, no more than when we believe we are above it, and no more than when we justify it in the pursuit of the fight against evil.
That is why even the original inhabitants of the planet Dune are no better than the one they are fighting against, Paul isn't to blame alone for the Atrocities he commits, yes he is a leader, yes he makes a lot of the choices, and the interesting thing is he does it all while aware of the evil that could come under his name...
But once he gains the sight, he justifies it by saying all's well that ends well, or ends Justify the means, or for the greater good or something like that...
Quoting Daredevil again.
Because this greater good thing, when does it stop right?
But then it is also true that sacrifices are a need when winning any fight, and fights and conflicts occur regardless of what one does or doesn't do, in fact one of the biggest reasons Conflicts take place are to stop Conflicts.
So do we just not try to prevent conflicts? Well, we would be doing so to prevent conflicts...
All of the knowledge that the priest in Daredevil gives is from Christianity, The Crusades happened in the name of Christianity.
Again, to cover my bases, in no way do the worst of any faith represent the rest of the faith, in the end, like any faith it is an attempt to prevent evil.
Like I said, the greatest weapon evil has is our will to prevent it.
And of course by the third season, even the priest is not very Catholic, I mean he wasn't in the beginning either, but there it seemed like a knowledgeable man breaking free of the confines his faith places on him, and then by season 3, he too is just another Man.
In Dune the enemy isn't one person, there is the empire, the emperor is evil, but he isn't the ultimate villain, Paul fights him, but he isn't a Hero, he is just another way of evil.
While stories such as Harry Potter and Star Wars show us one type of Tyranny and then defeat it, Dune shows us all of them.. Or quite a few of them, even if it showed all the known ones at the time, I am sure evil will find a way.
But so will good no? Hopefully...
The problem is, amongst all this, the everyday people get left behind...
And that is the Article...
Hey they can't all be long... I mean if you want long, you can watch the two Dune movies... I mean talk about length...
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