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I really enjoyed the first Dune movie by Villenueve and decided to read Dune for the first time in anticipation the second movie. Reading the book, I was surpr

I really enjoyed the first Dune movie by Villenueve and decided to read Dune for the first time in anticipation the second movie. Reading the book, I was surprised by the focus on mysticism and Islamic references, which were only a minor background element in the first movie. I do think the religious elements add depth to the story beyond the typical SciFi space opera and is a likely a strong contributing factor to Dune's enduring cultural impact. It's unfortunate the movies shied away from those references despite the potential consternation it may have stirred up. For those that have recently read the book, this article by Harris Durrani on the probable influence of muslim theological development on Frank Herbert's Dune world is engrossing. https://reactormag.com/the-muslimness-of-dune-a-close-reading-of-appendix-ii-the-religion-of-dune/ https://reactormag.com/the-muslimness-of-dune-a-close-readin...

aeturnum 3y ago
This is another resource I pass on to folks when talking about this on twitter: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/introducing-the-metaverse-crisis-in-afghanistan-stuff-the-british-stole-islamic-influence-in-dune-and-more-1.6220405/frank-herbert-s-dune-novels-were-heavily-influenced-by-middle-eastern-islamic-cultures-says-scholar-1.6221670 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/introducing-the-metaverse-cris...
vintermann 3y ago
A typical SciFi space opera wasn't really a thing when Herbert wrote the books.
- nobody9999 3y ago
  > A typical SciFi space opera wasn't really a thing when Herbert wrote the books. Huh? Space opera was well established long before Dune[0]: "Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories.[7]: 10–18 [16] In film, the genre probably began with the 1918 Danish film, Himmelskibet.[20] Unlike earlier stories of space adventure, which either related the invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials, or concentrated on the invention of a space vehicle by a genius inventor, pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among the stars. Early stories of this type include J. Schlossel's "Invaders from Outside" (Weird Tales, January 1925),[18] The Second Swarm (Amazing Stories Quarterly, spring 1928) and The Star Stealers (Weird Tales, February 1929), Ray Cummings' Tarrano the Conqueror (1925), and Edmond Hamilton's Across Space (1926) and Crashing Suns (Weird Tales, August–September 1928).[16] Similar stories by other writers followed through 1929 and 1930. By 1931, the space opera was well established as a major subgenre of science fiction.[citation needed]" [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera#History
lionkor 3y ago
The second movie did not at all shy away from islamic references.

aeturnum 3y ago

This is another resource I pass on to folks when talking about this on twitter: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/introducing-the-metaverse-crisis-in-afghanistan-stuff-the-british-stole-islamic-influence-in-dune-and-more-1.6220405/frank-herbert-s-dune-novels-were-heavily-influenced-by-middle-eastern-islamic-cultures-says-scholar-1.6221670 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/introducing-the-metaverse-cris...

vintermann 3y ago

A typical SciFi space opera wasn't really a thing when Herbert wrote the books.

nobody9999 3y ago
> A typical SciFi space opera wasn't really a thing when Herbert wrote the books. Huh? Space opera was well established long before Dune[0]: "Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories.[7]: 10–18 [16] In film, the genre probably began with the 1918 Danish film, Himmelskibet.[20] Unlike earlier stories of space adventure, which either related the invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials, or concentrated on the invention of a space vehicle by a genius inventor, pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among the stars. Early stories of this type include J. Schlossel's "Invaders from Outside" (Weird Tales, January 1925),[18] The Second Swarm (Amazing Stories Quarterly, spring 1928) and The Star Stealers (Weird Tales, February 1929), Ray Cummings' Tarrano the Conqueror (1925), and Edmond Hamilton's Across Space (1926) and Crashing Suns (Weird Tales, August–September 1928).[16] Similar stories by other writers followed through 1929 and 1930. By 1931, the space opera was well established as a major subgenre of science fiction.[citation needed]" [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_opera#History

lionkor 3y ago

The second movie did not at all shy away from islamic references.