The desert planet of “Arrakis”, worshipping the sandworm, and the spice, the epic sci fi written by Frank Herbert in 1965, Dune is a cultural phenomenon. Directed By Denis Villeneuve, “Dune Part One” and “Dune Part Two” received wide appreciation globally. But, apart from being an epic science fiction, Dune has immense cultural and philosophical value.
Based on the life of the young heir of the Atreides family “Paul Atreides” which is masterfully played by Timothee Chalamet, along with his mother Jessica. The story revolves around the actions Paul takes and the journey he covers. Which has cultural connotations to it.
Dune is heavily influenced by Middle Eastern, North African and Islamic Culture. If we look closely at the names it has then we will understand the Arabic influence.
“Shai-Hulud” is the name of the great sandworm, who is worshipped by the Fremens as a deity, which actually originated from the Arabic word meaning “thing of eternity”. “Kwisatz Haderach”, which means, “The one who can be in two places simultaneously” originated from a Hebrew word. Herbert masterfully included the reference of “jihad” which means “Holy War”.
Furthermore, Denis Villeneuve kept the essence of the vision given by Herbert. But, the Woke community is saying something else. They are saying that it was impossible not to be reminded of ongoing devastation and conflicts in the region faced by Palestinians, Armenians, Sudanese, and Syrians among others.
Audience nowadays is much aware of the ongoing facts. But, we have to keep in mind that this is science fiction. Which is set in approximately 20,000 years from the present day. Dune itself has so much politics in it, that if one has to include present day politics in it as well, that will be so dense that it’ll be impossible for a first time viewer to keep up with it.
Although in Twitter (present day X) people are revolting against the very statement.
