By Richard Paolinelli
Growing up as a kid, my first introduction to literary science fiction were the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. I spent many an after-school hour at the public library reading those incredible stories.
But, once I got a little older, I encountered a new author and a book that cemented my love of reading science fiction for life. That book was Dune by Frank Herbert. As soon as I finished reading it I turned right back to the first page and started reading it again. The next five books in the series that Herbert wrote soon followed suit.
Over the years, I have probably read those six books, in order of course, at least twenty times. The depth and attention to detail of every facet of the universe Herbert created with Dune was amazing. You easily lost yourself in the stories, even after so many readings when you already knew all too well what was coming.
Herbert’s Dune inspired me to try to create my own universe. The first book in that attempt is When The Gods Fell. Now, I’m not about to tell you it is better than Hebert’s works, but it is filled with all of the political intrigue and mythology that Herbert wove into Dune.
I’m telling you this because later this year Dune will be released in theaters. When I heard that Dune was being redone I was ecstatic. David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation had an incredible cast. Unfortunately, it had David Lynch as the director. While he remained somewhat true to the original material, his outlandish style did not serve the material well. The movie overall was okay, but just okay.
The SYFY channel released a miniseries in 2000 that combined the first three books - Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The casting was okay, but lacked some star power that paled in comparison to the 1984 cast. But they remained faithful to Herbert’s material and I thought they did well under the circumstances. Still, the first two attempts at adapting Dune fell short.
Fast forward to 2020. Brian Herbert (Frank’s son) and Kevin J. Anderson have expanded on Frank’s original six books over the years and I feel they have done a great job. News that they were involved in the film gave me hope that the third time would be the charm, especially when the cast and crew were announced.
Denis Villeneuve would direct, and after his work on Blade Runner 2049 I felt this meant a Dune that would stick to the original material like glue. Oscar Isaac as Duke Leto? Nice. Zendaya as Chani? Good! Timothee Chalamet as Paul? Okay, I haven’t seen him in action but he looked promising. Rebecca Ferguson as the Lady Jessica, Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck, Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban, Jason Momoa as Duncan Idaho, Javier Bardem as Stilgar and Stellan Skarsgard as the Baron Harkonnen?
How sweet it is!
Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Liet-Kynes?
What in the name of Shai-hulud is this madness?
This has nothing to do with Duncan-Brewster as an actress. This has everything to do with screwing around with the original material and in what can only be assumed as a way to show the world how “woke” the film is.
Liet-Kynes is Chani’s father, not her mother. Liet-Kynes is the leader of the Fremen. In the Dune universe Herbert created, the Fremen are a desert-dwelling people with strict rules. One is they do not have women leading the tribes or their entire people. So gender-swapping Liet-Kynes makes no sense whatsoever.
This isn’t like the Battlestar Galactica reboot where Starbuck was also gender-swapped. All Starbuck was ever required to be was a kick-ass, hard-drinking, high-stakes gambling fighter pilot, male or female. So having Katee Sackhoff replace Dirk Benedict wasn’t a huge violation as long as she pulled it off, and she definitely pulled it off.
But Liet-Kynes can ONLY be a male in Herbert’s Dune universe. This decision to gender-swap the character is a terrible disservice to Herbert. And the claim cannot be made that it was done to bring a strong female character to the story.
The Lady Jessica is a very strong female character, as is Chani herself. The Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam is a very strong female character in the story. The Bene Gesserit order is an all-female army of warrior-priestesses with amazing abilities.
There is no shortage of strong females in the Dune universe. There was no need for this casting other than the obvious “Hey, look at how woke we are” by Villeneuve. Worse yet, it is disrespectful to Hebert himself to make a major change like this.
I have long disliked the tendency by Hollywood writers to attempt to write the story better than the original author did. If Hollywood is going to adapt a classic like this, then they should move heaven and earth to make sure they respect the original material.
If they cannot, then they should leave the original alone and create their own Dune-like universe with new characters. When I wrote When The Gods Fell, I did not attempt to rewrite Frank’s original. I would not disrespect Hebert or his legacy that way. I created my own universe.
If Villeneuve was incapable of showing the proper respect to Herbert’s work, he should never have agreed to direct this film. As a longtime fan of the Dune universe I am very disappointed because if they are willing to violate the original material like this one instance, what else are they going to change? Will it even be the Dune that Hebert created by the time they are done?
Sadly, is seems that the Dune reboot we deserved is not the Dune reboot we are going to get in December.
To buy When The Gods Fell and other books by Richard Paolinelli, visit his website.
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts on Dune here on your blog, Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteGeorge R.R. Martin said something once that stuck with me: When you adapt a book to the screen, sometimes you have to make changes or it just won't work. Instead of lamenting every change from the original source material, fans should try to appreciate the cleverness of the adaptation. For example, a book can get away with having a lot more characters than a movie can, so sometimes an adaptation will combine some of the minor characters. That's not necessarily a flaw.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of changing the gender of a character, I can see doing it to try to broaden the appeal of a work. E.g. a story with no strong female character might not sell as well to a female audience. But in this case, as you say, we already have strong female characters, and the screenwriters are changing the gender of a minor character.
You say they're trying to show how "woke" they are, but, if so, they fail even at that. "Woke" would be making Paul and his family black. Or making Duke Leto a woman so Paul has two moms. Or at least dropping the mentions of the Baron's sexuality, since he's only gay in the book in order to make him more creepy. But changing the gender of a minor character who probably won't have over 5 minutes of screen time isn't going to earn many "woke" points, and I can't think what the motivation for it was.
Nor should it really be a big deal for fans, except that it's an indicator that there might be much more substantial changes to the story.
Read the director's interview in Vanity Fair, that's more concerning as to his treatment of the original than just a single gender swap.
DeleteIn some stories that works. LOTR, for example: instead of having one of Elrond's sons save the group from the Nazgul, they had his daughter do so. Which works well enough. It establishes the relationship with Aragorn, and since Elrond's sons don't pop up again in the movie it doesn't affect the plot.
DeleteBut in this case I agree with the blog post. There are already several major and significant female characters--Bene Gesserit and otherwise.
Here's what I think happened. The Dune universe accepts that the sexes are different--not that one is inferior to the other, but that men and women are different in some fundamental ways. Leto II talks about this several times. And the Left hates that idea. We live in a society were saying "Men cannot give birth" can get you fired from a tenured position. So they had to have a female character acting as a man. It's not enough to have a strong female character--if she's strong yet feminine that's still sexist! We must obliterate even the most obvious differences between the sexes on the alter of wokeness.
I loved the Lynch Dune, and loved the Sci-Fi Dune. I also love the books. But, this movie, made in this political climate, has me worried. Right now, there is no way they can give us anything but a woke mess.
ReplyDeleteKynes is male for a reason. The culture he exists in is one that has reverted back to feudalism. There is nothing "woke" about it. That's kind of the point.
ReplyDeleteThere are no female planetologists, Spacing Guild navigators, or Sardukar commanders. To try to push a 21st century political world view on a fictional culture designed to be degenerate is worst than stupid. The whole motive of the Fremen jihad was to wipe away that degeneracy. That they failed is beside the point.
Correction. That they failed is actually one of the points Herbert was getting at. The messiah complex is a dangerous thing. It unleashes forces too powerful to control and human nature always wins. Even when the messiah is a well meaning one.
Delete