Dune

{{ I'll give it a nosey Halfy, sounds visually very interesting, and the film too. }}

{{ Rewatching the trailer something else gave me some cause for concern, again in the dialogue. Paul uses the word 'crusade' instead of the more usually applied in the book 'jihad'. I hope they are not going to be downplaying the arabic and muslim aspects to Arrakis. Or worse, removing them altogether.}}

{{ It is a bit of a worry. Dune is troubling in some ways in modern times depending how you take what Herbert is saying. On one level you can see it as white European goes to foreign land of arab types and becomes 'oneof them' but better than them, becoming their messiah and leader and saving them. Made worse by the clear indications that House Atreides is based off Greek/Roman heritage, the Fremen off Arabic and African culture, and various other groups represent the evoloved descendants of Judiasm, Catholicism/Protestants ect. Its a big part of the cultures of Dune and the commentary being made thereoff.
Now for my own reading of the books I dont find for example that Pauls role among the Fremen in any way depreciates or underplays the Fremen themselves or their culture, it does not feel like appropration to me. However conveying that within the confines of a movie runtime, thats trickier and could easily fall back into sloppy stereotypes, but removng it all together will remove a huge chunk of the flavour, and the point and the lore of the Dune universe.
After all Mentats, the human computers only exists because of a jihad against thinking machines and AI, that then passes into religous doctrine in the Orange Catholic Bible, prohibiting the devleopment or use of machines that think like a human. Religion, in all its forms, how they interact, and what each represents in their culture, and how all of that has for centuries been maniplated and implanted in socieities by the Bene Gessirit for their own ends is difficult to remove from the narrative as its central to how and why Paul rises to the position he does. The Messiah prophecies were deliberetly seeded in many worlds and cultures for this purpose (well almost it wasnt meant to to be Paul, but thats the point, its crucial to understanding what goes on) and its all tied back in subtle ways to the various religious mythlogies that still exist in the Dune universe and their interactions.
Which brings it back to the question of if the religous and cultural motifs of the book are going to be as prevelant, important or even present in the film. I am not so sure they are from what Ive seen and heard so far. }}

{{ No chance of that I reckon, i think he is still hoping its a huge success and he will get to make the rest- though frankly the first one for all its denseity and length and weird names is by far the easier to adapt. Normally once you establish everything in the first film of a series youre free to get on with other things in later films, but the time gaps in the Dune series are so immense and the changes between books so vast often you'd need to reestablish everything and the new premise every time, and with almost entirely new casts of characters every time. }}

{{ Ill wait till I see it, overall things look generally positive but been things in both trailers- dialogue not being from book and sounding very Holywood generic, or the important bit of it missing when it is from the book, and representation of the Fremen are still crabbit niggles that I will neeed to wait and see how they play out. }}

{{ That interview is depressing ot hear, so much ignorance about the charactr and th ebook in uder 1 minute! not to mention "she's the best fighter there is". What? So Lady Jessica is a better fighter than Gurney or Duncan? You know characters whose sole job is fighting and war and protecting the Royal Family. And what n earth does she mean by Jessica is the Dukes bodyguard? He is a Duke with an entire planet, army, personal guards etc. What utter bollocks she speaks here and if this is what they've done to the character Im not sure these films are going to be much cop. Jessica in the book is already one of the most influential, powerful, politically savvy and mentally strong characters in the books, she doesnt have to be fucking Bruce Lee on steriods to prove she is strong, thats just stupid.
Why do modern films think showing women with the physique of a catwalk model throwing 6ft grown men about makes them strong. It just looks stupid, implausible and is such a cheap, pathetic and lazy way to convey it. }}