Why Dune is still Impossible to adapt // Dune Part 2 vs Book

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In a Story like Dune, you don’t have heroes and villains. But you do have a Cause and Effect.

Speaking only about the movies, Paul’s primary decision at the climax was to act or not. Either choice would have made him a villain in the eyes of the someone. Can’t protect Arakis effectively without power, but that power is the thing that makes him hated by the universe.

If I could change one thing that was left out of the books, I think it would be the fact that Paul was trained as a mentat. That would require an entire explaination of what a mentat is, but it goes so far in completing the understanding about how Paul is able to combine the his ducal training, his bene gesserat training, his crafted bloodline, and the prescience from taking spice - and then using the mentat training to basically stop time in his mind and do immense calculations of the past and present in order to see all possible futures. I….guess that’s probably hard to explain in a film tho.

I really missed the spacing guild in Part Two. They are essential in the book for confirming that paul can actually destroy all the spice. Because the movie changed how Paul threatened to destroy the spice I guess that they were not needed anymore, but without them the ending still feels empty.

Thufir Hawat's story was so well done in the book, I was sad to see so little of it make it into the movie 😕

Neither the hero or the villain, at the end of the day..? Paul was a victim of circumstance. One that was all too human. It was the ONE point Mr Herbert made, that almost no one understood: Beware of Charismatic Leaders - because they are JUST as fucked up as you. Nice work. 💯.

Very fair and insightful analysis of the movie adaptation. Many fans have trouble swallowing the fact that when going from the page to the screen, the source material has to be surgically dissected and stitched back together in a way that often feels like a mutilation of the original. Time constraints entail a counterintuitive tradeoff between faithfully adapting the book’s plot and faithfully adapting the book’s themes.

Loved the video, would love to see even longer video essays in the future!

Very good analysis. Made me think a lot about screen adaptation of a novel like dune. I agree that the dune 1 & 2 movies follows the traditional hero story closely, but at the same time stay close to Herbert’s warning on the danger of the hero.I do however see Dune 3, with an adaptation of Dune Messiah, as a potential masterpiece in the making . A screen adaptation of Dune Messiah could transform the hero/vengeance storyline to a story reminiscent of the great Greek tragedies or Shakespearean dramas. I would love to see a blind, bitter man wandering Dune, warning his family of the dangers of his own legacy.

Hats off maight, crazy good analysis, maybe the best I’ve seen

Missed the “only” when I first heard the Shawshank mention.🎉 I have watched that film ~50 times.

Pretty much agree with everything you said. Directors like Villeneuve give me hope, can't wait for the next movie and your video about it!

He is a tragic hero fell into the destined doom by his own flaw, earthly humanity drunken in love anakin-style (as opposed to Leto II's apollonian humanity). remember, he is obssesed with how chani's going to die. and that pushes him into best version of chani's death thus power grab.

Villeneuve's reason for shortening the timeline from years to months was that there needed to be pressure on Paul to move the story forward.

It was a tragedy to see no Guild Navigator. I was awe struck by the film and disappointed. I did not appreciate the change to Chani. But I do still appreciate this film.

Paul is the tragic hero like Oedipus

great analysis, hope it reaches the audience

I think that, in less than a generation (hopefully Hollywood keeps its grubby paws off of the IP in the meantime after Villeneuve completes his trilogy), it will be possible to do a high-budget, top-billing Dune television series. One season per book. Hour per episode, roughly. Game of Thrones is just one precedent but there are countless others. That way, a slow burn and meditation on Dune's essential themes will be able to be dealt with properly, key moments of dialogue and exposition will be included. Character change on a Shakespearean scale will also be possible over season-long scales of time for Paul, Jessica, Irulan, etc. It won't be perfect, no adaptation is, but I think we can get there with the right team of creatives and actors that are as magnetic as the cast of Villeneuve's film. I will never stop dreaming of Arrakis.

I LOL'd at "Muh golden path"