“Dune” is a warning about political heroes and their tribes

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From The Economist:

Frank Herbert, the author of the science-fiction novel “Dune” on which a new blockbuster film is based, would have been amused to learn that ecologists along the Oregon shore are ripping invasive European beachgrass out of the ground. As a young journalist in the late 1950s, Herbert derived his inspiration for a tale about a desert planet from watching ecologists plant the grass to control encroaching sand dunes. The scheme worked, maybe too well: residents of the coastal towns that the grass helped prosper now long for the beauty of the dunes and regret the unintended consequences for native flora and fauna.

“They stopped the moving sands” was the title of the article Herbert never wound up publishing about the Oregon dunes. He admired the ecologists and their project. But as much as he prized human intelligence he feared human hubris, credulousness and other frailties. One character in “Dune” is a planetary ecologist, who, for complicated reasons—the novel has no other kind—finds himself overcome by natural processes he has been trying to manipulate, to help the native population by changing the climate. “As his planet killed him,” Herbert writes, the ecologist reflects that scientists have it all wrong, and “that the most persistent principles of the universe were accident and error.”

The persistence of “Dune” itself is a marvel. Some 20 publishers turned the manuscript down before a company known for auto-repair manuals, Chilton, released it in 1965. The editor who took the risk was fired because sales were slow at first. But popular and critical acclaim began to build, eventually making “Dune” among the best-selling and most influential of science-fiction novels, some of its imaginings, with their edges filed down, surfacing in “Star Wars”.

No doubt the novel’s endurance owes in part to Herbert’s success, like Tolkien’s, in wrapping an epic yarn within a spectacular vision given substance by countless interlocking details. He published appendices to his novel: a glossary, a guide to the feudal houses that jostle over his imperium, a study of the galactic religions and, of course, a paper on the ecology of his desert planet, Arrakis, known as Dune. That ecology yields a substance called spice that prolongs life and also supplies psychic powers, enabling navigators to guide ships among the stars: think potable petrol with the properties of Adderall and Ozempic. It is the most precious stuff in the universe.

The young hero, Paul Atreides, arrives on Arrakis when his father, a duke, is awarded control there. It is a trap set by the emperor and a rival house. His father dead and his surviving allies scattered, Paul flees with his mother into the desert and finds haven among its fierce people, the Fremen. As the spice unlocks latent mental powers in Paul, the natives recognise him as their messiah and—spoilers!—he leads them not just to avenge his father but, via control of the spice, to seize the imperial throne. Then comes a bit of a bummer, galactic jihad. More on that in a moment.

Herbert was thinking partly of T.E. Lawrence, oil, colonial predation and Islam, and the success of the novel may owe also to those echoes (along with the giant sandworms). But the novel’s enduring popularity suggests more timeless resonances. There are nifty gizmos in Herbert’s galaxy, but clever conceits keep them from stealing the show and making his future either too alien or, like other decades-old visions of the future, amusingly outdated. Personal force-fields have rendered projectile weapons harmless. Soldiers and nobles alike fight with swords, knives and fists.

A more provocative gambit by Herbert was to set his tale thousands of years after the “Butlerian Jihad” or “Great Revolt”, in which humans destroyed all forms of artificial intelligence. (Herbert once worried to an interviewer that “our society has a tiger by the tail in technology.”) “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind,” has become a core injunction, resulting in a race to develop the mind’s potential. Paul’s mother is a member of a female sect, the Bene Gesserit, whose own hubristic enterprise is to manipulate the imperium’s politics, and who for scores of generations have conducted a breeding programme to engender a superhuman intelligence—which, to their consternation, arrives in the form of Paul, whom they cannot control.

The new Dune movie is the second of two in which the director, Denis Villeneuve, has told the story with breathtaking imagery and, for the most part, with fidelity to the novel. The films deal elliptically with Herbert’s themes of technological, economic and ecological change to zero in on his main matter, the dangers of political and religious power and of faith itself, secular or spiritual.

Link to the rest at The Economist

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9 thoughts on ““Dune” is a warning about political heroes and their tribes”

  1. “Dune” is my favorite book. Its qualities are a good example of the importance of prioritizing story over message. It’s clear Herbert had a message, but he didn’t neglect the story in order to lecture the reader. Take note, would-be schoolmarm propagandists: it’s story first. Write of cool people with cool problems they have to solve in cool ways, in a cool setting, and then the reader might care about the message.

    Herbert is also a great lesson on worldbuilding, and the importance of studying real life cultures. I see a lot of fantasy these days with weak worldbuilding where the author clearly needs to get out more and meet people, touch a little grass, and read a book or two or twenty to learn things. At the very least learn to use the search function in your browser so you don’t pull a Leigh Bardugo, who didn’t grasp simple basics like Russian patronyms**, yet set her story in a fantasy-counterpart Russia.

    As for Dune 2, I’m wary because I initially didn’t see Alia Atreides listed in the credits at IMDb, and now I see she’s played by Anya Taylor-Joy — but uncredited for some reason. Perhaps she’s a CGI baby? Or maybe Villaneuve isn’t planning to make this a franchise (I haven’t been paying attention), since AT-J is miscast for an adult Alia.

    **I mean, the first thing you notice about Russians are their patronyms, and it’s weird that you wouldn’t look up, or just ask them when -vich is used instead of -va. Ivanovich — son of Ivan, Ivanova — daughter of Ivan. “Write what you know” means go find out if you don’t know.

    • If you liked Dune part one, you’ll like Dune part two. Most of the changes from the book are pretty pragmatic, and I think it was one of the best movies I’ll watch all year.

    • 1- Movie DUNE is to be a trilogy, according to the directory, but DUNE MESSIAH isn’t coming soon; he is (apparently) DUNE-s out for now and wants to do RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA (already under pre-preduction) first.

      2- Adult Alia is supposed to show up in a vision but no more. I vaguely remember him removing her to simplify things and her story will be a big part of MESSIAH.

      3- I haven’t watched either movie and probably won’t see it in theaters because, much like LOTR, there will almost certainly be extended versions. For now this is denied, for obvious reasons, but loudmouth Momoa already said they had enough for 4-6 hours each.

      4- DUNE is an enduring classic because it is nuanced and complex enough transcend its time and speak to readers across decades. Also because it can be interpreted in various ways depending on the times. For example, back.in the 60’s when “white savior” naratives weren’t automatically demonized, many readers saw Paul as the clearcut hero and the Fremen as faceless followers, ala Lawrence of Arabia. By some reports, Herbert did DUNE MESSIAH to clarify that Paul isn’t supposed to be a hero. The OP above, takes a current view and sees DUNE as a warning about blindly following leaders. Yeah, right. It totally ignores that a strong case can be made the other way; would-be leaders should be careful of which ideology they attach themselves to, as Paul intended to use the Fremen religious zealots as his napoleonic army to destroy the sardaukar (and hence the Emperor’s power) but he never wanted their jihad which is why he agonized in the latter parts of the story when his visions told him jihad was unavoidable and why left for the desert in Messiah. So, no, Paul is not a clearcut villain. At most a blind antihero who eventually sees the twisted outcome of his goals and ambitions. Again, the case can be made that Jihad was unavoidable because the ideology/cult of the Fremen demanded it. It was going to happen anyway, under Paul or under Feyd. When Jessica sold Paul as the expected messiah, they happily used him as a vehicle to enable *their* goals and ambitions. The murderous thugs were just looking for a way out into the empire. When Paul sought to avoid being their GOD EMPEROR, they just as joyfully used LETO II as their figurehead and unlike Paul, he was willing.

      The brillance of DUNE is how multifaceted a story he crafted, which he never quite replicated. Like Daffy’s crowd pleasing stunt, it wasca one-off. But a masterpiece.

      FWIW, my take on DUNE is that it is a vivid expresion of the Law of unintented consequences. A story of conflicting agendas where everybody gets what they wanted in the worst possible way, from the Bene Gesserit to the Padishah Emperor to Jessica and Paul himself. It is only the Fremen Zealots who get exactly what they want the way they want it.

      Oh, and no, the Zealots would never have gone to a garden world in “reward” for putting Paul in power. Their reward was the freedom to rampage under the excuse of doing so, as unrestrained barbarian soldiers have done throughout human history and before and continue to this day, from Mohammed’s jihad to the mongols to the Balkans to Rwanda, to Ukraine to Hamas to the US (soon enough). They are all one and the same.

      What makes the Fremen so credible in DUNE is they are an integral part of the human collective psyche. (And keep an eye on the Cartels inching north. Those are the barbarians headed our way. And look at the price El Salvador is paying to deal with them.) That breed will always find an excuse to gather and rampage. (Mostly peaceful ptotrsts, anyone?) Hobbes wasn’t totally wrong. The mob will always be with us.

      Anyway…

      Oh, and unless Villeneuve intends to spend the rest of his life doing Dune movies, even MESSIAH is iffy and anyone who follow is more likely to flub it. WB better limit how much money they give them. We’ll see how the Bene Geserit HBO series pays out.

      • A story of conflicting agendas where everybody gets what they wanted in the worst possible way, from the Bene Gesserit to the Padishah Emperor to Jessica and Paul himself. It is only the Fremen Zealots who get exactly what they want the way they want it.

        That tracks a bit, because “Dune” is structured like a type of fairy tale (the variety associated with the Brothers Grimm). You cannot make a deal with the devil and have everything come up roses. The Bene Gesserits should have thought it through when they came up with their messiah business, and planted the idea amongst the Fremen.

        And keep an eye on the Cartels inching north. Those are the barbarians headed our way. And look at the price El Salvador is paying to deal with them

        I think they’re already here. The Oakland County sheriff (Southeast Michigan) has been sounding the alarm form months about the Chilean gangs targeting “high-end” houses. And when I looked it up, it turns out they’re a problem in California — no doubt amplified by the “crime is good policy” of the DAs there — and Vanity Fair is noting these “transnational gangs” operating in New York. More dangerous counterparts are likely not far behind.

        • The ones to worry about most are the Jalisco cartel (their MO is to move in, mow down ever center of power, illegal or legal, and then set up shop. Civilian cassualties welcome, as a warning to everybody else) moving north through mexico and the Venezuelans already in the east thanks to open borders and the people smugglers in the governments who realized that if the gerontocracy was offering tens of millions to stop caravans of thousands, they could demand billions to merely limit the flow of central african and chinese that fly visa-free to ecuador (iirc). And guess who is the head of the scheme? AMLO.

          It a great business if nobody is willing to stop you.
          And even if the border is finally sealed, it’s already too late to revert to a rational immigration policy like Canada had.

          We’re importing a permanent underclass. 🙁
          Instead of bringing in skilled, working age adults with specific jobs waiting them, we’ve let in a horde of unskilled hopefuls looking for jobs that no longer exist.

          https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/million-migrants-border-biden/

          Most annoying, neither the media nor the activists or either side distinguish between legal immigrants and the univited, using the need for the former to mask the damage cause by the latter. and vice-versa.

          The age of stupid rolls on.

          • Those cartels, too, but I’m also reminded of the coworker I once had who told me he was Osama bin Laden’s neighbor back when he (the coworker) was a kid. And he — let’s call him Hassan — told me he’d been shot twice in the back.

            The first time because Hassan’s relatives didn’t know about gravity, but I’m sure they figured it out when the bullets they fired into the air came right back down. It’s not clear why fireworks weren’t an option, but maybe Yemen doesn’t import those or something.

            The second time, said Hassan, was in Afghanistan.

            I declined to ask which side he was fighting on.

            There are people coming in on the terrorism watchlist, and I am not amused. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and the cartels and the terrorists will kill each other … not gonna hold my breath on that one.

            I would love a sensible immigration policy. I would love to know why it was decided that America should not be allowed to have one, but I noticed early on that those who staunchly favor illegal immigration do not have a rational argument to offer for it. “You’re against illegal immigration? Racist!” That’s it. That’s their go-to. They have nothing else except that, but it doesn’t account for why the policy makers on the other side refused to counter them.

  2. I was just thinking yesterday, that all they had to do was relocate the Fremen to the Atreides Planet(Caladan) where they have oceans and plants. That’s far cheaper than terraforming.

    – Leave Dune ecology alone, otherwise the worms and spice vanishes.

    That doesn’t happen because of the Fremen religion.

    I need to read Dune again. The more I do, the more I see that he was on the right track. He warned of advanced AI in his Pandora Sequence. It doesn’t end well for humans.

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