This past week, I was able to see the new blockbuster movie Dune: Part Two. The movie covers the story of Paul Atreides, heir to House Atreides, which is one of the most powerful families in the universe. In the film, he starts off stranded with a new group of people, the Fremen, since his friends and family were recently massacred by the Harkonnens, a rival house. As a member of the Fremen, Atreides rises to power through a religious belief that he is the ‘Lisan al Gaib’, which translates to ‘The Voice from the Outer World’; essentially, the Fremen observe Atreides merge into their community and connect his actions to that of their promised messiah. Atreides then wages war on both the House Harkonnen and the Emperor with his newfound support. By utilizing faithful warriors, knowledge of the environment, and nuclear power Atreides defeats his enemies. Unfortunately, the other powerful houses do not accept his ascension to the position of Emperor. This is expected to lead to ‘The Holy War’ in the next film in the Dune series.
This movie relates to our recently discussed film Dr Strangelove because of how it incorporates current wartime concerns into cinema. Dr Strangelove is a more comical approach to covering the pressure of the Cold War, whereas Dune: Part Two draws from a different current event, from when it was initially written, which is the struggles to maintain access to the Middle Eastern Oil Supply. I mean, there is literally a conflict for spice, which in the story helps to fuel space travel just like oil does for vehicles, in a baren and sandy land with similar landscape to Saudi Arabia or Iraq.
Also, the Fremen wear caps which look like the turban-style headdress in Muslim culture, which is the most frequent religion in the region.
Frank Herbet, the author of Dune Messiah, was very knowledgeable of Islam and said that it definitely helped to craft his ideas for the novel.
What this movie proved to me is how media can highlight possible global issues. Dr Strangelove showed how easily the use of nuclear weapons can end the world. I noticed when I left the theater with my parents, my mom’s first note of the story was about how blind belief in a leader can be dangerous.
Atreides rises to unquestionable power so quickly that it is completely unchecked by others and triggers a war that will cause an indefinite number of casualties. We can see throughout history how some of the worst conflicts have come from rulers ascending to unlimited power in a short window of time. The plot to this story shed light to the power of resources, like oil in the middle east, and how it can have enormous political effects. The opening scene of the movie is actually a black screen with the words “Power over spice is power over all.” The clear depiction of the Cold War in Dr Strangelove and the oil situation in Dune: Part Two make it easy for viewers to see what could happen in the real world. When an audience is faced with a meticulous set of steps in the story that starts from a real-life situation and end in total annihilation, it brings attention to the importance of avoiding that possibility.
When thinking about American history, I feel that I gained insight into how the relationship between our government and oil mining countries has been in the past. Events such as oil embargoes and price wars appear far more understandable now, and the necessity for governmental stability.
Overall, I believe that the plot of the story directly mimicked how difficult handling finite resources, like oil, is when you are facing unreliable circumstances.
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