My very timely thoughts on Dune
I saw Dune a month ago in the theaters, and rarely felt much coldness in a movie. The characters were ice figures come to life. At some point, I just settled into my situation and enjoyed it for what it was. Visually stunning. And a romance between mother and son. I watched it again on HBO and appreciated it more- this was also the case for Blade Runner 2049. Villaneuve is a slow burn.
I’m not here to fight you over Dune. If you like it, my appreciation should not matter. I have zero relationship to the book nor do I plan to. However, I think the source material is the problem because it’s boy science fiction. For lack of a better term, I am indeed using the binary, which implies the existence of girl science fiction. Or rather, straight/queer science fiction. Whatever you want to call it (I’m calling it Duntriarchal) it’s the typical hero’s journey. A boy becomes the chosen one, but the boy already has privilege. We are supposed to care about the fate of entire planets and we barely know what kind of food they prefer or if they prefer afternoon naps or not.
Girl/Female/Queer or whatever science fiction gets beyond this bullshit and images a world where compulsory heterosexuality and race-based hierarchies may not exist. You know, because it is science fiction with ships and aliens flying around space. You can have a magic pain box but you still have man/wife pairings?
I’ve broken down what I see is the difference, and I urge people to consume/write/think about breaking free from the confined of Duntriarchal science fiction.
Male/Duntrarchal
Focus on royalty leaders (aka no poor people)
All citizens are military
The military is faceless soldiers
Magical powers are inherited (unearned privilege)
Wealth is inherited by family (inherited wealth)
Hetero marriage is still the main source of connecting families
Sex is devoid of pleasure, for married heteros (no homo!)
Personalities are nonexistent or based on one thing (chosen one, leader, doting wife, soldier, etc.)
The poor “races” are barbaric and connected to the land (Arrakis...or IRAQ-us)
Common people blindly believe in monotheistic religion
Technology is present when convenient
No mixing of cultures- purebreds valued
Material wealth determines worth
Afro-Futurism/Fem/Matridunical Science Fiction
Focuses on the lives of the masses
No one person decides fate
Queerness, asexuality, polyamory is common and create bonds (chosen families)
The future does not depend on heterosexual reproduction
Blackness is not based on pain and suffering, but also on progress
Hybrids and multi-racial (multi-species) are more common
Common ownership of cities
Characters have sex because having sex is fun
Body types and features vary from the ideal human mold
You can stack a movie with cool visuals and hot actors, and I....will still watch it, but we do not need another Duntriarchal film.