My first knowledge of Frank Herbert’s Dune came from the video game Dune II: Battle for Arrakis which to this date, I have never played. I had only heard of it and that was usually mentioned in conjunction with Westwood Studios’ follow-up Command & Conquer. The latter built on the gameplay of Dune II sans the source material and is far more successful and better known today — as a game, that is. Next was the 1984 David Lynch adaptation which I watched once over twenty years ago and have no plans to ever watch again. I thought it was (and would still describe it as) weird and disgusting.
This was a strange introduction to the franchise but on balance, it probably left me with a better impression of the 1965 novel when I first read it about a decade ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it though I didn’t read any of the sequels afterwards. A few months ago this year, I re-read the original novel and the first two sequels. I enjoyed the original even more but was less enthusiastic about the sequels (though they’re still good). The original novel really stands on its own and has some of the most immersive world-building I have ever encountered in a novel. Though it is usually classified as science-fiction, there are significant fantasy elements and this successful fusion is what appealed to so many readers. The blurring of genres has of course not been lost on critics and one thing Lynch did get right was that it is also very weird — just not his style of weird.
The subject of this post is not the novel or any of this but the 2021 film adaptation directed by Denis Villeneuve
Whether or not you consider sodomy a sin, there is still a widespread and healthy disgust that exists — particularly towards male sodomites. Now of course, this is seldom spoken aloud anymore but it is still there. How do I know this, you ask? Well, one can infer simply by what the media is willing to show of it. Even today with children being groomed in public libraries and schools by degenerate freaks and public buildings and “churches” covered in pride flags; the media is still very reluctant to show the realities of any one colour of this rainbow of perversions. When a “gay” character is shown on television or in a movie, it is usually a very effeminate male and any sort of intimacy is avoided. When ever physical intimacy is shown, it is usually two attractive women which though still sinful and wrong, provokes much less disgust among people in general. And even this is an inversion as your average lesbian is generally more masculine than a gay man.
The cover of my copy which was published by Sphere Books
