Book Review: Dune

[deckardcanine]

About 9 years ago, I watched the David Lynch film adaptation, knowing only that it was based on a popular book and thus I might save myself time. Well, it did help me get a few references like this, and I didn't find it "unwatchable" as one Lynch retrospective put it, but I consider my viewing a mistake. It was quite a while before I felt like giving Lynch or Frank Herbert another chance, yet both merited that chance.

OK, I shouldn't blame just the movie for my delay. Robert Silverberg noted the book as a prime example of the no-no of frequently shifting perspectives, as if the characters were playing hot potato with a running camera. This carried over into the film in the form of voiced thoughts, which were jarring enough early on. In truth, I learned to welcome it sometimes while reading. Every major character is pretty smart -- certainly more given to planning ahead than I am -- so it would be tricky to keep up without the shifts.

Another caveat was that darthhowie, tho a fan of the book, called it even more absolute in its distinction of good and evil groups than Star Wars. Frankly, I don't know what he was talking about unless it's in the sequels. You could make the case that the House of Harkonnen is all irredeemable (and Herbert didn't know when to stop adding nasty details about the Baron), but what about everyone else? The Bene Gesserit aren't all good or all bad in ends, means, or intent. The Fremen make an odd combination of savage and respectable. Wellington Yueh is as sympathetic as traitors come. The emperor is greedy and deceptive but ultimately worth a negotiation. Even Paul "Muad'Dib" Atreides, the pseudo-messianic hero, is a jerk half the time and favors cold pragmatism over conventional ethics.

The pseudo-messianic aspect connects to the few ways I don't particularly like the story. In a sci-fi world set millennia ahead, I can accept the formation of new religions from a medley of old ones (most blatantly Islam and Catholicism), tho I'm not convinced that our forays into space -- not even meeting sapient aliens -- would necessitate such massive reforms. What I have a hard time accepting is the development of mental superpowers. No amount of discipline should allow you to purify poison in your mouth or override another's will with a careful voice. No number of eugenic generations should allow you to glimpse the many possible futures, however limitedly. Furthermore, putting such a power into the hero rather diminishes the suspense. As does the constant fighting among enemies, whose precise number of sides remains unstated. (I am ever so glad not to be a noble.)

Nevertheless, I like the gestalt better than any other book that it brought to mind. It has a desperate desert planet like Dragonflight without the cultural and technological poverty; even the Fremen use things we haven't invented yet (tho I question the advantage of an ornithopter). It has a vast post-robotic empire and manufactured religion like Foundation without the scarcity of women and character development. It has the extreme water value and discovered superhumanity of Stranger in a Strange Land without winding down into little more than uber-hippie preaching. And despite its length and how long it can go with not much happening, it never bored me.

From what I remember, the film takes a heck of a lot of liberties, most of which leave me wondering who thought they improved anything. It comes nowhere close to conveying the level of intelligence that went into Herbert's writing. To be fair, a 137-minute adaptation of a nearly 800-page paperback (longer if you count the appendices) has to sacrifice a lot. There was a TV miniseries around the same time, but it fared about the same. I hope someone gives a go at another miniseries, now with more capable special effects.



For the sake of something shorter and very different, I've started Milo O. Frank's How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds--or Less. I believe I mocked it here on LJ, but during the office move, I rescued it and four other books from the soon-to-be-purged shelves. Let's see if it was worth saving.

Comments

[akktri.livejournal.com]

I don't know why people say it's such a bad movie. I consider it the Pulp Fiction of the science fiction genre. I watched the Lynch Dune movie several times. I've memorized the lines. As much as it takes liberties with the book, when it's on, I can't make myself turn away whenever it's on TV. If you forget the wart popping scenes, the rectangular shields and the part where Sting is in a blue bikini, it's great. Kyle McLaughlin is badass as Paul Muad Dib, and the art direction is amazing.
As far as the TV miniseries go, they were made decades after the Lynch film, on the Scifi network (before it became Syfy), and they're not half bad. They're more true to the novel, and they managed to get all the important details of the first three novels nailed down. I guess the ratings determined that people weren't ready for God Emperor of Dune, though.

[deckardcanine.livejournal.com]

Strange, an appendix to the novel mentioned a miniseries that came shortly after the movie, yet I can't confirm its existence anywhere.