ellestra

[ellestra]

We’re Harkonnens. So this is how we’ll survive. By being Harkonnens.

#dune #dune 2024 #dune part 2 #dune part two #paul atreides #feyd rautha harkonnen

[ellestra]

reverend mother

#dune #lady jessica #dune part two #dune part 2 #dune movie #jessica atreides

[ellestra]

#killer robots #not a manual #robot dogs #technology #star wars #star trek #road to dystopia #is paved with ignored warnings

[ellestra]

At the End of Time

I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I wasn't sure I was sill going to care. But it looks like Deadpool franchise knows how to tell superhero story about multiverse and still make it personal thing about saving your friends (and the world) while also fighting depression with inappropriate humour. I know people always quote the R rated quips but it's the sadness and loss that really hits in these films. Just the right mix of sad and ridiculous.

And it also knows how to make best of their references (I see you destroyed Liefeld's Just Feet store). Free Guy had a lot of fun with becoming Disney property but this was a perfect use of "Do you want to build a snowman?" I love that the woman who looks like Cassandra Nova lives in the dead body of giant Ant-Man (nothing like referencing your failures). But my favourite is using Alioth with Mad Max: Fury Road references.

It might be that Loki is my favourite of D+ Marvel series or maybe just seeing Reynolds and Jackman together in Deadpool together but I think I'm actually excited.

#deadpool #deadpool and wolverine #mcu #tva #marvel #deadpool trailer #Youtube

[ellestra]

Yes, both Paul and Jessica (through Alia) become almost like possessed by the prescience. Once you know what is going to happen the choices are no longer based on past lessons of morality and connections to people. You just chose the steps that lead to the desired future. It's so much easier to justify the means when you know for sure they will deliver the goals.

The Voice from the Outer World

Dune is a story of failure. SPOILERS for Dune Part 2 below

Power corrupts and all of that. We all know this. So we would be able to avoid it, right? If you know what happens you can chose another option. You would be different.

And here's a story that shows that even when you know all of this and more and can literally see the future it's still not enough.

I get why people often think that to avoid this the person in power shouldn't want that power. That this would make them somehow immune. And this logic has multiple faults (like - how can you be good at doing something you hate?) and one of them is that just not wanting to abuse power doesn't mean you would do right things with it.

We are reminded multiple times in the film (and the books also aren't shy about it) that Fremen religious belief in a saviour is not something that arose naturally. It's a belief seeded by Bene Gesserit's Missionaria Protectiva. They seeded superstitions and myths in different cultures so they could use them in a future emergency. Everything Fremen believe about their Mahdi was created so their faith could be used by a Bene Gesserit in need. And both Jessica and Paul are aware of this even before they even set a foot on Arrakis.

It's specifically made for the saviour to be a foreign one (Lisan al-Gaib is The Voice from the Outer World) because the people who made and planned to use this prophecy were ones from an outsider culture. Paul doesn't hijack Fremen beliefs to insert himself as their white saviour. These beliefs was specifically created for someone like him to use.

It was made with purpose of hijacking Fremen religion into protecting the foreigners who know how this prophecy was constructed. This is a parasitic belief (cuckoo-like faith) and the truth doesn't set anyone free. We see why with Stilgar as he wants to believe so much that everything becomes a sign. Even when he's told this has been fabricated and he was manipulated he warps it into something that supports his beliefs not undermines them. I'm sure you've seen this in real life, in real politics if not religion.

Jessica and Chani got changed the most from their book versions. They've become opposite sides of the ideological divide. Not between religion and lack of it - Jessica obviously not a believer - but between using people and letting them decide their own future.

Book Jessica is more apprehensive of Paul's choices. She's often more worried he may not survive the trials than pushing for them for power. In here she becomes the driving force of using the messianic belief Bene Gesserit implanted for Paul's benefit. She makes sure Fremen believe he fits the story. She doesn't care about Paul's wishes to avoid this burden. She knows it doesn't matter when he tells the people the truth about Bene Gesserit, their abilities and their manipulation techniques. Belief is impervious to proof and confirmation bias makes you reject all evidence to the contrary.

But then, in the film, Jessica is kind of possessed. Stilgar warns Paul not to listen to the djinn but neither he nor his mother can stop listening to the voices. The film removes Alia's book doings but replaces them with foreshadowing of what she becomes. She whispers the truths about the future to her mother even before she is born. Funny how this change make her, not Paul, the first fully prescient Atreides. She is manipulating the events when Paul refuses to and that's foreshadowing too. When Jessica took the Water of Life while pregnant she did it for the power this new position among the Fremen would give her. Alia never stood a chance. She was pre-born into this.

The only one trying to stand in the way of succumbing to the power corruption is movie version of Chani. She was never believer in a saviour. She wants her people to save themselves. They already have a plan for a better future that doesn't involve killing worlds for the Empire they never wanted anything to do with. They were not supposed to be warriors of the prophet. She sees this for what it is - a way to control her people. She understands this is another form of enslavement. The only difference is that this one is embraced. No one listens to her when she tells them the truth. They only see what they want to see.

The power that comes from being close to the rule is just as blinding when you stand close to the throne as it is when you sit on it.

And the sad part is she knows she played a part in this happening to as she convinced Paul to give this a try. She didn't see the visions he saw so she hoped he can remain the person she fell in love with. When he submits to the way prescience shows him and takes over the faith we feel her heartbreak. She watches him becoming what he feared and everyone around him stops her from trying to save him (not just other Fremen or Jessica - Gurney puts atomic arsenal in Paul's hands).

Paul doesn't bring freedom. He just changes who holds the power but in the end the structures of power remain (the similarities between Saudarkar and Fremen are not accidental). And billions die so it can happen. But billions is a an abstract number. It's much easier to feel the consequences when they hit close and personal.

Everyone around Paul gets to gain something - Gurney gets revenge on Rabban, Jessica and Stilgar get to destroy Harkonnens and Emperor. They are on top now. The power corrupts even before you even hold it. Just the promise of power is enough.

This film version of Chani doesn't let us forget that this is what we watch. That what is happening is not a good thing. We as humans have tendency to gloss over big numbers of deaths when it's unseen people with whom we have no emotional connections. Through her eyes the loss is so much more personal. She loses her Usul to Paul Muad'Dib. And he takes her people and her planet too.

As Paul says - they are Harkonnens too. And they do what Harkonnens do too. The difference was always cosmetic.

And one more thing. A lot is said about Arabic and Muslim influences in Fremen culture and religion but they aren't the only ones. One other is the word used for the places where Fremen live - Sietch. It comes from Zaporozhian Cossack name for their fortified encampments - sich.

In the West the name Cossacks invokes the cruel Russian Imperial forces that tsars used to pacify conquered territories. But this is not what comes to my mind first. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth they were free people living in the borderlands of the Commonwealth on the territories often attacked by the Ottomans. The constant raids from Turks meant they were warriors and constantly moving. But this also allowed for a lot of freedom as there wasn't a lot of direct control over these territories for the same reason. This meant that they were often joined by anyone wishing to have that freedom - from peasants escaping indenture to nobles escaping the law.

The dissatisfaction with Polish rule eventually lead to uprising and this part of Ukraine joined Russian Empire. That Empire destroyed all the freedoms Cossacks had and those independent warriors became just another enforcers of conformity for the Empire. They've become exactly what they fought against. I often wondered if Herbert chose the name Sietch intentionally to invoke this turn of events.

#dune part two #dune part 2 #dune movie #dune 2024

[ellestra]

"I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

#dune #sandworm #shai hulud #dune art

[ellestra]

Fuck Paramount Plus, all my homies hate Paramount Plus.

#star trek #star trek: lower decks #st:ld

[ellestra]

if you are unable to donate financially to help palestine, you can donate your time by protesting, boycotting, and putting up posters!

if all you have is your device and internet access, you can put your clicks to good use on arab.org. they use the advertising revenue generated by your clicks to help good causes.

and i would urge those able to spare a few dollars to donate to one or more of the following organizations:

eSims for Gaza

Direct aid for Gaza

Care for Gaza

Women for Women International

Institute for Middle East Understanding

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Palestine Children Relief Fund

Muslim Aid USA

Palestinian American Medical Association

Urgent support for medical professionals in Gaza

Emergency Relief for Gaza

Anera

Taawon

#palestine #gaza #help palestine

[ellestra]

It's called jargon

#star trek #star trek tng #elle cordova #fandom culture #st:tng #enterprise

[ellestra]

#lord of the rings #silmarillion #truth

[ellestra]

Who wore it better? This is just... I mean... I can't... Oh my... 🤣

Star Trek: TNG, Season 3, Episode 8 / Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 4, Episode 2

#star trek #st:tng #st:ld

[ellestra]

I'm slowly plugging away at finishing this art of Medusa, but we'll see when I get around to colors. Summer? It'll be a surprise to all of us including me. I decided to clean up the pencils rather than ink like I normally do and I really like the effect!

#medusa #gorgon #greek mythology

[ellestra]

To get home, Furiosa fought the world.

(prints)

#furiosa #mad max #fury road

[ellestra]

Lead them to paradise.

#dune #dune part 2 #dune part two

[ellestra]

this is the plot right?

#dune #dune part two #dune part 2 #dune part 2 spoilers #dune part two spoilers

[ellestra]

It always fascinated me how one of the tumblr biggest events is celebration of anniversary of a coup from 2000 years ago.

I suppose there is nothing like a good backstabbing

i really wonder what Julius Caesar would think of a bunch of neurodivergent rats huddled in a circle chanting ides of march ides of march ides of march and then cheering loudly on the 2067th anniversary of his assassination?

like would he cry?

#one dead tyrant doesn't stop tyranny #fall of the republic #backstabbing #ides of march

[ellestra]

Throwing sand into the ocean

Climate change is bad, it's destroying people's homes and food supplies all over the world. But sometimes it's also karma and we can watch bunch of rich people desperately wasting money to save their beach front property. They literally paid for someone to throw sand into the ocean.

It's like they never been to seaside and saw effects of erosion. It's like they don't really live in those beach houses.

#climate change #global warming #oceans rise #rising oceans #rising waters #karma #it comes for your beach houses