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fuckyeahisawthat · 7 hours
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Really love that after Paul drinks the Water of Life, we never see into his visions again. We see the vision he has of Alia, and we see two brief flashes in the scene where he's talking to Jessica after he wakes up: an image of baby Jessica and a very brief flash of Paul's hand on the knife stabbing Feyd. That's it.
When he says, "I see possible futures, all at once. Our enemies are all around us, and in so many futures they prevail," it would be an obvious choice to show flashes of those futures. But we're just looking at a shot of his hand. We don't see what he's seeing in the visions for the whole rest of the movie. We only know what he tells us he sees.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 2 days
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Had a revelation about this moment tonight. Sorry in advance for the garbage screencaps but they make my point well enough.
So there's this wide shot where Paul is surrounded by people literally chanting his name (or one of them, Lisan al-Gaib). But he's all alone kneeling on the floor there and he's still got this fuckoff huge knife sticking out of his shoulder.
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And yes I know he is about to start an intergalactic jihad, but in this exact moment what you really want is for someone, anyone, to go over and just kneel down next to him--not in worship or fealty but in comfort--and just like, be there in his space and make sure he's okay. We have reaction shots from Gurney, Stilgar, Jessica and Chani but none of them are doing that.
Then we have this shot:
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where for like 1.2 seconds we catch how exhausted and lonely he looks, and then he puts his game face back on to look up at the emperor:
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and I was like OH IT'S US.
This is exactly the POV you would have if you were kneeling down right next to him. We're the ones who are there with him. But we're the only ones.
Oh I realized a thing about the Paul/Feyd-Rautha fight. So usually if you have a big fight scene, but especially if you do something like have a character get injured in a way that would definitely be fatal if they weren't cursed with inescapable Main Character Energy, you follow up the fight scene with some moment of comfort or relief or something, which serves to release the tension for the audience and let them know whew, that was scary, but it's okay now. Your character is hurt but they're gonna survive. (Or alternately, if they're dying heroically, it was worth it and what the narrative demanded.)
But here there's nothing. Paul is surrounded by devoted followers; his mother; his lover; one of his oldest teachers and a loyal servant of House Atreides. No one steps forward to offer a shoulder to lean on or help him to his feet. He's left them all behind. He's not a person who got hurt in a fight anymore; he's a myth that people shrink back from. So he pulls the knife out by himself. He stands up by himself. Other than the emperor very begrudgingly touching his hand to kiss the ring, I don't think anyone touches him at all for the rest of the movie. He's completely alone. They never release that tension, because Paul's alive but it is very much not going to be okay.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 2 days
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The thing about Paul is that he is legitimately kind of unhinged in his willingness to throw himself into physical danger and risk getting hurt or killed in a fight that matters to him.
The way he goes NYOOM the second he realizes that Duncan is about to fight a fuckton of Sardaukar. No shield no weapons no plan no hesitation, ready to take on the most fearsome soldiers in the known universe in his pajamas. And he would have if Duncan hadn't locked the door.
Fly through a sandstorm because it's the only escape route? Never done it before but sure. Crawl under a moving harvester the size of a building with chompy bits on the end? Worst plan ever, let's go. Bait the ornithopter gunship into shooting at him so his crush can blow it up? It was his goddamn idea. Hide quietly when the Harkonnen soldiers show up during the eclipse? Oh hell no, he is looking for a way to escalate that situation immediately. He just killed someone for the first time like yesterday and did not enjoy it. But as soon as the Harkonnens are there he is ready to throw down.
The absolute trapped raccoon energy of him just grabbing the knife blade when Feyd's trying to stab him the second time, because it's probably over but he's not gonna make it easy, and maybe that gives him the extra second he needs to pull his own knife out. That teeth-gritted look he gives Feyd when he is on his knees, beat to shit, two stab wounds, blood all over his face, and is still like bitch you THOUGHT you could out-crazy me.
Like many things about him, it's a double-edged blade. Because it's what wins him respect among the Fremen, that he's willing to go to the front lines and not afraid to take risks. It's the most potent expression of his fierce protective streak, that he'll jump into danger to defend those he loves. And it's also fucking terrifying. It just adds such a chaotic energy to all the other ways that he is scary, that he doesn't just command armies of fanatics and have the power to make the Emperor of the Known Universe bow at his feet, but that this blood-streaked feral little gremlin might show up personally at any moment and stab you in the neck.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 3 days
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halfway through the fourth episode of our flag means death watching blackbeard pick up the model ship like oh so this is. this is really. got it got it got it got it absolutely. carry on.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 3 days
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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There are so many places in the Villeneuve Dune adaptations where he just...takes all the narrative pieces that Frank Herbert laid out and subtly rearranges them into something that tells the story better--that creates dramatic tension where you need it, communicates the themes and message of the book more clearly, or corrects something in the text that contradicts or undermines what Herbert said he was trying to say.
The fedaykin are probably my favorite example of this. I just re-read a little part of the book and got smacked in the face with how different they are.
(under the cut for book spoilers and length)
The fedaykin in the book are Paul's personal followers, sort of his personal guard. They show up after his legend has already started growing (the word doesn't appear in the book until chapter 40) and they are people who have specifically dedicated themselves to fighting for him, and right from the moment they're introduced there is a kind of implied fanaticism to their militancy that's a bit uncomfortable to read. They're the most ardent believers in Paul's messianic status and willing to die for him. (They are also, as far as you can tell from the text, all men.)
In the book, as far as I can remember (I could be forgetting some small detail but I don't think so) there is no mention of armed resistance to colonialism on Arrakis before Paul shows up. As far as we know, he created it. ETA: Okay I actually went back and checked on this and while we hear about the Fremen being "a thorn in the side" of the Harkonnens and we know that they are good fighters, we don't see anything other than possibly one bit of industrial sabotage. The book is very clear that the organized military force we see in the second half was armed and trained by Paul. This is exacerbated by the two-year time jump in the book, which means we never see how Paul goes from being a newly deposed ex-colonial overlord running for his life to someone who has his own private militia of people ready to give their lives for him.
The movie completely flips all these dynamics on their head in ways that add up to a radical change in meaning.
The fedaykin in the movie are an already-existing guerrilla resistance movement on Arrakis that formed long before Paul showed up. Literally the first thing we learn about the Fremen, less that two minutes into the first movie, is that they are fighting back against the colonization and exploitation of their home and have been for decades.
The movie fedaykin also start out being the most skeptical of the prophecy about Paul, which is a great choice from both a political and a character standpoint. Of course they're skeptical. If you're part of a small guerrilla force repeatedly going up against a much bigger and stronger imperial army...you have to believe in your own agency. You have to believe that it is possible to win, and that this tiny little chip in the armor of a giant terrifying military machine that you are making right now will make a difference in the end. These are the people who are directly on the front lines of resisting oppression. They are doing it with their own sweat, blood and ingenuity, and they are not about to wait around for some messiah who may never come.
From a character standpoint, this is really the best possible environment you could put Paul Atreides in if you want to keep him humble. He doesn't get any automatic respect handed to him due to title or birthright or religious belief. He has to prove himself--not as any kind of savior but as a good fighter and a reliable member of a collective political project. And he does. This is an environment that really draws out his best qualities. He's a skilled fighter; he's brave (sometimes recklessly so); he's intensely loyal to and protective of people he cares about. He is not too proud to learn from others and work hard in an egalitarian environment where he gets no special treatment or extra glory. The longer he spends with the fedaykin the more his allegiance shifts from Atreides to Fremen, and the more skeptical he himself becomes about the prophecy. This sets up the conflict with Jessica, which comes to a head before she leaves for the south. And his political sincerity--that he genuinely comes to believe that these people deserve liberation from all colonial forces and his only role should be to help where he can--is what makes the tragedy work. Because in the end we know he will betray all these values and become the exact thing he said he didn't want to be.
There's another layer of meaning to all this that I don't know if the filmmakers were even aware of. ETA: rescinding my doubt cause based on some of Villeneuve's other project I'm pretty sure he could work it out. Given the time period (1960s) and Herbert's propensity for using Arabic or Arabic-inspired words for aspects of Fremen culture, it seems very likely that the made-up word fedaykin was taken from fedayeen, a real Arabic word that was frequently used untranslated in American news media at the time, usually to refer to Palestinian armed resistance groups.
Fedayeen is usually translated into English as fighter, guerrilla, militant or something similar. The translation of fedaykin that Herbert provides in Dune is "death commando"...which is a whole bucket of yikes in my opinion, but it's not entirely absurd if we're assuming that this fake word and the real word fedayeen function in the same way. A more literal translation of fedayeen is "self-sacrificer," as in willing, intentional self-sacrifice for a political cause, up to and including sacrificing your life.
If you apply this logic to Dune, it means that Villeneuve has actually shifted the meaning of this word in-universe, from fighters who are willing to sacrifice themselves for Paul to fighters who are willing to sacrifice themselves for their people. And the fedaykin are no longer a group created for Paul but a group that Paul counts himself as part of, one member among equals. Which is just WILDLY different from what's in the book. And so much better in my opinion.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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soulmate au where ed and stede can’t see color until…
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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One of the things I most appreciate about OFMD is how it doesn't flinch.
We see the sticky bits. We see Stede get to stumble at being a captain, we see how his recollections of his family change with guilt and time. We get to see Ed absolutely Going Through It, and his pain, heartbreak, and desperation are all shown with such care and sympathy. One of the first times I can remember thinking "oh this show is good good" was Ed's panic attack in s1e6, because he's allowed to cry and look terrified and need help. Stede's allowed to fuck up and slide back, Ed's allowed to be an imperfect victim who gets angry and fights back. They're allowed to do things that hurt themselves and others because those are human mistakes to make.
And through it all, because it's done with such honesty and sympathy and care, the overall effect is warm and loving and comfortable. The entire show feels like a warm hug, like joy and someone telling you it'll be okay. It's so earnest and special.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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Love that Chani prefers her war name (Chani) and would rather use it instead of her secret name (Sihaya). Very in character for what we know of her. Love that movie Paul never once calls her Sihaya after she says she doesn't like it. Wow how poisoned must that name feel to her after the events of the film.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 4 days
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Dune thing I noticed on my most recent rewatch: the old Fremen Reverend Mother uses the Voice on Jessica to make her drink the Water of Life. Obviously Jessica has agreed to undertake this ritual and she doesn't really have a choice in this situation, but at the last moment, when she is still hesitating, she gets a shove.
Then Jessica herself uses the Voice on the temple guardian to make sure Paul will be allowed to drink the Water of Life when he shows up. And she uses it again on Chani to force her into her role in the prophecy.
Something something direct force being used at every turning point to bend reality into the shape of what was "written" whether people like it or not.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 6 days
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Thinking about “he just happened upon the ship that I was bleeding out on”, and… Stede still doesn’t know the lengths Ed went to in order to meet him, does he?
“The chances of us meeting each other in the first place [were slim].” No they were not. Babygirl your man tracked the Revenge to two different locations, sent his first mate to personally find you and invite you aboard, and obliterated a Spanish naval vessel, all just so he could have one conversion with you.
Ed was down catastrophically from day one, but Stede still thinks that Ed saving his life was a happy accident.
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fuckyeahisawthat · 6 days
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fuckyeahisawthat · 6 days
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I fucking loved Paul's feral chihuahua energy in that final fight scene though. He's just going for it. From like, both an acting perspective but also a character thing, he clearly gives zero fucks at that point and it is FASCINATING to see. The image of him staggering around with two knives in him still like "fuck you I fucking won" is so powerful like??? this is a dangerous dude and you SEE that
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fuckyeahisawthat · 6 days
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so within the universe of Dune, gender roles abide by a rigid false dichotomy created by the bene gesserit - men lead the noble houses, while the women may join their order, and the powers of both are kept intentionally separate. at the same time, the plot demonstrates repeatedly that the role of paul atreides as a character is that of the border between the concepts juxtaposed within dichotomies: he is both an outerworlder and fremen, both harkonnen and atreides, both a duke and a disciple of the bene gesserit.
as such, it follows that within the in-universe gender structure, he occupies the roles of both male and female, thus being functionally and societally nonbinary. in this essay, i will -
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fuckyeahisawthat · 6 days
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This is as complete as it will get, for now, no Ed tattoos, we die like Ned Low!
More art inspired by this post, now in motion and more horny dialogue 👀
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fuckyeahisawthat · 7 days
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ngl i find it kind of charming that we’re all duneposting with the same shitty screencaps cause there are no high-quality rips out there yet and we’re too excited to wait. it’s like passing around a vhs tape that your one friend with basic cable taped when their parents weren’t looking
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