An empire brutally forces its hegemony on the poorest and most maligned peoples. Despite the obfuscation of Hollywood and its unholy alliances with the Pentagon, the underlying mythic message remains, if even as a whisper largely drowned out by the latest computer-generated effects and Pentagon approved technology. Of course, the same questions could be asked about other modern cinematic epics, from Star Wars to Avatar, even The Hunger Games. Or that the imperial bad guys in the film, complete with their noble houses, obscene material wealth and military might, are symbolic of their own governments, corporate powers and armed forces? Or that the much coveted and fought over “spice” is code for opium (or oil, or lithium, or whatever the Empire and its imperial houses demand or wish to control).
When Westerners (see: Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Brits, Australians) see Dune this fall, I wonder if any of them will have any idea that Arrakis is a perfect symbol for Afghanistan (or even Iraq, or Bolivia, etc.). Over the last few days, I have been thinking a lot about this book, as well as the movie adaptations. They are the last to see any benefit from the trade of spice, if any at all. Its inhabitant, the Fremen, are looked down upon by most of the noble houses as savage, inferior and backward. Arrakis has a desolate and hostile environment. The imperial powers of the Dune universe use political chicanery and treachery to manipulate various political figures within the noble houses.
Dune tells the complex and multi-layered tale of a feudal interstellar empire in the future, where noble houses compete, often violently, for dominance over the planet Arrakis, a desert world that possesses the only source of a substance called the “spice.” It is essential for space navigation and also has the potential to enhance mental and metaphysical senses and abilities. This fall, the much-awaited remake of Frank Herbert’s science fiction epic Dune will hit theatres.
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