Modern Myths that Permeate Culture
Added 2024-04-18 14:36:21 +0000 UTC(New to this, screwed up the post the first time)
Which ones did I say?
Star Wars (for sure)
Lord of the Rings (pretty much for sure)
Marvel/Avengers stuff (at least for a while there?)
What am I missing? Is Dune on it's way there someday?
Thoughts, please.
Comments
Pirates of the Caribbean??
Brian Villanueva
2024-05-06 20:50:29 +0000 UTCI think Dune is too complex and too open ended to be culture permeating myth. I think culture permeating myths tend to be a bit more focused on ideas that come through pretty clearly. Stories like that are great, because they are a good way to communicate values. Maybe the best way to communicate them, because they communicate the emotional motivations as well as the rational motivations for them. Dune is great for a different reason. It has so many different ideas and themes, and it presents them in a way that expand our perspective on humanity. The frameworks it introduces for reflection on so many topics are so well crafted that it doesn't really matter if you happen to agree with Frank Herbert's conclusions or not. The problems posed are interesting, and even if we don't think Frank's answers are convincing, if you suspend disbelief, those answers will pose new questions from new, grander perspectives. I find that when I try to explain "what Dune is about, actually" Dune is about so many things that I end up rambling. As someone who enjoyed the books, I *really* like seeing how people approach the movies. I love seeing how people slowly realize that the story isn't what they thought it would be, and isn't progressing along expected patterns, and how it asks more of them than they thought it would. I'm also convinced that Villeneuve is being a lot more faithful to the books than a lot of people think. To me, it looks like the changes he's made are all about trying to convey a ton of information that was internal monologue in the books, and gets it to the audience without simply doing a bunch of voice overs. I think he's also changing which themes come through at a given time for improved narrative focus. For example, in Dune part 2, he used Paul's relationship with Chani to show his fear of the great jihad. But when the jihad happens, we are no longer privy to Paul's thoughts, we just see his actions from afar, so we have to wait until the next movie to know what he's thinking and feeling at the end of Dune part 2. The first four books zoom out in scope from what seems like an adventure story to a kind of tragedy about about power and fate and humanity, and are capped off with a contemplative epilogue. It really seems like the movies are adapting the best aspects of Dune and doing a *really* good job of it. Will it be a modern myth? Maybe not exactly. But I think that it will be an enduring classic for people who enjoy stories that challenge them and invite them to think really hard on a bunch of different topics.
Seth C Tucker
2024-04-26 18:11:27 +0000 UTC
