Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness

Abby, Patrick, and Dan take on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Parts 1 and 2, Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, and a loud noise that goes [BRAAAAM]. After a crash overview of the franchise universe and a synopsis of the series plot, we unpack our various investments in the original Frank Herbert source material (Abby has many, Dan, some, Patrick, none) and our reactions to the latest film (hated it, loved it, and indifferent, respectively). Abby addresses the centrality of interiority and overdetermination to the books’ tales of intrigue and galactic power politics, and Dan walks through Villeneuve’s process for translating the original texts to film. As becomes clear, Villeneuve’s adaptations have involved some ideologically suggestive erasures and narrative choices, including the elimination of “jihad” from the Fremen vocabulary, the creation of a “fundamentalist” tendency within the Fremen, and the characterization of Zendaya’s Chani as a “moderate rebel” standing against them. All these considerations and more bring our hosts to reflect on the political context of Herbert’s original books, the ideological contours of Villeneuve’s filmic vision, and what it feels like to watch these movies in 2024. If Dune is a dark tale of resource wars, indigenous revolts, fanaticism, and mass death wherein treasured prophecies, messianic expectations, and best intentions boil down to forced choices between godawful alternatives, then what does the runaway success of the franchise suggest about our present moment and the futures we can imagine?

Works discussed:

Frank Kermode, The Sense of an Ending

Kermode, The Genesis of Secrecy

Adrian Daub, “BRAAAM!”: The Sound That Invaded the Hollywood Soundtrack,” https://longreads.com/2016/12/08/braaam-inception-hollywood-soundtracks/

Aaron Bady, “Dune Two Little,” https://slate.com/culture/2024/03/dune-2-movies-frank-herbert-books-meaning-differences.html

 
 Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you’ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! 484 775-0107
 
 A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:
 
 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness
Twitter: @UnhappinessPod
Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness
Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness

Theme song:
Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1
https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO
Provided by Fruits Music