This week, I re-read Frank Herbert's Dune for the first time in 22 years. I understand and appreciate it better a lot more as a beat-down adult than I ever did as an arrogant teenager.
Young me thought the prose in Dune was pretentious and clunky. Middle-aged me realizes that it is majestic enough to do justice to the enormous scale of the story's expanse.
Young me wanted to see more of the sandworms and psychic powers. Middle-aged me appreciates the complexity of the political maneuvering from all sides; you cannot always fight against evil using straightforward grug methods.
Young me thought "he's the space messiah; I get it already!" Middle-aged me appreciates how Leto and Paul present themes of responsibility and proper leadership, and the beauty of solidarity.
Young me thought Baron Harkonnen was a ridiculous caricature of villainy. Middle-aged me understands that a grotesque, treacherous, murderous pederast is terrifyingly accurate to real-life evils, and something worth fighting against.
I've never read any of Frank Herbert's sequels, let alone the 20 books his son cranked out (which are generally considered to be really bad), but I definitely will now that I'm mature enough to "get it".
Young me thought the prose in Dune was pretentious and clunky. Middle-aged me realizes that it is majestic enough to do justice to the enormous scale of the story's expanse.
Young me wanted to see more of the sandworms and psychic powers. Middle-aged me appreciates the complexity of the political maneuvering from all sides; you cannot always fight against evil using straightforward grug methods.
Young me thought "he's the space messiah; I get it already!" Middle-aged me appreciates how Leto and Paul present themes of responsibility and proper leadership, and the beauty of solidarity.
Young me thought Baron Harkonnen was a ridiculous caricature of villainy. Middle-aged me understands that a grotesque, treacherous, murderous pederast is terrifyingly accurate to real-life evils, and something worth fighting against.
I've never read any of Frank Herbert's sequels, let alone the 20 books his son cranked out (which are generally considered to be really bad), but I definitely will now that I'm mature enough to "get it".
The 1984 Dune movie had a lot of problems, but the Guild Navigator looked really freaking cool.
@noyoushutthefuckupdad The most recent Dune movie blows all the ones from the past out of the water. I never finished the serious, just the first book in high school. But I do want to go back and reread it and finish the series this time. I really enjoyed the book in high school. I remember the constant Orange Catholic Bible references, the index/glossary filled with all the lore and the fact none of the chapters had numbers.
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I liked the last installment of the old movie (directors cut or something), the one which seems fairly complete, includes thoughts of the characters and lasts close to 3 hours. And it also shows the viewer some of the political manoeuvring that went on behind the scenes.
Then you see the first installment of the new movies and it's mostly estheticly pleasing shots and action shots, and that covers the movie. Ask anyone who watched this movie and nothing else what the Landsraad is ( it gets mentioned 2 or 3 times ) and get them to explain why it's relevant, and they won't be able to do so.
