bluskai - Tumblr blog

[bluskai]

Thinking of an alternate universe where feyd lives after the fight between him and paul and paul decides to keep him. the POSSIBILITIES. I can imagine him as a guard dog, cloaked in shadow, always walking a step behind Paul. It's easy to forget that Paul has all the power over him sometimes; they respect each other, they practice duelling together, and when Paul doesn't want to do dirty work, all he has to do is snap his fingers and feyd comes. Paul knows what he needs. He knows he needs pain and shame and he gives it to him. Feyd getting called to his throne room, getting punished and hurt and reveling in it. Paul not having to worry about his betrayal because he knows that feyd is happy to get kicked. feyd dropping to his knees whenever he sees him no matter who's watching because he needs it

[bluskai]

I cannot stop thinking how House Atreides has really died with Leto. All the inhibitions from Lady Jessica’s hunger for power and passion were removed and she truly became her father’s daughter. The further Paul was from the times his father was guiding him, the more he leaned into anger and cruelty. Reverend Mother Mohiam doomed them all when she advised to wipe out that line. Atreides and Harkonnen were supposed to balance each other, and her fear of Atreides incomplacency lead to full loss of control. Maybe Lady Jessica and Leto actually made someone who’d be able to become a saviour, but everyone who was involved in the making of the saviour has fucked him up beyond recognition - because the balance was lost.

And on this note, I can’t stop thinking about how Feyd-Rautha and Paul are really meant to be for peace; war is a result of many centuries of a feud between their houses, and an alliance - a union of resources, mind you - would change the political landscape in the universe. Sure, it makes sense why House Corrino fuiled that rivalry, because such alliance would drastically shift the power dynamics in the Lanstraad.

And it doesn’t matter if Paul, or Feyd-Rautha, or their offspring would become Kvizats Haderach - an all-knowing being would rise to the throne and elevate Fremen with less blood then a desert prophet if they had this power.

But Jessica is her mothers’s daughter because she seeks power before purpose, and is her father’s daughter because she doesn’t care about the cost of power, so; their love story with Leto could be described as something you would leave as a warning on a nuclear waste site: love was there. It didn’t save anyone. On every chance it could save us, love only lead to more destruction.

[bluskai]

has anybody done this yet

[bluskai]

We’re Harkonnens. So this is how we’ll survive, by being Harkonnens.

Dune: Part Two (2024) dir. Denis Villeneuve

[bluskai]

I need everyone to understand about the fremen.

They do not cry. Ever.

To give water to the dead is the most sacred honor that anyone could give but they rarely and never do that because it's ingrained in them to not waste water from birth. A single tear could mean life and death for them. To give water to the living? Unheard of.

Paul crying over killing Jamis in the book was a moment that astonished the fremen around him. Jessica ponders their reactions and knows that this is a holy moment.

Jessica then forcing Chani to cry for Paul(this was not in the book btw but I love it) is the ultimate betrayal of her autonomy. To force her to give what is essentially a piece of her life to him without her consent is sacrilegious and she knows it.

Water of Life indeed.

[bluskai]

Feyd Rautha, pointing to Chani: Who's that? Your pet?

Feyd Rautha pulls out his phone and opens the gallery in the same second: Look, I have three too! This picture here is of them eating a human, this one too, and this one.... They're pretty voracious. I love them.

[bluskai]

its important to do this every time a museum or school thinks this is a good idea

[bluskai]

#Literally stop tweeting things like "what do you said to them after filming this". It's just a movie, it's pretend. You're an adult you should know that.

[bluskai]

MIKE FAIST Challengers Video Diaries

[bluskai]

Challengers Spoilers without context

[bluskai]

would u still love me if i was a shai-hulud

[bluskai]

For those who are not hard Sci-fi fans, to help you understand just how monumental of a triumph Dune Part 2 is,

This is the Lord of the Rings of Sci-fi. The Empire Strikes Back of sequels. I haven’t been this impacted by a cinematic experience since The Return of the King. Every Sci-fi film made after this will likely be compared to it. It will inspire a generation of filmmakers. I know someone is sitting in the theatre experiencing this movie who now realizes they have a passion for film and sci-fi, and that is a beautiful thing. This is what the experience of seeing a film should be. Movies can change you—long live cinema.

[bluskai]

Controversial opinion among Dune book fans maybe, but I loved the changes they made to Chani's character. Making her a fedaykin who is already an experienced fighter before Paul arrives was a brilliant choice. Dune Part Two is a war movie, and this puts her at the center of the action, side by side with Paul, and gives her a much more active role than she has in the book.

We got a hint of where things were going in the beginning of Dune Part One. The first thing we ever know about movie Chani is that she's a fighter. She serves as a voice for the Fremen, telling us the story of their struggle from her point of view. I wrote here about the difference this change makes compared to other adaptations of Dune, what a perspective shift it is to have the world of Arrakis introduced not by an outsider, describing it as a dangerous but valuable colonial prize, but by one of its native inhabitants, who tells us before all else that it's beautiful, her home that she's fighting to liberate. I am so, so glad that the second movie followed up on this characterization.

I never found Chani and Paul's love story in the book particularly convincing, because why would this woman, who already has a prominent and respected place in Fremen society, even give the time of day to her deposed would-be colonizer, let alone fall in love and have children with him? Without a compelling reason for Chani to love Paul, she ends up feeling like a prize to be won, and "indigenous culture personified as a woman to be wooed (or conquered) by the colonizing man" is a trope we've seen and don't need to repeat.

But as soon as you tell me it's a barricade romance I get it. Cool cool cool, I know exactly what this relationship is now and it makes sense. Movie Chani doesn't respect or even particularly like Paul when she first meets him, and she doesn't think he's the fulfillment of any prophecy. She comes to respect him, and eventually love him, through his actions. He's brave--sometimes recklessly so. He fights well. He's willing to stick his neck out on the front lines with the other Fremen fighters. He can (after a little help) hack surviving in the harsh desert environment. He's not too proud to learn from others. He seems to genuinely want to be her equal in a common political struggle. All these qualities make sense as things she values.

Fighting side by side as equals is just about the only way I can see movie Chani falling for Paul. And it fits perfectly with the film's pattern of reversals that Paul's capacity for violence would initially be one of the things Chani likes about him, only for her to be repelled later when she sees what he becomes.

And as for Paul, well, he's had people deferring to him his entire life. Someone who doesn't take any shit from him is probably refreshing. He seems to like people (Duncan, Gurney) who challenge him and engage in a little friendly teasing--and aren't afraid to go a few rounds in the sparring ring.

It's easy to speedrun a romance when you're spending all your time together in mortal danger fighting for a shared political cause. Especially if you then start winning in a war your people have been fighting for decades. Are you kidding me? That is the perfect environment for intense battle camaraderie to turn into romantic love, and lust.

It makes sense that this version of Chani never believes Paul is any kind of messiah. Of course a character like movie Chani wouldn't believe in or trust some outside savior to liberate them. She's been working to liberate her own people for years. The more Paul invokes the messianic myth, the more he starts sounding once again like someone who plans to rule over them, and the more uncomfortable Chani becomes. In this way she becomes a foil to Jessica, the two of them representing the choices Paul is pulled between. It's a great way of externalizing the political and philosophical debates that often happen within characters' heads in the book.

And of course this version of Chani would leave Paul at the end of the film. It's not just the personal, emotional betrayal--although that stings. What common cause does she have with someone who just declared himself emperor and is sending her own people off in a war of conquest against others? Given the important role she plays in Dune Messiah, I am super curious to see how they get her back into the story, but girl was so valid for being willing to just gtfo. Given that she has the last shot of the whole movie, I'm sure she'll be back somehow, and I can't wait to see what they do with her character in any future installments.

[bluskai]

dune part two plot summary

[bluskai]

Dune: Part Two (2024) + reddit text posts

[bluskai]

jessica really said “god forbid women do anything” and doomed an entire people to war by installing her twink son as a false prophet by stealing her cult’s 10,000 year old breeding program propaganda

[bluskai]

there's another fascinating thing.

a word "Sietch" comes from the toponym Siq (Arabic: ‎السيق), the Arabic name for a narrow canyon bordering the entrance to the desert city of Petra in Jordan.

in this scene Paul walks a narrow path through the desert, leading by Stilgar. he is not welcomed here, and he fully understands that.

inside the Sietch Tabr also a narrow path, he carries a dead warrior, Jamis.

later he speaks with Gurney about the benefits of being a Messiah. Chani hears them and she is not pleased. they’re also walking a narrow path in the rocky desert.

Paul in the South, he walks towards his death and rebirth, finishing the cycle of transformation.

later he speaks of his visions, as a “narrow way through” to defeat Harkonnens and gain victory.

he was walking narrow paths all along, from the moment he started his way. his destiny was inevitable. the very moment he carried a body of Jamis into Sietch, also Jamis in his vision led him to the South. he was marching towards his death and resurrection since he took his first steps in the desert. and he did walked a narrow way through