#THE WATER OF LIFE

[thedeadtravelfast]

Paul drinking the Water of Life:

Feyd if he drank the Water of Life:

[horatio-fig]

It was Obi-Wan…

[theromanticrationalist]

Walking with God: The Sacred Journey of Villeneuve’s Dune | The Heretical Sayyadina

"This is Paul’s path, this is Paul’s story, of what it means to walk with the Divine. Many are tempted to view this story as a curse, something that destroys not only the person walking the path, but the entire world around him. We may even be tempted to think that we are watching not a story of a man, but of a terrible and wretched god who will fall from grace — falling short of everyone’s expectations and self-made projections of him, a messiah made in a broken image who will not lead them into a better world, but a nightmarish one filled with the stench of violence and death. Only this is not Villeneuve’s Dune. We aren’t watching a fall from grace, but a fall towards grace. For we seem to be taking Paul’s godhood for granted, as something that can be torn down and defiled, yet we must remember that it is a part of him, something that is woven into his very genes. You can’t remove the man from the Divine, and you can’t remove the Divine from the man. And although it is true that the man will not be able to live up to the Divine, this is not to his shame, but to his glory. For it is a beautiful thing that a man is not God. When he realizes this, he becomes truly free. Not because he is free from God, but because he is freed to God. So, this isn’t about a collapse of Divinity within a man, but it is about a man collapsing into Divinity — because sometimes the path to heaven leads into the desert. When you walk with the Divine, wrestling with Him along the way, you are going to be made lame, but you will be given a new name. This is Paul’s story." | 💧 Continue Reading on my Substack.

[minzart]

Just watched the last unicorn

And it made me remember when I was small and just starting to read "the adventures of xisto" and "the water of life", wich had beautiful art that made me dream of riding horses in vast green hills looking at a world of wonders

Now I looked for the last story that I know I have and it starts "long ago, before me or you were born, in kingdom far away a king had three sons"

And gotta be honest. This movie is certain a fary tale, it's been long since I have felt like I was reading/watching one old fary tale with symbolism that make me fell it rather than just comprehend it

[anakinsafterlife]

More Thoughts on Dune

I had to go see Dune again, so I booked the afternoon showing in the Imax theatre, which was bound to hurt my ears, especially whilst fasting, but I just couldn't stop thinking about it. 😅

Having now seen the 1984 movie and the 2001 miniseries, I realize what a comparatively great job Villeneuve did with heavy issues like race and religion (1984 Fremen were all white, while 2001 looked mostly like tanned/slight darker Caucasians, with a few dark skinned extras. But both older versions are mostly very silly and, artistically speaking, poorly rendered. I can see why people kept trying to remake it).

I do still stand by my original post, because of course the director could have done better, but the movie is still a masterpiece and honestly a thousand times more sensitive and informed than the other two attempts to film it. I just feel like if they were going to go to comparatively great effort to get it right this time, why not go all the way and hire more Arab actors (there are plenty even in Hollywood), use more Arabic terms and religious accuracy, etc, instead of indulging in orientalist tropes.

Anyway, I won't go back into the rant, but basically the only negative things I noticed...

... the second time around, were 1) Added, probable anti-Russian racism in the Harkonnens. I didn't notice the first time because I was focused on the mixed treatment of the Space Arabs, but given that Dune was written in the 60s, I'm fairly sure that that the struggle between Harkonnen and Atreides represents the Cold War struggle between the USSR and the United States and Western Europe over physical resources and land power.

2) I also noticed this time copious usage of the "Yellow Middle Eastern Filter."

Even if you haven't heard of it, you have most definitely seen it. It's that yellow haze that lies across the landscape whenever American movies go to some place "exotic," like the Middle East, Mexico, India, etc. It's unspoken propaganda of the most insidious kind, as it imparts to the audience a sense that this place is dry, dusty, and dangerous. (Someone else IRL also mentioned to me that the yellow filter makes people's skin look darker, which is another valid point given the potentially racist implications and assumptions).

The yellow filter is so common, in fact, that I remember being shocked and uneasy when I moved to Dubai, some years back now, because the sky looked blue and normal and not, in fact, hazy and yellow. I didn't even know why I was confused at the time, as the filter is insidious enough that, even when you see it, you often don't really notice it. I only learned officially about the yellow filter a couple of years or so ago, and it makes me mildly furious now every time I actively notice it used in a movie.

So yes, that the yellow desert filter was used is another 'code' for Space Arabia. Which...obvious.

On the story side, I noticed that Jessica and Paul change sides in terms of their opinion of the "prophecy" and whether Paul should claim that narrative. Jessica seems initially opposed, saying, "Your father didn't believe in revenge," while Paul says that he does. But once he grows close to Chani, he eschews the prophecy, only embracing it again after he drinks the Water of Life. That is interesting, because the water gives clear prophecy that the drinkers see as absolute truth. They then attempt to fulfill those truths, which makes me think that these prophecies, like so many, are self-fulfilling. That also explains why Jessica's demeanor changed so absolutely after she drank the water. In becoming a Reverend Mother with prophetic insight, she ironically became less Fremen than she might have before. Is this a metaphor for even the friendliest Westerners losing their sincerity once they have 'tasted' the profits to be made in the Middle East/Global South? 🤔 (But also, obviously, Jessica was always a mother in this story and she would do anything to protect her son, including exploiting an entire culture and religion, *even* if it meant driving him away from her. That is, of course, why one of the first scenes in the movie is of her saving Paul's life by brutally murdering a man.)

I am so, so torn about this movie. I love it and am drawn to it in numerous complex ways that tie into my own personal history as a person who lives, culturally, at the crossroads of east and west. It also clearly articulates the struggle for power and resources that lies at the heart of colonialism and other extended occupations. Yet, again, I recognize the weaknesses of this movie as well as its many strengths.

So torn. Going away to cry now. 😢

[thelastofthebookworms]

My tag for this series is 'fairy tales'.

[fairytalemovies]

[katlimeart]

Made in 2021

If you’ve seen this anywhere else, I posted it back on my deviantArt when it was made.

Mario girls cosplaying as characters from Grimm’s Fairy Tale Classics

1 - 4. Briar Rose

5 + 6. Cinderella

7 + 8. Princess Elena (King Grizzle Beard)

9 + 10. Princess Anna (The Water of Life)

[ghcstcd]

Sockeye salmon, if he was just a little buddy

[foolsocracy]

identity reveals are always fun

[anchored-trident]

Has anybody made a meme specifically of drinking Windex (the water of life) yet?

[53v3nfrn5]

Dingle Bay, Ireland (1993) photog. Sam Abell

[squishsquishy]

>> the_story_of_a_biologist

[zegalba]

The Alabaster Nudibranch is a soft-bodied marine mollusc indigenous to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

[barghest-land]

first 10 days of jurassic june! i'm slow with it but still going ;__;

[snailtongue]

[ID: Two photos at slightly different angles of a ribbon seal sitting on an ice floe. The background is of pure blue water with smaller ice floes in it.] via