Tag: Dune 2

Does Dune 2 Portend The End Of Woke Hollywood?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I continue to see a deluge of dude’s dudes being ecstatic about Dune 2. And, I think as Scott Galloway would note, the reason for the success of the movie is it wallows in “dude stuff” that young men feel a connection to.

And I will admit that even as a middle aged man, I was leaning into when some of the “dude stuff” scenes were on the scene. Even though Dune 2 is a “film” and The Empire Strikes Back was a “movie” both movies appeal to young men’s sense of themselves.

A whole 10,000 word New Yorker article could be written contrasting and comparing The Empire Strikes Back with Dune 2. The Star Wars franchise stole from the Dune books a great deal and is far more accessible to the audience, but the Star Wars franchise is a “woke” mess at the moment.

While I think the term “woke” is bullshit, I do think that maybe Disney and LucasFilm could think more about how to tell a good story than how to give a reach around to the advocates of identity politics. And don’t get me started about selling little kids toys.

I do think it’s at least possible that Dune could now become a new major scifi franchise because young men — at least on Tik-Tok — are going crazy for Dune 2. What’s so curious about this is the movie is not a popcorn movie, but a prestige film. It will be interesting to see not only how things progress with the next movie but how the success of Dune 2 will influence Hollywood in general.

Is it at least possible that Hollywood will begin to think more about storytelling and not either churning out either a new MCU movie or another vanity project “woke” movie? Only time will tell.

Dune 2 & The Crisis Of Masculinity

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about Dune 2 that I think it will make it a lot more popular than you might first realize is, as a man, I found myself really getting into the “dude stuff” elements of it. I have read the books that the movie is based on and I found myself remembering what a bad ass Paul Atreides is.

Paul Atreides

He is a very male archetype, the type that dudes want to follow into battle.

And I think, given how we’ve all decided men should be wussies, that a lot of traditional dude’s dudes will find Paul Atreides a very appealing pop culture figure.

Now, having said that, I found the movie itself…meh. It was too long and did not have the storytelling snap that it could have had if it was closer to two and half hours.

Or, put another way, I would have done the entire franchise differently by making it an at least three picture concept from the beginning and being sure that the first movie wasn’t just a pretty one that was just very long and boring at times.

But, you work with what you got and I really liked Dune 2. I think it’s going to be a huge hit.