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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 9379131" data-attributes="member: 6777737">You're still thinking that race in the movies is an analog for race in the movie's universe. That is incorrect. The movies use race -- skin complexion, really -- as a metaphor for cultural allegiances. The darker you are, the more culturally and politically aligned you are with the Fremen. The whiter you are, the more culturally and politically aligned you are against the Fremen. That's why Paul is so pale; he uses the Fremen. He's not the Madhi. He exploits that ancient Bene Gesserit myth to build an army to conquer Arrakis and take the Imperial throne. That's Paul and Jessica's plan. And Paul doesn't save Arrakis after becoming Emperor. He destroys it.The other mistake people keep making in this thread is similar to what Folding Ideas called The Thermian Argument. The Harkonens are not pale because the star that their homeworld orbits is a certain way. No, the star that Geidi Prime orbits is the way that it is so that the Harkonens can have pale skin so that they fit into the color palette themes that the movie uses. It's all fictional and the director can change the star as easily as change the characters. So the themes and symbols do not arise out of the characters and setting. The characters and setting are purpose-built to serve needs of the themes and symbols. Because the entire story of Dune only exists at all to be a platform for those ideas that Herbert had that come from the themes and ideas.This isn't deep or rare storytelling, either. It's pretty common. Luke Skywalker's father is not Darth Vader because Anakin Skywalker slept with Padme. No. Luke Skywalker's father is Darth Vader because it triggers an identity crisis in Luke. The rest of the continuity warps around Lucas's decision to trigger that identity crisis. Bruce Wayne's parents being killed did not cause him to become the Batman. The need for an origin to justify the kind of man that Batman is demands a trauma like seeing his parents killed in front of him. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly doesn't accidentally builds to the three-way stand-off. Everything that happens before the climax of the story s written to guarantee that that showdown happens. Stories are written backwards and upside-down. Then when they're told our minds fool us into thinking that time moves in one direction. That's the trick of storytelling.Just like we design set piece encounters in TTRPGs as the GM, authors and directory devise set pieces in their stories. They conform the reality of the fictional world to make it work.</blockquote>

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