Dune (2021)

When you imagine the distant future, what do you see? Some, like Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, envision a future utopia, where humankind has finally worked through their differences, solved hunger and poverty, and have united in a mission of peace and discovery. For many others, like HG Wells, author of The Time Machine, the future is a post-apocalyptic dystopian nightmare of our own creation. In his 1965 novel Dune​, Frank Herbet envisioned a future that has advanced as much as it digressed, rebuilding the feudalism of our past in far off galaxies. Dune clearly doesn't present a utopian future. But are utopias really all they're cracked up to be?

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In this episode, we look at Deni Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation for the big screen (the first, in what will be a series of films). We explore the nature of utopia, and dissect the biblical parallels in a fictitious future world filled with ritual, belief, and religious imagery. What sort of figure is our protagonist, Paul Atreides? Is he a "chosen one" akin to Moses? Or is he more of a classic Jesus-type saviour figure? Finally, we pull the future all the way back to the biblical past to ask: Can you read the Bible as science-fiction?

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Glossary:

A glossary of terms used in Dune, and their relationship to real-world words / concepts, can be found on our website: www.godsandmoviemakers.com/episodes-104-dune

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Episode Credits:

Many thanks to Katherine (Kat) Gwyther for her time and expertise.

Kat is a PhD researcher in Hebrew Bible at the University of Leeds, working on utopia and Exodus. She’s interested in how utopian literature and science fiction (and the related criticism) can enrich our understanding of biblical texts and their reception. You can find Kat on Twitter @KatGwyther.

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