This was interesting. So I’ve never fully read any of the Dune novels but many people I know are obsessed with it so I know a lot about the lore and story.
One thought I have is that the pessimism of the Dune universe is what makes it so adaptable as a board game. There are two different versions. One from the 70s and another from a couple of years ago. While the experience is different the concept is similar. They are both political, strategy games where you play as a faction (one of the houses or other major players like the Bene Gesserit or Spacing Guild) with the goal of domination. There is no option outside of being the one in charge and each faction plays differently due to their inherent powers/characteristics.
Another thought is that the gender politics of Dune is fascinating but also still both pessimistic and essentialist. I really appreciated the prominent role that women had in Dune especially because sci fi is not always known for it's portrayal of female characters. It’s notable that the Bene Gesserit are so powerful and control so much of politics. But their power is undercut by the fact that they are so secretive and that their ultimate ruler has to be a man. It’s notable a group of woman has such power but it doesn’t seem like there’s a vision where women could be in charge openly (though I don't know their role in the later novels).
Ya, the fifth and sixth novels get even creepier from a gender perspective (google “honored matres” if you want to know more I guess). I had a line in my drafts of this which didn’t quite make it in about how Chani is also the only female character who is not a witch (e.g. Bene Gesserit), and how her character imports a modern quasi-feminist lens (insofar as our modern culture is quasi-feminist) into the films.
Interesting about the board games — I wasn’t aware of their existence. But that would totally make sense, given the way that board games work. And also interesting in that Dune is one of the few sci-fi or fantasy universes that is truly multi-polar (e.g., it would be hard to imagine a Star Wars game that wasn’t just a struggle between the Empire and the Rebels, or the Sith and the Jedi, etc.), and thus would potentially make for a good multi-player game.
A very interesting take on the politico-cultural themes in Dune. Particularly the theme of "state capitalism". Dune was published in 1965, and I remember reading (some time after 1975!) that the US economy was dominated by the same industries in 1975 that it was in 1925, each industry was dominated by the same few companies, and each industry was unionized by the same union. Each industry had a bureau of the Commerce Department to help it coordinate growth so there wouldn't be "overcapacity". There wasn't any visible alternative, western Europe was much the same, and Communism was a monolithic version of the same thing that delivered worse results.
And it wasn't a bad deal for ordinary people. I've noted a quote from Pocatllo, Idaho mayor Roger Chase, "When I grew up in Pocatello, you could not read or write and still get a job at the railroad making $50,000 or $60,000 a year." (I suspect the amount of money is incorrect, given inflation, but the point remains that you could live well even being illiterate.)
Most of the protest movements since then seem to have wanted to *go back* to those times so that good incomes could be had by people of modest education. The proposed techniques differ between the left and the right, but none of them make clear how to do it without disconnecting from world trade entirely and throwing out 50 years' development of automation.
As for "Though it is also difficult to imagine some of the technology in the Dune universe functioning without computers, especially the remote-control flying poison dart that almost kills Paul early in the film and novel.", remember that if a human is guiding it in real-time, you don't need a computer. "Wired and wireless remote control was developed in the latter half of the 19th century to meet the need to control unmanned vehicles (for the most part military torpedoes)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_control#History But these days it's hard for people to imagine!
This was interesting. So I’ve never fully read any of the Dune novels but many people I know are obsessed with it so I know a lot about the lore and story.
One thought I have is that the pessimism of the Dune universe is what makes it so adaptable as a board game. There are two different versions. One from the 70s and another from a couple of years ago. While the experience is different the concept is similar. They are both political, strategy games where you play as a faction (one of the houses or other major players like the Bene Gesserit or Spacing Guild) with the goal of domination. There is no option outside of being the one in charge and each faction plays differently due to their inherent powers/characteristics.
Another thought is that the gender politics of Dune is fascinating but also still both pessimistic and essentialist. I really appreciated the prominent role that women had in Dune especially because sci fi is not always known for it's portrayal of female characters. It’s notable that the Bene Gesserit are so powerful and control so much of politics. But their power is undercut by the fact that they are so secretive and that their ultimate ruler has to be a man. It’s notable a group of woman has such power but it doesn’t seem like there’s a vision where women could be in charge openly (though I don't know their role in the later novels).
Ya, the fifth and sixth novels get even creepier from a gender perspective (google “honored matres” if you want to know more I guess). I had a line in my drafts of this which didn’t quite make it in about how Chani is also the only female character who is not a witch (e.g. Bene Gesserit), and how her character imports a modern quasi-feminist lens (insofar as our modern culture is quasi-feminist) into the films.
Interesting about the board games — I wasn’t aware of their existence. But that would totally make sense, given the way that board games work. And also interesting in that Dune is one of the few sci-fi or fantasy universes that is truly multi-polar (e.g., it would be hard to imagine a Star Wars game that wasn’t just a struggle between the Empire and the Rebels, or the Sith and the Jedi, etc.), and thus would potentially make for a good multi-player game.
Just dropping by, but ...
A very interesting take on the politico-cultural themes in Dune. Particularly the theme of "state capitalism". Dune was published in 1965, and I remember reading (some time after 1975!) that the US economy was dominated by the same industries in 1975 that it was in 1925, each industry was dominated by the same few companies, and each industry was unionized by the same union. Each industry had a bureau of the Commerce Department to help it coordinate growth so there wouldn't be "overcapacity". There wasn't any visible alternative, western Europe was much the same, and Communism was a monolithic version of the same thing that delivered worse results.
And it wasn't a bad deal for ordinary people. I've noted a quote from Pocatllo, Idaho mayor Roger Chase, "When I grew up in Pocatello, you could not read or write and still get a job at the railroad making $50,000 or $60,000 a year." (I suspect the amount of money is incorrect, given inflation, but the point remains that you could live well even being illiterate.)
Most of the protest movements since then seem to have wanted to *go back* to those times so that good incomes could be had by people of modest education. The proposed techniques differ between the left and the right, but none of them make clear how to do it without disconnecting from world trade entirely and throwing out 50 years' development of automation.
As for "Though it is also difficult to imagine some of the technology in the Dune universe functioning without computers, especially the remote-control flying poison dart that almost kills Paul early in the film and novel.", remember that if a human is guiding it in real-time, you don't need a computer. "Wired and wireless remote control was developed in the latter half of the 19th century to meet the need to control unmanned vehicles (for the most part military torpedoes)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_control#History But these days it's hard for people to imagine!
Ha, did not know that about wired and wireless remote control. Thanks!