De-orientalizing Dune: Storyworld-Building Between Frank Herbert’s Novel and Denis Villeneuve’s Film.

In Dune (1965), Frank Herbert builds an SF universe that, although futuristic, remains geopolitically reminiscent of our historical world, with ethnically and culturally identifiable characters. For all his storyworld-building efforts, Herbert’s representation of the desert planet Arrakis and his Ar...

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Publicado en:Ekphrasis (2067-631X) Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 49 - 68
Autor principal: DRIDI, Yosr
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Theatre & Television 2022
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: De-orientalizing Dune: Storyworld-Building Between Frank Herbert’s Novel and Denis Villeneuve’s Film.
      aug:
        au: DRIDI, Yosr
        affil: University of Tunis.
      su:
        Film adaptations
        Villeneuve, Denis, 1967-
        Sand dunes
        Literary sources
        Motion picture industry
        Twenty-first century
        Orientalism
      sug:
        subj:
          Film adaptations
          Villeneuve, Denis, 1967-
          Sand dunes
          Literary sources
          Motion picture industry
          Twenty-first century
          Orientalism
      keyword:
        cinematic adaptation
        orientalism
        science-fiction
        storyworld-building
      ab: In Dune (1965), Frank Herbert builds an SF universe that, although futuristic, remains geopolitically reminiscent of our historical world, with ethnically and culturally identifiable characters. For all his storyworld-building efforts, Herbert’s representation of the desert planet Arrakis and his Arab/Musliminspired characterization of the Fremen have often been accused of romantic Orientalism at best and white-saviorism at worst. Recently, Denis Villeneuve released his film adaptation of (part of) the novel, Dune: Part One (2021), which has rekindled the debate on SF orientalism and stimulated new discussions on the interpretation of those problematical representational and thematic issues for a cinema-savvy and race-conscious 21st century audience. This paper proposes to determine the extent to which Herbert’s SF orientalism survived in Villeneuve’s adaptation. Accordingly, I will compare the aesthetic literary and cinematic representations of space and characters and discern their thematic implications. Ultimately, Villeneuve’s film will be assessed as an attempt at contemporizing and de-orientalizing its literary source through controversial politics of casting and politically-correct screenplay modifications, hence adapting the novel to the silver screen, the film to the contemporary spectator, and the cinematic product to the Hollywood film industry.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
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    language: English
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