Point is that I don't think that there is one, coherent agenda behind both movies.
..that's like saying "there's no discernable meaning in *any* fantasy story"
meanwhile, we're still trying to teach children the value of honesty via encoded tales like 'the boy who cried wolf'
Dune is way more complex..
when you use the term
agenda to describe this method of conveying (encoded) information, what we want to ascertain is how much foreknowledge
the creator has, and what their intentions are (when they use all these symbols, etc)
..feel free to take a butchers knife to the topic linked in
my signature (specifically the sections on south park)
in the meantime let me ask you something(s)..
does either movie (taken individually) have a sub-text? (and) as stated in the OP "i'm sure we're all familiar with the DISCOURSE that comes along
with it" (either movie) so.. you're seriously trying to tell me you find *nothing* in either movie?
--and that you've seen BOTH movies, are you better or worse off for it? (..or were you just entertained?)
i might as well ask a geologist if he/she is better or worse off for having two igneous rocks for study?
what a shame.. we're *lucky* we live in a regime that allows this kind of discussion
spoiler alert
in the studio canal version of the movie we see the butterfly (and the other head-dress) being used to represent the developed hemispheres of the
brain, it also symbolizes the duality of male/female polarities.
all of this (and more) has relevance back in our "real world"
And I am not sure about the symbols - for example, what is the problem with the emblems on Paul Atreides' uniform? To me it seems
to be a standard icon of power, showing a large bird of prey on it. Quite usual for military uniforms, I guess?
..i see, why should there be a problem if everything's up to standard? (btw, the standard you walk past is the standard you settle for) there's no
"problem" with it per se, in the same way there's no "problem" with a fast-food conglomerate using the color red in their logos and advertising (more
subtext and discourse, feel free to snooze)
fwiw (i think) you're "correct" about those military uniforms using the symbol of an eagle (or bird of prey, or some other critter) as an
apex-predator being 'standard practice' in the same way our friendly fast-food co. has it 'standard practice' to associate happy little fuzzy
animals with what they're selling, and i think most people would agree with that..
what might not be so readily apparent (more subtext, yawn) is how both these examples have a vested interest in projecting a type of 'GOODNESS' or
rightness (that eagle for the military, or those fuzzy baby animals for that
healthy fast-food co.) folks like Neitschze might even have a lot
more to say on this 'rightness' (goodness) associated with the eagle, just like the (scientologist) folks who made the movie "After Earth" where we
saw the eagle sacrifice itself for young kitai (..so we start to see more *qualities* of this eagle symbol being manifested, if we haven't fallen
asleep yet)
consider this scene from Dune; (why does Jessica want that eagle [the symbol of house atreides] prominently displayed for her guests? obviously there
is more to it than brute-force, sheer power and kicking ass)
Jessica: "No, no, don't take it up there - i want the coat of arms hanging here,
it is the first thing the visitors must see, this is house
atreides now"
there's deeper meanings to everything..
it seems to me people are treating all their *media* like fast food,
and that's a shame because we are what we eat
(and speaking of appetites, eating food, 'being what we eat' and *symbolism*)
another scene from the movie comes to mind
it juxtaposes this all quite nicely
"careful lad, that spice beer can go to your head before you know it"
Paul: "gentlemen and ladies, (i use the terms loosely of course) I, the baron Harkonnen, have decided that the great seal of our veritable house, that
confused and ugly chimera the Griffin,
no longer adequately represents the ambition of our appetites.. therefore and henceforth, in conclusion
and forevermore, ergo and etc, our ample and royal self from this day forth and throughout the universe, we shall no longer be known as house
Harkonnen.. we shall be house Hog!"
..even the movie itself is trying to get something across to the viewer
..both movies are completely encoded works, hopefully it won't be just me who does all the typing about that
to expand on all this just a little; the "wheel of time" novel series also makes use of the 'mahdi' in the same way the studio canal version went so
far as to make use of it (it was just implied in the smithee version, [i haven't read the books, so i don't know where frank herbert was taking all
this] whereas in the smithee version it subtly makes the point; the freemen are the wandering israelites) ..we might like to ask ourselves why a "real
world" mythos is constantly being repackaged for a modern audience? (unless we think there's no problem and this is all standard par for the
course?)
edit on 28-2-2014 by UNIT76 because: bb code