I just saw the first movie with a friend and the thought went through my mind. I’m not really sure what something being derivative means, so I looked it up and apparently it’s more subjective than I realized.
What are your thoughts?
The book was derivative of sci-fi pulp at the time, which makes Herbert’s claims about Star Wars pretty funny.
What’s indisputable is that Dune itself has a pretty lasting effect on sci-fi that came after it. So, sure, it probably is, and you’re also probably picking up on elements you’ve seen in other works that were derived from Dune in turn.
I can see where he’s coming from, since it deals with the usual “chosen one, prophecies etc” stuff. What I liked about dune was that the visions aren’t of the actual future, just possible ones. From what I’ve read on the plots to come, it gets more and more bizzarre, which probably won’t feel very derivative.
I was disappointed with the directing in the sequel though.
It depends. What do you find it derivative of?
I still reference this Penny Arcade strip 15 years later:
I mostly agree with the sentiment, people say something is derivative when they dislike it and it’s an homage or a reference when they do
I don’t think you’re entirely wrong, but to me, the difference is that a good homage can stand apart as its own Thing, whereas something that’s derivative has to lean hard on the the tropes and trappings of the original in order to be anything at all.
Example: Stardew Valley vs a bunch of really mid/mediocre farming life sims it shares a genre with. SV is deliberately an homage to the Harvest Moon/Song of Seasons series and is upfront about it. But you can still pick up SV and have a great time with it, because it’s a well-designed and complete game on its own, regardless of whether you even know HM/SoS exists. Whereas with the copycats, the big selling point is “it’s just like [Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley]!” There’s not enough actual substance for these games to stand on their own.
Obviously, “quality” is a subjective measurement and all, but I think that’s where I would draw the line between an “homage” and “derivative.”
I feel like this is possibly one of those things where Dune was responsible for a lot of the things you’re seeing in it that you might call derivative. Dune was written in 1965 and while I don’t mean to imply that Frank Herbert’s work was wholly original and that he didn’t take great influence from a number of things himself, it was also highly influential at the time and provided a lot of themes and tropes that would be taken up by sci-fi in the coming decades as well.
Hasn’t it been said that Star Wars was admittedly pretty influenced by Dune? Lemme see if I can source that …
EDIT: Yes, apparently Herbert himself even noticed and directly complained about it, https://nerdist.com/article/everything-star-wars-borrowed-from-dune/
To be clear, I don’t think this is a bad thing. I don’t think Lucas was wrong to wear his influence on his sleeve and I don’t think Herbert was wrong to take some offense at it. This is just art, this is how things work. Was it too much? I think it’s debatable. Whatever. I’m too old to be arguing about Star Wars on internet forums at this point.
A lot of that article is a stretch. Some of these things are very basic storytelling elements or ancient character archetypes, and things like Empire vs Imperium are only similar in that they’re empires in space; everything about how the empires actually work and their relationship with the main character is completely different. And space empires are older than Dune, but nobody accuses Dune’s Emperor Shaddam of ripping off the Flash Gordon character of Emperor Ming.
Everything is derivative. Even the Epic of Gilgamesh probably borrows from some older oral tradition that was lost to time. While Dune influenced Star Wars, Flash Gordon and pulp fantasy were stronger influences. Dune, meanwhile, is essentially Lawrence of Arabia crossed with Hamlet.
i’ve heard this called the Seinfeld effect, where Seinfeld was so influential on sitcoms that built off of it that it seems generic in hindsight
it’s probably the reason I don’t really are about Led Zepplin. I like hard rock and heavy metal all the way to tech death etc, but there’s been so many generic hard rock bands that tried to ape led zep and/or rolling stones that I just don’t put them on myself. (EDIT : I like them when they come on, but I won’t worship it like Igorrr’s ancient sun or Black Sabbath’s self titled song)
Bands like Deep purple had some bells and whistles that made them stand out even if they got ripped off, but led zep was probably too close to setting/being the standard that they seem generic now.
That makes sense. Dune itself had derivative elements, and since it was written many other works have lifted ideas from Dune.
Similar to music from the 60s and other eras.
I know I have my favorite versions of different works, and most often it’s difficult to keep in mind that no art is definitely right or wrong. It’s very hard to create something truly original.
Pretty sure I read some other book with a people wandering a desert for generations and a prophesied Messiah, but I can’t quite put my ginger on it… /s
Now when you say “the first movie”, do you mean the David Lynch one from the 80’s or something different?
I can’t quite put my ginger anywhere. He has a perpetual case of the zoomies
Everything has always been derivative of smth. We all stand on the shoulders of those before us.
Having said that, the Dennis Villeneuve dune does not overrely on previous adaptations like the lynch dune.
But guess what, plot comes from the book, themes come from the book. That is just being loyal to the source material since the medium in which the story is now being told is different.
As a whole the film has enough soul and individuality to stand out. You wouldn’t watch it and think, ah a vague action movie with Arab inspired music.
Film is also a collaborative medium, one man doesn’t decide what it is, many have influenced it and hence influences have come in from all over the place.
But Dennis Villeneuve as a director has left his imprint on this movie. If you’ve seen 2 or 3 of his movies you can watch dune without knowing he made it, you can guess it was him.
The way he works with light and dialogue specifically is individual enough for dune to be a unique movie.
(The general idea of an auteur in cinema is what I’m talking about)
The new movies are definitely derivative of the books and older movies.
They definitely ripped the desert planet, galactic empire and young man who may be the chosen one from Star Wars, the cheeky buggers.
I’m assuming this was ironic… Right?
Yes.
Ha ha thanks for confirming!
But that wasn’t OP!
Oops
It is based on a book. Does it have elements of the other Dune Adaptations that came before it, I am sure it does.
It is unique enough to me to not label it derivative.
