DUNE and the war in IRAQ

I recently saw Frank Herbert's DUNE. (1984) It's being played on the ENCORE channel. I could not believe the references and symbolism in the film that pertained to the war in IRAQ. It's mind boggling!! the film takes place on a desert planet. 2 families fight for the control of a vital spice that is underneath the desert sands. Here is a quote from the film.

"He who controls the spice, controls the universe"

" Emperor Shaddam" is the leader of one of the families.

The name of the desert planet is called "IRAQUS"

I wonder if Herbert knew of the upcoming war 7 years after the film was released and many years after he wrote the DUNE books.

The planet's name is Arrakis.

Herbert did have oil in mind when he wrote the story, so it's not surprisingn to see parallels with what's going on in the ME today.

[edit on 3/22/2007 by djohnsto77]

Your response does not justify your claim. Even if its spelled "Arrakis" the pronounciation is still the same.

Emperor Shaddam? I definatly think my revealation is true.

Don't forget the slight similarity of the Muslim messiah - MAHDI

and Frank Herberts's Dune main character Paul-MUAD' DIB

OR:

Frank Herberts' Dune: The war on Arraquis

MUJA HA DIN (I think that's the right name)

Muslim Holy War:

(**NOTE: Remove the 1st 2 and last 2 letters off off MUJA HA DIN)

JA HA D

JAHAD

JIHAD?

There are some similarities between Dune and the Middle East and Islam. Herbert borrowed some of the words and ideas from those cultures, as you have noted. Also, much of the story takes place in lands similar to the Mideast, i.e. desert.

The original Dune was written in 1965, so unless Frank Herbert had been taking copious amounts of Arrakis spice, I don't think he foresaw Saddam or the current war He may very well have foreseen trouble in the region at the time he was writing, and written accordingly, as that would hardly have been a stretch of the imagination at the time, given the political situation between Israel and the various Arab countries in the mideast.

I don't remember an 'emperor shaddam' in the book, but it was at least 10 years since I read Dune, so it may well have been there, rather than a name concocted for the movie. Wasn't the main villain the Baron Harkonnen, or something like that? The guy who was so fat he had to wear an antigravity levitation device to move?

I'll have to reread the Dune series someday. I read up to about book 3 or 4 many years ago, but I could never find a copy of the next one, so I abandoned it. I've read a couple other Herbert books, The White Plague, and The Godmakers. White Plague was really good, and the Godmakers was kind of weird, but okay. Neither as good as Dune, though.

Yes, (she says with her Dune books beside her), Baron Harkonnen (the floating fat dude) was the main villain, but Emperor Shaddam was indeed in the book. He was, IIRC, just one of the people in the background... not really important except for in the final showdown.

It is kind of scary how similar the book and life have become, but things like that have happened before.

In 1898, an author named Morgan Robertson published a book called "Futility", which was about a great ship which sunk in April. In 1912, the RMS Titanic also sank in April. Many details were concurrent with book and life.

I find it interesting. Hmm.

The reason its so similar is because Iraq isn't the first time the west has advanced on the ME for oil.

Herbert drew on Islam as a basis for his Lisan Al'Gaib prophecy. You will recognise the Islam in the book is not the Islam from our world. That's because he changed it and joined it with Buddhism (another Eastern religion) to create Buddhislam.

I agree Dune is pretty similar to the actions of the Middle East, but as I say, its not the first time. And if the sequels are anything to go by the Middle East will soon be running the world until it has an immortal God Emperor who will rule for thousands of years.

Long live house Attreides! Ha I miss that one dune game I had.. Micheal Dorn (WORF from star trek) was one of the attredies guys.

Carry on reading the whole series of books, the stories just get better and better.

Just see what Paul's son turns into and the power he has.

Dune is ABSOLUTELY about the war in Iraq. The 1917 war in Iraq (WW1)!

Dune is basically Lawrence of Arabia stepped up a level. You know benevolent colonists coming to the rescue of the indiginous people to throw off the yoke of oppression, liberate they're natural resources, etc. etc.

I've long held that Dune and Lawrence of Arabia are far too similar to be coincidence. David Lean's Lawrence film starring Peter O'Toole came out 2 years before Dune was first published.

Let's see... You've got the representative of an empire going off into the desert, finding and becoming one with the nomadic native peoples, capable of adopting their ways almost intuitively. And who can forget O'Toole's piercing blue eyes?

Originally posted by StreetCorner Philosopher
Your response does not justify your claim. Even if its spelled "Arrakis" the pronounciation is still the same.

Emperor Shaddam? I definatly think my revealation is true.

Interesting reply. Why so hostile to a poster trying to assist.

One might say that your response to his response is not entirely cogent, since much of the ASCII encoding in your response to his response would not appear in the contents of any modern lexicography, but that would be presumptuous, so we will decline to do so.
ISTM, IRAQUS would not be prounounced 'Arrakis' but 'Ear-a-kwuss', or 'Eye-rack-kwiss'. YMMV.

Who is your least favorite Dune character? Do you like Herbert's son's adaptations?

Thanks bye