First off, thank you for being thoughtful rather than abrasive even though it seems we might disagree in some ways. Second, I do plan to read the book at some point, I do need some time away from Dune though now that I've spent so much time with the films 😅. What I will say is that things that you've mentioned - e.g. Paul being a super genius - I think are super interesting to think about purely within a film context. Like how do you visually portray such inherently internal aspects of being? That being said, I do think Villeneuve tried to cover as much of the overall content within the book as possible even though I think that's an impossible goal; instead, I wish he had tried for a more specific through-line that had something more coherent to say beyond the act of recreation. I also wish I could relate things back to the book more, if only there was time! Being a KZfaqr is hard! Comments like yours are encouraging though. Cheers

⁠@@ryanczhou Of course!!! Although you’re a new channel, I really liked this video essay and you had a lot of really good points! It’s very clear you studied the movies diligently. You’ve demonstrated a clear potential for content making, and I pray that the algorithm will favour your channel and give you the views / engagement you deserve!! But yes, you’re totally right. In the books Herbert wanted to flip the trope of the chosen one on it’s head. Dune is in essence a criticism of religiosity, and a warning of how following a charismatic leader blindly can be disastrous. In the book there’s a line that states, “The worst thing you can do is put your people’s fate in the hands of a hero.”. So he purposefully made Paul this absolute übermensch, and gave him literally every skill/power in the Dune verse. Paul is essence supposed to effortlessly succeed to prove to illustrate the point that even if a space messiah came along, no matter how superhuman he is, it’s absolutely disastrous to put your faith in one man. As at the end of the day, it’s just another flawed human being. As Dune was written post WW2 and Herbert was a vehement atheist. In the second book Paul is actually compared to Hitler in a conversation with Stilgar, but Stilgar says something along the lines of “60 million deaths for Hitler isn’t bad, but you have far more.”. But your critiques of the movie are completely justified. It’s almost impossible to demonstrate clearly what happens in the books on film, as so much of it happens in the characters mind and from their perspectives. Its stated that Paul can’t actually see the future, but through being a super genius, Bene Gesserit witchcraft, the water of life (which is just an extremely extremely potent psychedelic & poison that allows an individual to reconnect with their ancestors memories/ego/consciousness), Paul’s mind is like a super computer that can predict the future based on unimaginable calculations. Think of the oracle from the matrix, how she was just a prediction algorithm. Same thing with paul. But thats almost impossible to demonstrate on screen without a boring 10 minute explanation. Like the book literally has a dictionary in the back, that you need to continually reference in order to understand the book. And the switch up after Paul drinks the water of life is poorly done in the movie in my opinion. In the books, Paul kinda goes through a personal crisis as he realizes the only way for him to get revenge is wage an intergalactic jihad and kill hundreds of millions, but after some deliberation decides to follow through with it. And then it leads to the scene of him declaring himself as the Lisan Al Gaib. But I appreciate your thoughtful response to my comment! And I look forward to watching and supporting your content in the future. I wish you the best of luck brother!! (And in the books Paul eventually is blinded by a nuke and decides to walk into the desert to his presumed death. However he survives into old age and is referred to as the mad prophet from the taboo / banned religion of Mua’dib. So he is taken down a peg.)

Thank you for all the love! You've definitely made me interested in checking out the books soon.

I know that Chani's reservations are film invention, but even so, if that's the case why not fully embrace that model and make it actually convincing? I think what you're arguing about Jessica is totally valid. For me, I don't think the switch in character was totally effective. Thanks for watching though and appreciate the comment!

Thank you!