I rewatched Dune part 1, hoping to take away a better impression than I had when I saw it in theaters. Unfortunately I still don’t find much of value in it. I still need to rewatch part 2, and maybe that could still change my mind. But I’m not holding my breath.

In brief, Dune seems deeply misanthropic. The message is: the masses are irrational and easily duped by conniving populists that promise revolution. Simultaneously Horseshoe Theory and Great Man Theory. It is a diatribe against democracy and the intelligence of the underclasses.

Am I massively missing the point of this story? I have sought a Marxist analysis of these movies, and the ones I have found only ramble aimlessly the cleverness of Villeneuve for subverting the spaghetti-western hero trope and for being “self-aware” about Orientalist and colonial themes. As far as big-budget media goes, I think Andor is far more useful for leftist agitation than Dune could be.