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.
The theme of Dune isn’t so much that the masses are irrational as that authority is irrational. Even with precognitive sight and the combined memories and wisdom of all every ancestor, it’s never clear if Paul or Leto are actually doing the right thing - or - if the bene-gesserit actually just genetically engineered the perfect lineage of self-gaslighting leaders.
It’s not certainly not leftist, but it’s a bloody good story for a 1960’s scifi written by a libertarian.
There’s certainly no lack of real leftist scifi out there.