The Unbearable Whiteness of Dune
Worldbuilding needs a wider aperture
Dune: The diversity stops here
Let me start with a story not about Dune.
A few years back I subbed in for a friend at an evening event at her son’s school. I don’t think it was called Literature Day or Reading Day but it was all about reading and writing. She was supposed to speak about publishing a book and what that was like, and she had to miss it, and I agreed to step in.
I don’t know exactly why, but I had it in my head that the kids might be middle school age-ish. I mean I knew her son wasn’t, but nonetheless, I had imaged if nothing else, older elementary school kids. I was surprised when my audience was mostly 7 and 8-year-olds. My book, Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All, is certainly appropriate for teens…in fact, the Lower East Side Girls Club used it for an NYC citywide training program for young activists…but these kids seemed pretty young.
LUCKILY, I had just the previous week listened to a podcast episode featuring a discussion between Ezra Klein and Hugo Award-winning author NK Jemisin about how she teaches writers about the concept of worldbuilding. Jemisin has been a guest on the #nerdcruise the s.o. and I go on, so I’d seen her give readings, speak on panels, and share in small groups before, and she was obviously one of the coolest people there :)
Worldbuilding is the art of creating the entire environment in which your SciFI, Fantasy, etc. novel will take place. People can suspend disbelief all day long when you’ve built a world that makes sense. And N.K. Jemisin is a master at it and willing to teach it too.
So I spent the next 45 minutes talking to the kids about what they liked to write (a surprising number of them were already writing, and mostly in the fantasy/scifi area…thanks Harry Potter and Hunger Games). And asking them about the worlds they were creating, and how elements of those worlds affected how their characters acted. It turned out to be a completely surprisingly lovely and inspiring event. For me, anyway!
It has long been a complaint how much scifi on film and television has left audiences #blindedbythewhite (hashtag courtesy of my friend Aliza). Despite the actual world we’re all living in right now becoming less and less white, scifi often remained homogenous. As did fantasy and fable. I remember watching the film version of Into the Woods when it came out and marveling that there were so few Black people in it that I remembered the exact instances where we saw one or two in a crowd scene.
(Yes, in case you’re wondering, there are multiple dimensions to this problem. The Geena Davis Institute discovered how many fewer women would be in crowd scenes vs. men, let alone playing speaking characters.) Filmdom, in general, envisions worlds that are disproportionally white and male.
Which brings me to Dune. I watched Dune on HBO Max the other night. Yes, I read the first book many years ago (so long ago that my obviously immature brain mostly remembers the details of the still suit and how it transform your bodily fluids into drinking water or something…a detail that grossed me out) and yes, I saw the 80s David Lynch-directed film (so long ago that my brain most remembers a slicked-up Sting in a bikini bottom).
Director Denis Villeneuve creates stunning visuals. Sumptuous visuals. And despite starting the movie somewhat late in the evening and being doubtful that I’d make it the entire two and a half hours, it indeed kept my attention. It was engaging. It was exciting. It was violent but executed in a style that I could withstand (you know, I’m a sensitive creature).
I also appreciated depictions of female badassery and conversely of male connection and affection.
Finally, I did appreciate that so many of the characters were of diverse backgrounds. This was not a world where only white people remained.
It was, however, a world where only white people were in charge. It’s the year ten thousand and something, and the ruling elite from multiple tribes and planets are white.
While I had no issues with Timothee Chalamet or Rebecca Ferguson’s performances as Paul and Lady Jessica respectively, I also wondered what the movie may have been like if (the criminally underused) Zendaya and Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dr. Kynes) had played those same roles.
Because there was no reason in the World created that they could not be.
Sure, some folks will say, well, Frank Herbert wrote this in the 60s (when I guess there were no non-white leaders in the world…is that the idea?). Or, wait, he more clearly calls out exactly this kind of authoritarian colonialism in later books, so maybe Part 2 of the movie (Part 1 only getting about halfway through the first book in the series) will address this more clearly.
But this movie was made in 2021. This movie still makes it seem like the good white family against the bad one. If your two and a half hour Part 1 can’t take some frames to address this, then it is not doing its job.
Isn’t it funny how some white people will hasten to tell you how Black people had slaves too, but don’t you dare diversify who’s in charge in a totally imagined world 8000 years in the future?
It seems pretty counterintuitive for me to call such meticulous and objectively beautiful filmmaking lazy. But the worldbuilding at its very core is.
Have you seen it? What did you think?
Last week-ish
Last week’s episode of The Op-Ed Page podcast featured an interview with local heroes Peter and Michelle Oates Detkin. They recently made a large multi-year investment in one of my favorite local non-profits, the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, with the express purpose of supporting HSSV’s efforts to provide no- and low-cost support to pet owners from underserved communities. We talk about the whole humans vs. animals thing, and the importance of giving locally. And most of all why the human animal bond is worth supporting…for everyone’s best interest. Because, as Michelle so elegantly put it, I don’t believe love should be a luxury either.
Also last week, several articles I edited for The Rosie Report went live:
Fatigued? Foggy? Forlorn? Maybe it’s (peri)menopause by Tia Mahmud Davis (You know I jumped on the chance to edit this topic given my own experiences with the big P.)
Freelancing forces you to find meaning by Maria Mora (Every “no” more perfectly crystallizes your “yes.”)
Leading teams to success in the ever-changing workplace by Julie Crabill (A very actionable approach to working effectivelywith teams that have members at every level of seniority and work status.)
If you have something to say about the #futureofwork, especially if it’s connected to a book you have coming out or a piece of research you’ve done or an area of thought leadership you want to get more clips around, reach out to me at my rosie email and pitch me!
Finally, last week I shared two related items…a new course I’ve been working on and a live stream tomorrow morning to talk all about the course (so you can decide if you want to invest in it, modest sum that it is):
My course on “Storytelling That Sticks…and Sells”. This course is designed to walk you through the steps (and provide some simple templates) of analyzing an opportunity…a job interview, conference speaking opportunity, media engagement, pitch, you name it…creating your strategy for what you the particular audience wants from you and what you want them to walk away with, and something people often forget about…how to measure your success at doing just that:
https://genconnectu.com/course/storytelling-that-sells-elisa-camahort-page/
Learn more about it tomorrow, 10/28/21 at 9AM PT via a livestream with genConnectU’s CEO Nancy Spears about my course and more:
Coming this week-ish
Next week’s episode of The Op-Ed Page podcast will feature an interview with UCSB professor Tania Israel, discussing her flowchart to figure out how to have productive dialog even with people with whom you disagree. Just in time for the holidays!!
Speaking of holidays, Sunday is Halloween, and Halloween is a very big deal in my neighborhood. I’ve bought about 500 pieces of candy, but I probably need to buy another 1500 pieces. Yes, we expect 1000 kids. And when those kids arrive they will see a big inflatable on my lawn. Like, who have I become???
Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on all of the above, including my adorable inflatable cat.. This is basically my blog now! And as always I appreciate a share of this newsletter or my podcast.
And if I can help you break through the things that are keeping you stuck, or help you make sure you never create anything that leaves people #blindedbythewhite, set up your first introductory 30-minute consult for free by booking it in my Calendly.