Even in the future, white people reign supreme

Warning: Dune spoilers ahead.

Why is the chosen one always a white guy?

This thought never entered my mind when I took on the challenge of reading Frank Herbert's mega-sized “Dune” novel.

For years, I wanted to read the book and pushed it away, thinking it would be full of complicated details, songs, and descriptions similar to "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy—which I also haven't read.

Early previews of the new Dune movie directed by Denis Villeneuve looked pretty darn sweet, so I was compelled to grab a paperback brick version of the book.

The story was a slow mover initially, but it came to life when the Atreides family got to the planet of Arrakis, and we learned more about the Fremen and sacred sandworms. As the main character, Paul Atreides, bobs and weaves his way into becoming Maud Dib—a messiah, I was excited for him with the help of his mother, Lady Jessica.

You learn to respect the Fremen of Arrakis in the book and their ways and also understand how a fifteen-year-old ex-pat from another planet could end up taking charge.

Sure, the book's comparisons to the Middle East with battles over their version of oil, melange (spice), is clear. Even as a Black man, casting people of color in the live-action movie surprised me.

The new film was gorgeous but didn't feel how I hoped it would for several reasons.

1. I didn't visualize Black characters in the book, but they were in the movie

Dune the book felt more like a story of a family from planet Caladan coming in like a fish out of water and eventually melting in with the people and culture of planet Arrakis. The idea that the Atreides family is white and the Fremen are Black and brown crossed my mind but didn't linger.

You would assume people who live in the heat of the desert would be brown skin from the sun, and maybe because I'm a Black man, I just saw all the characters as brown or pale white in my head. No one felt Black to me.

Is this just a case of, now that the characters are on screen, I can see how multicultural they are? Not really. Plenty of thought and work goes into choosing a cast of characters in films.

On the one hand, I appreciate the representation of Black actors. Still, on the other, I'm angry the people of color are the ones causing trouble and getting murdered throughout the movie.

Not only Black actors. A double-crossing Asian male character is killed early on. Then a black woman, culminating with, and this one got me, Paul, fighting a Black Fremen in a duel to the death and wins.

Yeah, Paul's been training in his Caladan martial art for years but come on! Does this spoiled son of royalty really have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with a hardened Fremen who survived growing up wild in the desert?

When I read this scene in the book, it made sense. Seeing it on screen stretched my imagination and patience a bit too thin. The feeling I got inside that the casting agents were doing all they could to hire people of color in roles where they knew they could get killed truly irked me.

It is similar to the joke about how Black characters in action and horror movies die first—and they do, time and time again. The new Dune movie was unapologetically dismissive of its cast of color.

2. The chosen one narrative felt like a fact in the movie and not a maybe

In the book, it feels more like a messiah figure is planted in the minds of the Fremen by agents of the Bene Gesserit. I loved the idea that this sort of belief is manufactured and questions our history with divine leaders.

The Fremen believe Paul is the chosen one because they were led to it by storytellers over many years planting ideas in the minds of the Fremen people. If you hadn't read the books, this idea would fly right past you when it's hinted at in the movie.

No ifs, ands, or buts, about it, most viewers watching will assume Paul is the chosen one. If they haven't read the book, they'll miss one of the most intriguing parts of the story.

Is there a true messiah, or is he a creation in a larger plan by outside forces?

Let's hope they bring this back in part two of the movie and challenge his chosen one status. You rarely see this idea in scifi and have to accept the white guy as the divine right ruler of them all—like in The Matrix and Star Wars franchises.

Breaking that tradition in the new Dune movies would not only be more exciting to watch but leave viewers pondering how much is true about what we're led to believe in our culture and society.

In essence, a much more exciting take on the science fiction genre.

3. Pale skin characters were the most cruel villains

How evil house Harkonnen plots to destroy the Atreides, and their hold on the Arrakis spice trade is pretty nasty, but when reading the book, I didn't see them all as white, pale-skinned punk rockers.

The overweight floating Baron was described as someone who could be a white dude in the book, but the Harkonnens were all a pasty mess in the movie.

Was the plan to make it look like the paler you are, the more evil you become? I can't entirely agree with that idea, but I sure got that impression in the movie version.

Their home planet was all dark and rainy. No wonder the Harkonnen are so pissed all the time.

You can understand how visual contrast comes into play here. When you see the warm browns and beige colors of the land and desert people of Arrakis up against the pale evils of the Harkonnen, it makes an impression.

In the book, you get to read their clever plans and how smart Harkonnens are at manipulation. You understand theirs much more to them than pale skin and an insatiable lust for power.

To conclude

Even with all the issues I had with the movie version, I still enjoyed it. The cinematography was gorgeous, and the story felt faithful to the book. The tempo was a little slow at times, almost meditative. Let's hope they'll pick up the pace in part two, so events move faster and hit harder.

You always have to be careful when visual representation is added to anything written. I've experienced this as an artist and illustrator. Working with clients, you get a different reaction when the idea on paper becomes a drawing or painting.

The positive part of the process is making edits and changes to the look and design of visual elements once you see them. You learn very few details are mistakes. Someone has to see it and make a decision to keep it that way.

In a movie as meticulously designed and planned out as the new Dune is, I'm disappointed no one caught the apparent issues of hierarchy set up by race and color. You get the sense that even far in the future, in a star system light-years away, white people are more regal and of higher status than people of color.

Perhaps in Dune part two, they will choose to do a better job of representation, but I doubt it. White males enjoy being seen as the undisputed champions and have the privilege to continue sharing that narrative in film. It’s not stopping anytime soon.

Denis Villeneuve is a talented director, but he's no messiah.

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