his article analyzes Dune: Part One (Denis Villeneuve, 2021) and especially Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024), focusing on how cultural age, gender and the different planetary backgrounds of the key characters intersect. The article argues that both films adopt what Kathleen Woodward calls “the youthful structure of the look” (164). That is, Villeneuve’s Dune adaptations stereotypically present ageing characters in power as out of touch with their realities, as they lead whimsically and make poor decisions. The protagonist figure of Paul Atreides (Chalamet) makes this more obvious through his ability to learn and the ways in which he is shaped by multiple cultures. The Dune universe is populated with ageing characters who represent the main forces that Paul has to face: Baron Harkonnen (Skarsgård), the silver-haired Emperor (Walken), and Reverend Mother Mohiam (Rampling). These ageing characters contrast with the youth exhibited by Paul. The article develops a reading of the spaces in the 2021 and 2024 Dune adaptations and the ways in which they intersect with the films’ discourses on ageing. The analysis of a range of spaces considers how they reinforce the films’ discourses on age (for example, discourses around poor eyesight). The article also explores the relationship between Paul and middle-aged characters in order to draw comparisons with the role that fourth age plays in the films. The last part of the article takes into account how discourses around age, power, and cultural background intersect in the last scenes in Part Two and how the film channels these discourses through its representation of space. Finally, the article qualifies the idea that Villeneuve’s adaptations invite a white messianic reading, particularly in light of Chani’s (Zendaya) role—questioning Paul’s course of action—and the decision to have the very ending of Part Two focus on her rather than Paul.
Pablo Gómez Muñoz (Wed,) studied this question.