Can you believe? Some critics consider that Dune 2 by Denis Villeneuve is a symbol of colonialism and white supremacy, which promotes stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims and engages in cultural appropriation.
Woohoo, it’s a made-up story, friends!
Photo AFP
Black screen, sleepless night
Radio-Canada International published a text on Saturday (available in Arabic) informing us: “Denis Villeneuve’s latest film is full of references to the cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, but does not stray far from Hollywood stereotypes on this part of the world, according to some critics.
An example? “The name of the people of the planet Arrakis, the Fremen (Free and Men), would only be the translation of Amazigh (“free men”), which the Berber peoples of the Maghreb give themselves.”
May Telmissany, associate professor of cinema at the University of Ottawa, says: “The talk about Arabs and Muslims shocks me a little. [Le film se passe] completely on a desert planet. It is a direct representation of the Middle East and the Arab world. If American and Hollywood policy wants to continue in the same vein, that is to say the essentialist representation of Arabs and Muslims as if they were lesser peoples or who represent a threat at the same time, I believe that Denis Villeneuve will give in to this pressure to achieve the sequel.
It’s crazy how many people didn’t get the memo: Dune 2 is a work of FICTION which tells us a story from the IMAGINATION of Frank Herbert (and Villeneuve) taking place on a planet that DOES NOT EXIST, where people speak an INVENTED language. Don’t fucking call the Human Rights Commission! We cannot discriminate against a people who are fictitious!
Radio-Canada also cites a film critic who wrote on the Al Jazeera website that Dune 2 is “an epic vision of a novel that reproduces white supremacy”, “a representation of white colonialism in Africa, Asia or Latin America”, which “perpetuates the idea that inferior peoples must follow the white man to to liberate oneself”.
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I found in the Washington Post a text by Haris A. Durrani denouncing the fact that Denis Villeneuve “minimized” the Muslim content of the original book, criticizing the invented language for not containing enough Arabic words, criticizing Villeneuve for using the words “war holy” instead of “jihad”, for not having chosen more “Arab” music and for not having hired Muslim or Middle Eastern creators! Conclusion: Denis Villeneuve “colonizes and appropriates the experiences of Muslim and Middle Eastern people.”
I found in Cosmopolitan a column by Furvah Shah claiming that as a Muslim she was “frustrated” by Dune 2. The film’s costumes are clearly inspired by hijabs, niqabs and abayas, but as they are worn by white women, it discriminates against Muslim women who wear them in real life, “which is frustrating in a time where these communities are openly discriminated against and demonized.”
Head in the sand
I have advice for Denis Villeneuve: for your next project, make a cartoon with fish and cats who only communicate by gurgling or meowing. No one can blame you for anything.