Dune 2: Poor Chani

I have known all about Dune all my life, so when I saw Dune Part 2 in the theaters a few weeks ago, Chani's new character was a big surprise for me. Before I say anything more, I want to say that I can appreciate the need for changes to her character. The way Chani is written in the book is not very reflective of the ideologies of today's women. If they left her as she was it would have annoyed most women. I can see the need for a change, though I'm not positive I agree with the direction they took because it made me sad to see her reduced to a character of such limited understanding.

Setting the source material aside (it won't help us since we're analyzing the film), Chani dreams of an Arrakis where the Harkonnens are gone and where her people will be free. More than anything she wants them to be freed by a Fremen instead of a foreigner.

It's unfortunate she does not seem to understand the situation the Fremen are in on Arrakis.

There is only one way out.

The spice is too valuable. If the Fremen killed all the Harkonnens, the Emperor or the Great Houses would just send someone else. The more violent the Fremen are, the more violent their oppressors will be. If Feyd was unsuccessful in bringing spice production up to speed, the Harkonnen's may have lost Dune, but the Emperor would not have. He would have sent someone else. There would have been no limit to how many oppressors would have been sent to control Dune. This means that the Fremen were either going to get wiped out or they were going to fight the entire universe one by one on their soil.

That is why all of Paul's visions point toward a war that sweeps across the entire universe.

Referencing back to the first film, the offer Leto gives Stilgar is pretty much the best offer the Fremen would ever get.

The thing that is the most painful about Chani is that her dream is impossible. If the Fremen have to fight the whole universe, they cannot do it with what they have. Paul IS everything they're hoping for in a savior. How can the Fremen fight an entire universe they have never known? Chani is so ignorant of the universe that she doesn't believe Paul when he tells her that his home world is covered in water. Can a person so uneducated in the ways of the Emperor's court fight an entire universe? Are any of her fellow Fremen wiser? They're people with a very specific skill set because their planet is always trying to kill them. They don't know how to orchestrate the war. They need a strategist.

Paul would be good at this even without the spice, the water of life, and powers of the Kwisatz Haderach. He does very well just acting on advice given to him by his father.

Speaking of the religious fervor of her people, prophecies are hard to believe. They're especially hard to believe for this generation of movie-goers. Let's set aside religion. Through the practices of the Bene Gesserit, they are scientifically guided to make their prophecies. What is the point of knowing the future if you don't tell anyone? And how can you communicate what you've learned in a stronger way than just telling someone? How? By telling them for hundreds of years. But even then? Who can know the future?

Therefore, Chani tells Paul that he has nothing to worry about when they go south to recoup after the Harkonnens attack Sietch Tabr. She doesn't believe that the things he's worried about will happen because she's chosen to ignore the evidence. It doesn't fit with her dream, so she ignores that the prophecies are coming true. She doesn't believe what she hears and she doesn't believe what she sees. This makes her even more ignorant than a person who only believes what they can observe with their own senses.

Granted, Paul doesn't help her with that because of the way he talks about the prophecies. His denial is especially powerful when he speaks of his mother transmuting the poison when she takes the water of life. He tells Stilgar and Chani that his mother was trained to transmute the poison. Does the fact that she was prepared to fulfill the prophecy make the fulfillment of it less of a reality?

Also, it is vital to Paul's survival that he does not assume the role of the leader when he arrives. He handles things the way his father would have him handle them (not trying to lead) until the calling is sure.

So Paul takes the water of life because that will end the conflict in his head.

If Chani had been right, he would have died. Which again wouldn't have been what Chani wanted.

And now... I have to take a little break to giggle. This is the biggest complaint men have against women, especially their wives. That no matter what they do, they can never satisfy their woman's expectations. In this setting, it is particularly hilarious. Paul came to Chani's aid by fighting the whole universe to save her people, and it is STILL NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

So now we get to the moment when Paul asks Irulan to marry him. Now, if Chani knew anything about what he was doing (and she doesn't for dramatic effect), she would know that he could never sleep with Irulan. Not even once. If he did, she would get pregnant and his bloodline would be controlled by the Bene Gesserit. Since that is the last thing he wants, he is only planning on marrying the princess for the right it gives him to the Emporer's throne. He hasn't married Chani thus far... and he was unlikely to. His own father and mother were not married.

It's that hayseed moment where it seems like Paul has betrayed Chani when he's doing what is REQUIRED of him in order to have the gentlest war possible. From where I was sitting in the theater, it looked like he had never told her anything about the politics of his world or the universe.

When Chani left the throne room in a huff, I only felt sorry for her because she didn't understand what was happening. A misunderstanding between a couple in order to heighten tension bores me to tears. I'm like, what are we watching here? A soap opera? Nah, you're watching a space opera! And an expensive one too.