Star Wars Is Too Stupid To Be A Dune Ripoff
Arrakis > Tatooine
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When Dune (2021) hit movie theaters, and reviews were sky-high, it seemed like all anyone could talk about on Twitter for a while. I thought it looked cool but didn’t get the chance to see it. Months later, when my wife and I were flying to visit friends of ours in the UK, my wife (fiancee at the time) watched it on the plane there. I was appalled, not by her choice of movie, but her choice of viewing experience. I knew nothing about Dune, but I could tell this was the kind of movie not to watch on an airplane screen. Despite her praise for the movie, I couldn’t in good conscience have the back-of-the-airplane-seat TV screen be my first experience with it. I continued watching the kinds of movies you should watch on planes – bad ones, like any of the recent Auquaman films.
I wouldn’t watch Dune (2021) for the first time until January 2023 – officially married and living with my wife in our new home, already making plans to get a dog like we’d always wanted to. We sat down one evening to finally take in the sci-fi epic at home, and I absolutely loved it. I already had a feeling I would like it, but I was really blown away by how much I liked it. I needed to know more about this whole universe, so I walked to a local bookshop, grabbed the first book and started reading.
In little more than a year I read all six of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels. Between January and June I read the first four books. It then took me months to read the last two because, while I eventually did grow to really like the new cast of characters, I started out feeling like it was all too far removed from the characters I had fallen for. Now I’ve finished all six, and when Dune Part Two finally arrived earlier this year, my wife and I had IMAX tickets for its opening weekend.
Across this whole timeline of finally coming to know and love Dune, after having only known about it tangentially in that it was a well-regarded sci-fi book, one thing that never crossed my mind when thinking about Dune, was Star Wars. I grew up with Star Wars. My Dad still has his original VHS tapes that I remember watching, over and over and over. I remember seeing two out of three prequels at the movie theatre. I was Darth Maul for Halloween one year, I saw each of the sequels as they came out, and my whole life I’ve played Star Wars games and watched TV shows set in its universe. All because of my Dad’s love for the series, I love the series, and was practically raised on it. So you can imagine my surprise to find a whole contingent of discourse around Dune, and how Star Wars has always been a rip-off of Dune, leading up to and beyond the theatrical release of Part Two. It’s something that I can understand on the surface, but even then it’s a comparison I struggle with, for the simple fact that Star Wars is too stupid to be a rip-off of Dune.
I don’t mean George Lucas is so smart that he wouldn’t rip off Dune because that would just be a stupid thing to do. Everyone who’s ever made anything artistic takes inspiration from someone who’s already done something great. I mean that, while similarities between the two exist, Star Wars is so incredibly dumbed-down in comparison to Dune that I just don’t think they go together. And where they differ creates such a divide that you shouldn’t think about them in the same vein. What I mean is that Star Wars is just really stupid.
(spoiler warning for Dune and Star Wars)
I can maybe agree that there are parts of Dune that Star Wars blatantly steals, but I’d argue that’s still tricky. Dune doesn’t hold the rights to desert planets, ‘chosen one’ stories, religious orders of super-powered humans trained from a young age, political rivalries, etc. Sure, both Star Wars and Dune have these elements, and sure, even Dune writer and creator Frank Herbert hated Star Wars specifically because he felt it was a clear rip-off, and took umbrage with the fact that Lucas never did acknowledge Dune as an inspiration. To this day, Lucas has still not said anything on the topic. But I don’t think he needs to, because while he definitely pulled some aspects of Star Wars from Dune, the comparison breaks down when you get into the weeds of what’s actually similar.
Across all 9 films you can find more substance in the blade of a lightsaber than you can in the ways each movie tries to grapple with any theme larger than ‘good guys vs. bad guys.’ Before I start I’d like to establish that these comparisons will be kept between the books of Dune and the Star Wars films, because that’s as close as we can get to how Herbert would’ve been making the comparisons. If he were still around, he’d be really old, and I’d like to think he’d agree with the reasons I lay out here. Also, I feel the need to establish what I believe to be a “rip-off.” For me, whichever work is doing the ripping-off needs to be taking more than just established character arcs used across all storytelling, settings, and world-building traits. I see something as a rip-off when it goes into the very themes the work it’s ripping off digs into. When it’s trying to tell the same story with a few aesthetic changes, like how you’d let your friend look at your homework the morning of a school assignment and they promised they would put it “in their own words.” Then halfway through the school day, you and your friend are both sat down by the teacher, and you read your friend's answer to see they did nothing but used some synonyms in place of a few words you wrote. Alright, housekeeping done, let’s begin.
To start with one of the main comparisons, which will begin to reveal the pattern in which this breaks down, a huge point of comparison people talk-up is Anakin Skywalker and Paul Atreides. Beginning with Skywalker, we first know Anakin as Darth Vader, when he’s long past the point of allowing hatred and darkness to consume him. It’s not until he’s face-to-face with the death of his son that he remembers the person he used to be, the one who would have loved his son and done anything for him. A prelude to meeting Anakin as a child, who is introduced as a kind, inquisitive, and brave child. Everything you want to find in a young Jedi, along with a high midichlorian count. He was also born into slavery, and spends his days dreaming and working towards a better life. It’s not until Episode Two where we begin to see the anger that would grow. His Jedi training showed him how he could be powerful, and once he saw that power, it changed something in him. He’s strong, and he knows it, so when his anger bubbles over with the death of his mother, he uses that strength. That outburst is all the insight Palpatine needed to continue manipulating him. Anakin’s not entirely without blame for what he becomes, but if not for Palpatine’s manipulation it’s much more likely he never walks the path of the dark side. This arc, from a noble person to corrupted villain to an end-of-life redemption is thought to be pulled from Paul’s own arc as a character. Let’s dig into young Paul, and by the time we’re done let’s see if that makes sense.
Paul Atreides was born from Duke Leto Atreides and his Bene Gesserit wife in all but name, Lady Jessica, daughter to the Baron Harkonnen. He’s the direct product of a generations long breeding program built to create what’s known as the Kwisatz Haderach. A ‘chosen one,’ just like Anakin? Not really. Anakin is said to have been born from the Living Force, without a father. A child of the force that realistically could have been anyone. You can’t say the same about Paul’s ‘chosen one’ status. Whoever the Kwisatz Haderach would have been, would have been a child of the royal families, one of only five families in the corner of the universe in which Dune is set. Paul is born into the 1% of the 1%; he’s royalty. Paul knows what power is before he steps foot in a training room. His upbringing, and his entire existence, has been so ordained not by spiritual factors, but by an immensely dedicated order manipulating and working to create Paul Atreides, diligently. No Jedi was trying to create a child of the force. Paul’s birth was accidental in that Jessica defied her orders to have a daughter, and chose to have a son, but Anakin’s birth explanation doesn’t come until years after the films, and only in a comic book, so it doesn’t exactly fit as a connection. He’s more of a ‘made one’ than ‘chosen one.’ I’d argue the only one who chose Paul was his mother, choosing to give birth to a son to fulfill the desires of the man she loved, Leto.
Both Paul and Anakin are aware of their supposed ‘chosen one’ title, but Paul is the only one that seems to spend any time thinking about what that would mean. Anakin looks at that status as a sign of power, and under Palpatine’s manipulation, he grows to believe he is resented by the Jedi council for being chosen. It is a key part of what cements his path to the Dark Side. Paul is scared at the thought of him reaching his full power. He’s scared of treading the Golden Path. Critically though, his doubts don’t stop him from taking that path far enough that the Atreides name is known throughout the entire known universe as the name of the Emperor. A leader that, through what the book explicitly calls a “holy war,” takes his army of Fremen fighters to conquer far off worlds, and the billions of lives lost in the mix give him little pause. His redemption also begins with the danger of his son’s death, saving his twin children, Leto II and Ghanima, from an assassin. After that, he loses his sight, and by the Fremen’s old survivalist laws that say a blind man cannot be Fremen, he must give himself to Shai-Hulud, the Fremen’s word for the giant sandworms that truly rule Arrakis. For years he lives in the deep desert, and returns to the Arrakis capital Arrakkeen to preach against the religious and royal institution that he helped build to control the universe. He preaches, and dies, unceremoniously during a riot he played a role in creating, and helps open the path for his son, Leto II, to take the throne, even if he does it in a way Paul detests.
Paul and Anakin are both born with great potential, but have entirely different upbringings. Anakin is manipulated his whole life, right up until just before he dies. While you shouldn’t underestimate the powers of Bene Gesserit manipulation, it’s a stretch to say the same for Paul. He made his choices, not driven by emotion or the thought of loved ones, because he recognized his power, and because he saw fit to enact his rule as far and wide as possible. He and Anakin are just not the same, and their commonalities are not so specific that they are easily compared. Paul makes choices; Anakin lives in an illusion of choice.
The Bene Gesserit and the Jedi, are another huge comparison point brought up when people try to tell you the Star Wars is just like Dune. In response to those people I’d ask them to look at the missions laid out by their orders. The Jedi’s role in the galaxy is to serve as peacekeepers and heralds of the Force. The Bene Gesserit’s missionaria protectiva is to achieve human maturity, and they’ll do that by whatever means necessary.
The Bene Gesserit protect humanity only so much as they can ensure the survival of the human race. That doesn’t mean they care about individual lives or would attempt to save hundreds, thousands or even millions, if it would mean the human race, and just as if not more importantly, the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, would survive. Every Reverend Mother is loyal to her sisters before anyone and anything else. They are an exclusively female order, and not every sister can rise to become a full Reverend Mother. Reverend Mothers also play a key role in their breeding program, carrying bloodlines with traits deemed desirable going for as long as necessary until they can achieve their goal of creating a Kwisatz Haderach. They work in the shadows, influencing and manipulating the royal families and leaders across the universe. Undertaking the Spice Agony connects them to their fellow sisters and the Sisterhood in a nearly unbreakable way, but that’s the only ‘supernatural’ element of their powers. Through training and determination they are dangerous fighters, both with their hands and their minds. A trained acolyte ready to undergo the Spice Agony has no otherworldly support making her extremely dangerous and powerful. She is someone who has pushed human capabilities to their limits, and will go beyond them with spice.
Jedi are born with naturally strong connections to the Force. It surrounds them in the way a religious person might feel they’re surrounded by God. Their training is what allows them to use the Force for their will, and it plays a part in every aspect of their strength. Without it, their skills with a blade remain formidable, but their flaws turn from tiny chips to gaping weaknesses. They’re also not behaving as a shadow faction of the government, at least that’s not exactly what Jedi are intended to be doing. And while not every Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother is strong enough that they could all step into the role of Mother Superior if the need arose, there’s far more inconsistency among the Jedi when it comes to power and capability.
The only thing you can say connects the Jedi and the Bene Gesserit is that they both suffer a great decline due to their own pride. The Jedi are too distracted by a war and too proud to see the Sith rising from within them. The Bene Gesserit are too naive and proud to believe they could create a Kwisatz Haderach that would obey them completely. However their reactions to both these events further display their differences. The Jedi scatter, go into hiding and disappear from the galaxy for years, until Luke enters the picture. The Bene Gesserit are never as completely wiped out. They continue to play a key role in the movements of the universe. The Sisterhood survives, and their unity gives them strength even in their darkest times. Be it under the thumb of an Atreides or under threat of extinction by the Honored Matres, the Sisterhood wins out. The Jedi only ever rely on one special individual. The Sisterhood survives because each one of the Sisters wills it to.
As I said before, I can see the very surface level comparisons that can be pulled between Dune and Star Wars, but when you start to dig into any of them, they immediately fall apart. It is categorically wrong to say that Star Wars is a rip-off of Dune. There’s no attempt in any of the Star Wars films to properly grapple with deeper themes, while all Dune does across its six books is implore you to think more about the characters and the story. I get that they’re different mediums. A movie is never going to have the space and time a book does to meaningfully explore its themes. But that doesn’t mean movies are incapable of having deeper conversations than “good guys vs. bad guys.” None of the films make any solid effort to do that – and there’s nothing wrong with it, of course. Star Wars is still entertaining, I still love watching these movies (save Episode IX, but we’re not opening that can of worms). But Star Wars is not a rip-off of Dune. It’s just too stupid.