Isegoria (he is a daily read, right posts a review of an article about the science fiction classic Dune. The excerpt is pretty interesting but also includes a link to an episode of historian Tom Holland's podcast The Rest Is History, in which Holland talks about just how much of both science fiction and Hollywood is about Rome.
Star Wars, The Hunger Games, Dune, and all sorts of less likely films explicitly (or sneakily) include all sorts of Roman motifs. It's a fascinating listen. Highly recommended.
I thought Dune was modelled on the rise of Islam.
ReplyDeleteDune is a retelling of Lawrence of Arabia.
ReplyDeleteDune is supposedly a retelling of both Islam and ancient Rome as described in the Rest is History. Star Wars supposedly stole many aspects from Dune.
ReplyDeleteHave read the first book many times and have always found Paul a hero. Never read subsequent novels which - if they do tear him down - probably explain why they aren't as popular.