Analyzing The Visual Rhetoric Of Dune One '

Zimo Zhao Professor Visperas COMM206 3 April 2023 Analyzing the Visual Rhetoric of Dune 1 Dune 1 (2021) is a science fiction movie about the fall of House Atreides in the political turmoils of a future galactic empire, based on the novel written by Frank Herbert. The story takes place on two planets, the pastoral, humid Caladan and the arrid, mysterious, and dangerous Arrakis. Members of House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and the Bene Gesserit (an organization of women participating in politics) start a brutal political and military conflict over power to colonize the resourceful planet Arrakis. What makes Arrakis resourceful is spice, a mysterious, addictive and extremely valuable substance that boosts the capacity and health of the human body

History and tradition is used to establish the center of whiteness, while biology is used to fixate the non-white into its oppressed state. The film establishes House Atreides’ history through European artifacts and through beautiful scenes of the Caladan landscape (the Atreides home planet). Overall, House Atreides is represented as a European noble family, which embodies the values, customs, and aesthetics in the dominant white discourse. Thus, these artifacts not only establish Atreides history, but it also creates the “histories. to show how environment and tradition have molded the appearance and character of the people in question” (20), thereby contributing to the racial genealogy of the whiteness of Atreides. Revisiting the scene where Jessica and Paul are having breakfast, the camera directs the audience’s attention to the two of them eating on a long rectangular table using a fork and knife (00:04:47). Jessica’s grey suit (which resembles a stereotypical western suit) (00:04:59), whisky glasses and wine decanters (00:04:59), and a European-styled portrait of an aristocrat who is the late Duke Atreides (00:05:36).