Guest Teaching – 'They ravage our lands in front of our eyes': Water Scarcity, US Colonialism, and Dystopia in Denis Villeneuve's Dune (2021)

Anneke Schewe, M.A. (Universität Kiel)

02. Juni

12:00-14:00 | C3.121

With 2021’s Dune, Villeneuve set the stage for a renewed discussion about the capabilities and indeed limits of fiction to negotiate a nation’s past, present, and future. Water scarcity on the desert planet of Arrakis is not only an apparent environmental marker for the place itself: In the characterization of the Fremen with regard to their engagement with water/scarcity and colonial exploitation, Dune explores the interconnectedness between colonial and environmental exploitation as well as US American national mythologies. Using the particular capabilities of the cinematic medium in its adaptation of Frank Herbert’s source material, Dune involves itself in contemporary discourses about humanity’s future in the face of the climate crisis and related struggles for resources. During this workshop/session, we will investigate how Denis Villeneuve’s first installment in his Dune franchise works with the motif of water (scarcity) in combination with utopian vs. dystopian futurity and US American national mythologies to explore US colonialism and the exploitation of natural resources.
All are welcome!
Contact: PD Dr. Jennifer S. Henke: jennifer.henke@leuphana.de