Imperialism, Colonialism, and Nationalist Postcolonialism in the Movie "Dune"

Academic Paper from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglistik), course: A History of the Future: Science Fiction in American Culture, language: English, abstract: In this analysis I will demonstrate how imperialism, colonialism and postcolonialism are constructed in the movie. To do so, I will first address those three concepts in the theoretical part of the work. For the analysis I will be focusing on the different power groups of the movie. Through different sequences of the movie, I will focus on the colonial and imperial oppression of the Fremen and will pay special attention to visual aspects observable in the movie.

The second part of the analysis deals with the different groups of the Empire, how they differ from House of Atreides, and how this difference is the basis for Paul Atreides, the scion of House Atreides and his Fremen allies to dominate and imperialise the Empire in the next movies. The differences between House Atreides, House Harkonnen and the Imperial Army are illustrated by the presentation of their home planets, which are examined in more detail in the analysis.