• YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    It’s not an improvement, not at all. Chani in the books is someone I can picture becoming the muse and pillar of a complex man burdened with knowledge and duty (which is narratively necessary in both Dune and Messiah!). Lippy, immature, irrationally rebellious and feisty Zendaya’s Chani is not that. Again, many books, including Herbert’s own later in the series, have female protagonists who are not “1 dimensional” (although none as shallow and silly as the girl boss Chani of Denis, who certainly isn’t 1 dimensional, lol 🙄) and are fantastic. And upset is a big word, more like “disappointed and dissatisfied”, but money follows audiences so I understand. 🤷

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          6 days ago

          I’m familiar with the word… I just think it betrays a bit of misogyny. Probably not even consciously.

          • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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            6 days ago

            No, it was certainly deliberate (and a little cheeky), but without any generalized hatred. Zendaya’s Chani just happens to exhibit it and, as such, she cannot realistically be the idealised extremely mature, softly feminine (but realistic and pragmatic because she’s a Fremen still) and self-sacrificial teenager both Muad’dib (another teenager but a princeling infused with excess, inhuman knowledge) and the story need for it to make sense. Paul needs someone of his caliber, but a yin to his yang, and OG Chani is exactly that. The sexes are different and our shortcomings come in different shades: needlessly argumentative and difficult “lippy” is to women what arrogant “mansplaining” or physical and erratical “brutish” is to men, for example. 🤷