The portrayal of Geidi Prime in Dennis Villenueve’s Dune is one of the most visually striking and unsettling portrayals of an alien world that I have ever seen. The characters who represented Harkonnen culture (all shaved bald) such as The Baron, Feyd-Rautha, and Rabban were brutal and cannibalistic in ways that I have trouble verbally describing. The nods to imperialist Rome, such as the overabundance of slaves, the gladiator matches, and the economic dependence on conquering other words, were deeply considered. What I loved most about Villenueve’s Geidi Prime is that he managed to make it seem even more harsh and uninhabitable than Arrakis which, though environmentally formidable, seems to foster a better sense of community and equality.
But, I haven’t even touched on the most striking feature of Villenueve’s Geidi Prime, which is that it’s entirely in black and white. This precarious filmmaking decision might just be one of my favorite aspects of the film, as it adds layer after layer of unspoken depth to the world of the Harkonnens, and the worlds around them.
The Fremen live in an overwhelming amount of light, the Harkonnens live in an overwhelming amount of darkness
“What if instead of revealing colors, the sunlight was killing them and creating a very eerie black and white world, that will give us information about how these people perceive reality, about their political system, about their political system, about how that primitive brutalist culture and it was in the screenplay. ”
Denis Villenueve to Moviephone
Arrakis has far too much sunlight, to the point where life is almost unsustainable. But, in spite of these conditions, the Freman survive and create an entire culture around scarcity of resources. The Freman seitches become indescribably close as they face death quite literally around every corner together. By contrast, the sun on Geidi Prime only emits infrared light. Any light that might be perceived is swallowed up in the massive cloud of smog and pollution due to Harkonnen industrialization. No sense of family or community exists on Geidi Prime because there are no environmental trials to be overcome. It is a world brutality and treachery, even among family units.
One could argue that it is the existence of the sun that characterizes human life, and by extension, color. After all, it is the presence of light that allows color to be perceived. It evokes the connotation of art, aesthetic, and beauty, all of which are luxuries not required for survival. Yet, the Fremen possess these luxuries, while the Harkonnens, despite their untold amounts of wealth, do not. Color exists on the unforgiving, nearly unlivable conditions of Arrakis, while Geidi Prime is a planet devoid of color. It is a “plastic world,” in the words of Villenueve.
The Fremen live according to the nature of their world, the Harkonnens survive by conquering.
One of the aspects that I love in the book is the idea that, the book is a study of the impact of the ecosystem on human beings, all from the nature of the ecosystem, the human developed religions, techniques, and ways of survival…for Giedi Prime, the home world of Harkonnen, there’s less information in the book and it’s a world that is disconnected from nature.
Denis Villenueve to Moviephone
It’s important to note that the end goal of both the Fremen and the Harkonnens is to transform an environment. The Fremen, both in the book and in the movie, are set on transforming Arrakis from a desert planet into a lush green world. Doing so will take years upon years of effort. Along with taking sovereignty of the planet back from the off-worlders, the Fremen must painstakingly conserve every drop of water possible in order to make this dream a reality. Despite the near-impossibility of this task, the dream of a renewed Arrakis is a major source of bonding among the Fremen. In the movies, it seems to be the one thing that everyone agrees on.
The Harkonnens, on the other hand, seem to have already accomplished their goal. The world of Geidi Prime has been terraformed to an absolute. Not only is it livable, but it has every luxury and comfort imaginable (if you’re a noble!). In spite of this, a good Harkonnen is never satisfied. The Harkonnens continue to subjugate and conquer, no matter how much they have. The lack of color on Geidi Prime not only represents the absence of the sun, but also the oppressive nature of the Harkonnens.
Subjugation is a staple of how Harkonnens operate. Harkonnen industrialization has pushed all life off of Geidi Prime, except for human life. The Fremen, on the other hand, have completely harnessed the “desert power” of the world around them. Rather than pushing life off the planet, they work with it. They are powerful enough to get rid of the worms, the biggest and most terrifying obstacles in the desert, but that would mean an end to the spice. Rather than living in fear of the worms or merely tolerating them, the Fremen quite literally harness the worms, riding them from place to place. Arrakis is bright and colorful, as the ways of the Freman embrace the world around them, rather than shutting out the light.
Final Thoughts
Villenueve was right when he said that a person’s world influences their psychology. The story and world of Dune written by Frank Herbert fully illustrates the tension between nature and nurture, and more often than not, nature wins. Villenueve clearly took these messages to heart, and brought color to one of my favorite texts.
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