Snowflakes Against Dune

There are no snowflakes on Dune; it's a desert planet without rivers, lakes or seas, and traveling during daytime without special suits that recycle the body's water, called "stillsuits", is literal suicide. It doesn't rain or snow on Dune.

Snowflake is a 2010s derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of uniqueness, an unwarranted sense of entitlement, or are overly-emotional, easily offended, and unable to deal with opposing opinions. Common usages include the terms special snowflake, Generation Snowflake, and snowflake as a politicized insult.
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Yes, real snowflakes are unique and fragile, and wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell, quite literally, on Dune. But I'm talking about snowflakes on Earth, the thinking and talking kind. The snowflakes I'm talking about are the anti-SJWs criticizing the fact that the role of Liet Kynes in the upcoming Dune film will be played by a woman when the character in the book was male. I think it takes a special kind of person, perhaps with a slightly inflated sense of self, you know, a snowflake, to be bothered by this particular gender-swap. Don't get me wrong here; I'm very aware that there is a campaign of political correctness in the entertainment industry, a social justice war if you will, that overly emphasizes gender and minority representation in films, series and comics.

The anti-SJW snowflakes and I differ where it comes to the cause of this campaign. Where they entertain some conjured up idea of Marxist professors infecting our kids' minds in schools and universities under the banner of "cultural Marxism", I prefer the truth, which is much simpler; it's capitalists trying to expand on their customer base. When marketeers see that superhero and science fiction movies attract almost only males, they realize they miss out on 50% of potential market share; enter female versions of all superheroes. When they see China rising in the world economy, they realize they should do something, maybe cast some actors of Asian descent, to appeal to that market. The fact that this political correctness campaign seems to be headed by our politicians is just another indication that they also are bought by the for profit institutions who's strategists are their marketing departments.

I understand all the push-back on this campaign, as it is true that pushing forward a political agenda (that is really a marketing agenda) often comes with the price of sacrificing plot, story and other vital ingredients of a good product, not to mention the alienation of long time fans (mostly white males) of long standing franchises who see their favorite heroes changed overnight in most fundamental ways. Or, like in the case of the new Star Wars movies, see their favorite characters humiliated and reduced to proverbial losers, just so the new, politically correct, crew can outshine them on screen. That's not respecting the lore, that's not respecting the audience; that's sacrificing the lore and fandom for the sake of making a few dollars more.

Now that it's clear where I come from, I think you can see why the outcry over the gender-swapping of Liet Kynes in Dune 2020 is ridiculous. I bet that someone who hasn't read the book never even heard about Kynes; that's because the character isn't that important and could literally be anyone. Yes, Kynes is the father of Paul Atreides' love interest, but changing "father" to "mother" changes nothing in the story and doesn't affect any of the pivotal characters. Any protest against this move isn't born from genuine concern over the source material at all. No, these are the special snowflakes, the mostly white male anti social justice warriors who actually believe they are discriminated against by perceived social justice identity politics, because they see a mirage of "cultural Marxism" and are blind to the reality of the patriarchy.

As an aside, when you watch the linked video, notice that brilliant Dune logo; it's the letter "U" pointed in all four wind directions... Everything that's come out so far about this movie has me, someone who's read all six Frank Herbert Dune books three or four times, super exited. The director made recent science fiction gems like Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, and has described his Dune movie as "Star Wars for adults"; he will at least try to replicate some of the grit and darkness from Herbert's novel. Boy, I feel like a teenager again, waiting for my parents to buy me a ticket for The Empire Strikes Back...

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