Why Avatar is re-packaged Frank Herbert's Dune?

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Frank Herbert's contributions to the genre of science fiction are under appreciated. Herbert's lack of popularity is attributed to the lackluster performance of Dune Movie and the three-part miniseries.

The latest movie Avatar by James Cameroon has a similar story line to the Dune novel by Frank Herbert published in 1965. The following table illustrates the corresponding characters etc.

Dune
Avatar

Planet Arrakis
Moon Pandora

Fremen People
Na'vi People

Paul Atreides / Muad'Dib
Jake Sully

Chani
Neytri

Lady Jessica
Dr. Grace

Spice Melange
unobtainium

Baron Harkonnen
Colonel Miles

Dr. Wellington Yueh Kynes
Dr. Grace

Sand worms
Exotic Animals in the forest

Shai-Hulud
Toruk
The story development is also similar like fighting against own people and unifying the whole fremen (na'vi) community. Jake's special spiritual status is almost similar to Paul Maud'Dib. The community's special bond with environment and its effects on religion. The use of unconventional weapons against the much more powerful enemy.

The movie looks more like a tribute to the great Frank Herbert than a classic movie in its own right.

A similar review is also given here.

Comments

  1. Zahid IrfanFebruary 9, 2010 at 5:31 AM

    "Avatar closely resembles another classic story, Frank Herbert's Dune. In fact, Avatar is essentially Dune -- Cameron simply replaced the desert planet with a jungle and removed all the depth, complexity and profundity that made Dune the classic science fiction story that it is." --> Beautiful quote from here

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zahid IrfanMarch 9, 2010 at 7:58 AM

    Avatar does not win Oscar Best Movie Award. But the grounds are far different from what above article talked about.

    http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/246956/what-went-wrong-avatar

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 2, 2011 at 6:36 AM

    If you want to say Avatar was ripped from Frank Herbert why are you using the Dune book. The Jesus Incident was about a planet named Pandora. Avatar was blatantly taken from this book.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zahid IrfanDecember 3, 2011 at 8:18 PM

    Thank you very much for your comment. Yes you are correct about the Jesus Incident. Totally agree.

    ReplyDelete

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