MovieChat Forums > Kaze no tani no Naushika (1987) Discussion > Frank Herbert's Dune

Frank Herbert's Dune

posted 19 years ago by boxdrone
16 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone else see a bit of similarity between this story and Frank Herbert's Dune? I'm certainly not implying that it's ripped off... a work of this calibre can surely stand on it's own, but I thought there as an interesting amount of similarity.

Nausicaa is like Paul Atredies, who starts off as a Duke, and then fulfills a prophecy and becomes something of a messiah, uniting his people with their environment

The toxic jungle (sea of corruption for you purists) is comparable to the harsh conditions of the planet Dune, in which people have to wear special protective gear & masks when exploring...

The Ohmu are like the sand worms... initially looked upon as monsters, but are later revealed to play an importaint role in the eco system

Both have ecological themes about the relationship between humans and their environment.

There were probably a few more similarities, but I can't think of them right now, and I think I've made my point.

Anyhow, I just thought this was kind of interesting, and wondered if anyone else had the same thoughts.

[–] WQM 19 years ago

I really don't see all <b>that</b> much of a similarity. The themes of the Dune novels and the themes of this film are very, <i>very</i> different. Furthermore, the harsh conditions of Nausicaa's world are the result of humans and Dune is really more about the human mind and psyche than anything else.

[–] sjorrod 19 years ago

Here are some more examples that Nausica is very Dune inspired:

You should think that the people of Valley of the wind and the Pejites are Atrides and that the Torumekians are Harkonnen.

The Torumekians uses like Harkonnen cannons and all kind of destructive weapons like the God Warrior. But the Valley of the Wind lives along with the nature and when the Pejites wants to fight, they send the Ohmus on the Torumekians. Like Paul de Atriedes used sandworms on Harkonnen. And Nausica wants to calm down the Ohmu's and live side by side with them and can also controll them.

Also the Ohmus eyes are red when they are angry and aggressive - red is the color of Harkonnen. And when they are peaceful they are blue like Artriedes.

Nausica is alot like Paul de Artriedes, especially when she and the boy goes down under the forest - down with the fremen in the caves under the desert - and they see that the soil and the water arent polluted there, its "water of life".

I havent really decided who place the role of the Harkonnen traitor the most intressesting character in the Dune plot. Either its the God Warrior, like the Harkonnen Baron tell the Emperor: "I have something more powerful then 1000 of your soldiers (evil laugh)."
Or more likely its the Torumekians princess who despite that Nausica saves her, becomes a traitor when she wants to leave Nausica and the other of her country to certain death in the Wastelands and go on herself in her flyingmachine, threatening them with a gun.

In short Nausica is Studio Ghibli's Dune.

[–] skearns510 19 years ago

....I dunno guys, come on now.

First and foremost, you cannot compare Nausicaa (or any movie) to ANY Dune movie, theres not a single one that does the book justice. So, lets just say that Nausicaa is being compared to the book.
In which case, the only similarities are the desert, and the warring. Which are basically background plot catylists (in Nasicaa). The purpose of Dune is melange, the spice. Everyone wants CONTROL of Arrakis, and ultimately the spice. Very politically driven. Nausicaa is all about peace on earth, and saving the ecosystem. Highly contrasted. Just because a lot of the same elements are there (Sh!t, they're both sci-fi movies anyway) doesnt mean they are connected at all. There is a slight corrolation at best.

I mean even Maud'dib ultimately wanted control of the planet. Sure he was the best for the job, and was clearly looking out for the interest of the planet and the freemen, but thats just because he has his head on straight (he IS the Qwizatz-Haderach...) Nausicaa just wanted peace, shes a little hippy.

Its easy to draw corrolations between these two stories, but a direct connection is like saying: "A League of their own" is connected to "Bad News Bears"

Ya dig?

[–] typhoon353 19 years ago

Hayao Miyazaki did credit Dune to having partly inspired some aspects of Nausicaa, the Ohmu especially.

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/nausicaa/faq.html#ohmu

"According to Miyazaki, the sound "Ohmu" came from "Oh Mushi" (king insect), "Ohkii Mushi" (large insect), "Sando Uomu" (Japanese pronunciation of "Sand Worm" from "Dune"), "Aum" in Buddhist belief (no, he didn't get it from the Aum Shinrikyo cult), and others."

http://www.imasy.or.jp/~fukumoto/n/nshow.cgi?28955

"In an interview reprinted in Tokuma Shoten's 'Shuppatsuten
(Starting Point) 1979-1996' (1996), p544, Miyazaki mentioned the word
was partly derived from Dune's 'Sando Waamu.' This is how the phrase
appeared in Tokuma's book, though the Japanese 'Dune' translation
expresses it as 'Sando Uomu.'"

There's been hundreds of essays discussing similarities between the two works.

http://www.oomu.org/documents/ndune.txt

[–] lostletters-1 19 years ago

Actually it is a BIT more complex then this, especially when you are comparing the Dune novel and the Nausicaa graphic novels.

While both Dune and Nausicaa are Messiac tales, there are KEY differences between the two stories.

They are also trying to accomplish to very different ends. Dune is largely a precautionary tale about oil (oil is spice). Nausicaa is a precautionary tale about the role of human life on the natural world.

While both stories have heavy commentary on imperialism, the nature of power, ecology and messiac prophecies.

Nausicaa and Dune are both VERY important to fantasy and sci-fi because they represent a shift away from hard science fiction, or even asimov style social science fiction, and towards a political science fiction, where science part takes on a very differant role and religion and politics play a much larger role in the stories makeup. If there is any similarity between the two it is that. Additionally, Nausicaa could be argued equally as a fantasy novel, largely because of the fact the work has been much more influential in shifting fantasy away from a Tolkienesq mold and into a more modern architype. It was a large influence on Gaiman writing the sandman graphic novels, and others in the new british fantasy movement and the Japanese high-fantasy movement (which blends science fiction and fantasy).

[–] creamy-horror 18 years ago

Neat analysis there, thanks for that.

[–] Kinematico 17 years ago

to the OP, you just nailed it! When I was watching Nausicaä, immediately came to my mind images from Frank Herbert's "Dune". I dunno how influenced was Miyazaki by "Dune" but there are some images quite similar: like the Ohmu and the worms and the presence of a messianic figure both in Dune and Nausicaä, etc. I won't tell more because you guys have said it better.

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well I have others

[–] dune-12 18 years ago

I do agree with you .

In both , there is a hero that will unite the people "by different means though" and the worms are almost equals to the "(ohmu) (gorgons)"and yes ... the endless wars , add a feudal system and you have many similarities but donot forget ... almost every films have similarities ... Ex.:a hero , a vilain , allies etc. etc.

but i agree , to my eyes , these two are verry simillar , but not everybody see's it that way and for good reason because the locations , technologies ,characters are all different ,i gues that it depends on what cought your attention on these to movies/anime .

But who cares he ?these two movies/anime are great masterpieces , dont you agree ?

[–] ChibaCityBlues 18 years ago

I agree. "Dune" is a classic, and the book as well (the miniseries sucked, though...). "Nausicaa" was good, too.

(Spoilers)

But there are some major differences, indeed. For instance, the villains in "Nausicaa" are just out to stop the poisoned forest from destroying everyone. The villains in "Dune", the Harkonnens, are out to take control of the spice, melange, and to nuke House Atreides.

But Nausicaa and Paul Atreides are indeed similar. They are both prophecized to be saviors, and they both want to avoid war, Nausicaa wanting peace between the supernations, and Paul wanting to prevent the massive jihad that the Fremen are prophecized to unleash upon the galaxy. And the sandworms (a. k. a. Shai-hulud) and the Ohms are similar to each other, due to their importance to the worlds they are from.

Long live the fighters! ; )

"We are just too pretty for God to let us die." ~Mal Reynolds, "Firefly".

[–] Draykov 18 years ago

In regard to the Ohmu and the "Toxic Jungle" in particular, I was reminded of the first Dune novel. And the comparison of Nausicaa to Paul is pretty fair. I wonder how "fox-squirrel" translates in Fremen... :)

[–] ChibaCityBlues 18 years ago

Probably "Muad'dib" ; ).

"We are just too pretty for God to let us die." ~Mal Reynolds, "Firefly".

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Victor_Pompouspants 17 years ago

It was definitely Dune-inspired. I saw that from the opening scenes. That's okay though. What Miyazaki does with it is his own thing.

Pavlova

[–] TalesfromTheCryptfan 14 years ago

I'm a huge fan of the novels and i think this is the TRUE 1984 Sci-fi fantasy epic that David Lynch's turd of an adaptation should have been. It's more grand and less disgusting and poorly made than that movie, Miyazaki is a fan of Herbert's novels and i love how he paid respect and tribute to them.

"Here's My Invitation"-True Lies.

[–] Bob_Brooker 10 years ago

I was also reminded of Dune mostly because of the ohmu/sandworm similarity.

__________
Last movie watched: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (8/10)

[–] boogles 9 years ago

I have just watched it. Yes, I was struck by the similarity of some aspects of Dune : the gliders, desert locations, the ohmu/sandworm, the ecology theme, war tribes, etc. I'm not saying it copied Dune - just it was very similar.