Dune: Part Two, Part One
There are times when I get really giddy about recording certain episodes of the pod. Often it’s just because I’m hanging out with friends who make me (and hopefully you) laugh when they say something witty. Other times, it’s because of a topic or a movie I hold dear or a scholar whose brain intimidates the crap out of me.
Today was all of those.
Today we recorded on Dune: Part Two with Mary Hicks and Margari Hill. You might know Mary from being on the pod last year when we recorded Master and Commander. You might know her work in the Black Atlantic. She’s certifiably brilliant, working as an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago with a book coming this fall from UNC Press. She’d asked when we did Master if she could have Dune and I eagerly agreed. So I was looking forward to hanging with a friend for a bit.
But along the way Mary forwarded me this piece by Margari Hill and we decided we HAD to talk to her. Go ahead and read it. We’ll wait.
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So it turns out that Margari is ALSO brilliant. She’s is the co-founder and Executive Director of Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC), a human rights education organization. And she may have the most diverse knowledge base of anyone we’ve ever had on the pod. But would we mesh? You never know until you record.
My gosh, folks. YES.
We had one of the best conversations, not only on the pod, but that I’ve ever had, period. And this is the power of the medium. We all loved the film. We all love history. And Mary and Margari KNOW history. So we go on this ride talking about Dune, Star Wars, Star Trek, Pitch Black, northern African history, sub saharan history, Ottoman history, the Middle Ages, Andalucia, heel turns, Zendaya, Orientalism, white savior tropes, romantic betrayals in film…the list goes on.
Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two are pieces of cinema that draw upon history and then help us think about that history and more. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, GO. But the pod, which will be out on Thursday, is built for everyone. We open with a spoiler-free discussion about the historical influences on Dune and how Dune affected the media that followed. Then we jump into a breakdown of the movie. This is the deepest dive we’ve ever done and I knew it when we were recording. Here’s a little taste:
I’m so excited for you to hear this pod.
HATM Sunday night
This Sunday is our sixth annual Oscars watch party. (How is that even possible?) So the timing and channel are a bit different. Join us on ABC at 7pm eastern as we watch and snark through the event. Let me know who you are rooting for. (It better be Godzilla Minus One.)
There’s a lot more news to break for you about upcoming stuff as well as some recaps that I owe you. Stay tuned.
Jason