TikTok asks if Dune 2’s Paul and Feyd fight is a meet cute

Dune: Part Two is the most important film of the yr thus far, and TikTok has latched onto each facet — from Stilgar attributing every thing as proof that Paul is the messiah to the appreciation for sandworms. The platform boasts a mixture of explainers, jokes, and skits reinterpreting scenes from Dune: Part Two. But one ultimate second between Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen has surprisingly taken off.

As Paul and Feyd sq. off for his or her destined showdown, director Denis Villeneuve retains the tone tense. We’ve already seen each of them kill in chilly blood, and now they’re preventing for the rule of the galaxy. Then Paul says “May thy knife chip and shatter,” and it appears to sort of break Feyd. The Harkonnen scion doesn’t reply straight away, cocking his head barely. Eventually, he repeats the road again, however it’s unclear what he’s feeling as he says it. Is he confused by Paul’s declaration, or is he taking a look at Paul… in another way than earlier than?

Feyd’s response is a good TikTok second, equal elements confused and aroused. In many of those clips, the creator performs each elements, depicting Paul significantly however elevating their eyebrows or biting their lips when it’s time for Feyd’s half. They’re largely coy about it, and mixed with the Feyd/Austin Butler fancams and the “I can fix him” captions, it’s all pushing this bald psychotic babe into the mainstream, together with possibly a potential love for Paul from an ambiguous fight sequence.

But is Butler taking part in Feyd on this scene as being sexually into Paul? It wouldn’t be out of line for a deranged, impassive killer like Feyd to have a utterly inappropriate response to a scenario. Remember what number of instances he slit anyone’s throat all through the film simply because they didn’t full a job accurately? How about when he kissed his uncle? Unfortunately, if we return to the supply materials, his response has a extra mundane clarification.

When Feyd and Paul meet face-to-face for the primary time within the Emperor’s chamber, Paul doesn’t know whether or not he’ll win or lose — Feyd hasn’t appeared in any of his visions and premonitions, and it fills him with worry.

In the climax of the novel, Paul challenges Feyd to a kanly, a strict duel between nice homes, as a symbolic act of revenge on the Harkonnens for his father’s loss of life. That’s the place we get the now well-known line, “May thy knife chip and shatter.” It comes out of nowhere when Chalamet says it in Dune: Part Two — particularly if you don’t bear in mind how the Fremen Janis says it to Paul of their duel on the finish of the primary film — and as a result of it’s a Fremen taunt, Feyd has no thought what it means. How does Feyd really feel about all of this? Unfortunately for individuals who see Butler’s efficiency and assume he now desires to ravage his cousin, his e book ideas are extra about realizing that Paul is a warrior:

“Excitement kindled in him. This was a fight he had dreamed about – man against man, skill against skill with no shields intervening. He could see a way to power opening before him because the Emperor surely would reward whoever killed this troublesome duke. The reward might even be that haughty daughter and a share of the throne.”

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

TikToks about Feyd getting a little fluttery when Paul growls at him don’t essentially have the e book to answer — they’re a response to Chalamet and Butler’s charisma, and the need to see two engaging males kiss. But there’s an irony to Feyd’s response being learn as sexual in any respect. As devoted as Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation is to creator Frank Herbert’s particulars, it properly leaves a lot of the e book’s homophobic stereotyping previously, together with Baron Harkonnen himself. Herbert’s textual content implies that the Baron’s relationship along with his nephew is incestuous, and outright establishes him as a serial molester of adolescent boys.

Then there’s additionally the truth that this is a assembly of the fates; if Paul had been born a woman, because the Bene Gesserit had supposed, he would’ve been married off to Feyd in order that they may reproduce the Kwisatz Haderach. Instead, Lady Jessica had Paul. Paul and Feyd are symbolic parallels within the long-standing Atreides-versus-Harkonnen rivalry, and whereas the Bene Gesserit spend a lot of the e book attempting to make sure Feyd’s genes cross on and that Paul doesn’t grow to be the messiah, this fight is about a lot greater than whether or not they kiss.

The Bene Gesserit failed spectacularly in Dune, letting their very own plans get away from them. But they succeeded in crafting a story that the individuals of Arrakis interpreted as they noticed match. TikTokers are simply doing the identical factor, however with one tense fight scene. While this is yet one more occasion of TikTok flattening the true that means of one thing, it’s largely innocent enjoyable. Plus, with the way in which TikTok works in fandom communities, concepts shall be perpetuated as individuals search to do their very own variations of skits or put a new spin on them. There are additionally loads of TikToks explaining the connection between Paul and Feyd, so it’s not prefer it’ll go utterly unnoticed. Either method, Herbert could be rolling over in his grave if he may see how the web is delivery Paul and Feyd.