Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Gamebird8 t1_j25f0tp wrote

Reply to comment by cruiserman_80 in The 1984 Dune film makes a lot more sense if The Spice is referred to as Space Cocaine instead. by neoengel

Yeah, but the spice is also extremely magical and almost acts as a sort of life source.

There is no real world contemporary analogy for the Spice Melange because it's like 10 things combined.

189

Kazodex t1_j25iiz7 wrote

This is the correct answer. In addition to what the above posters pointed out, melange has a psychedelic effect as well.

Frank Herbert stated that psilocybin had a major effect on his conception of spice

109

Toby_Forrester t1_j25vefc wrote

Yea there's no real world analogue, but still, oil would be better than cocaine, since it corresponds to the role of spice in trade and economics which fuel the politics. The spacing guild uses the psychedelic effects of spice to travel faster than light, making interstellar travel possible = oil makes efficient global travel possible.

And if you think of about a desert world occupied by foreign powers to get their hands on precious resource for trade, it corresponds to Arrakis and Middle East. The Fremen culture of Dune have notable Arabic roots.

38

Ambiorix33 t1_j264met wrote

i mean thats the whole point of the book, he was talking about a desert planet with a rare resource that all the major powers wanted to control but whos extraction directly has a negative effect on the environment (not terraforming because it would ruin the spice harvests).

The analogy for the middle east's oil couldnt be more clear cut

42

Infectedd t1_j26vqkn wrote

I think ultimately Spice is just an analogy for power, in physical form. The Spice always directly equates to power through all the books, but it becomes more explicitly clear in the later ones.

10

dlacono t1_j26w3ci wrote

Heroin and Afghanistan maybe?

2

Ambiorix33 t1_j26ybdo wrote

No super power went to Afghanistan with the main factor being opium though, but what DID happen was multiple super powers invading the middle east for oil, see The Great Loot

7

RiddlingVenus0 t1_j25x4on wrote

That’s not true. Tom Brady exists in the real world.

−6