I agree to an extent. However, on the Star Wars thing, I'm pretty sure we have it on record that Lucas wanted to make a Dune adaptation first, but couldn't get the rights. This led to Star Wars.

It's not an exact copy, but it does share a lot of similarities. It also copies plenty of other sci-fi (and a lot from other storytelling, like it's an almost exact copy of the hero's journey) too though. Lucas was (maybe still is) a great artist, and, as the saying goes, great artists steal from other works.It's obvious to anyone paying attention that there is Dune DNA in Star Wars. It isn't a rip off, but it is taken to be used.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

He wanted to make a Flash Gordon adaptation, not Dune. It shows, too, with Star Wars' aesthetic being heavily inspired by both Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

Narratively, the original trilogy is heavily influenced by pulpy sword-and-sorcery books and comics and Kurosawa's films, but with the twist that it's in space.

Dune, meanwhile, is Hamlet crossed with Lawrence of Arabia in space.

Spice appears in both, except what spice actually does in Star Wars wasn't explored in anything Lucas made and Frank Herbert died before any of the expanded universe existed. There are only three mentions of spice in the entire original trilogy, all in ANH, and those are a bit about Luke believing his father was a navigator on a spice freighter, 3PO mentioning the spice mines of Kessel, and Han having to dump a load of smuggled spice. It's clearly just a shout-out; the spice is just a background reference and doesn't feature in the story. You could replace spice with beanie babies and nothing would change.

What parts of Star Wars do you feel originate from Dune? I've never actually gotten a straight answer and I'm genuinely curious.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

It doesn't have the story of Dune, but it has elements inspired by it. As you mention, Spice. It's just an homage, but that's obvious.

It also has Luke starting on a desert planet, with an emphasis on gathering water. His family is killed, leading to the start of his journey (though this is common in storytelling in general, so it could be from a million other places).

The force has some similarities to the pseudo-magical aspects of Dune, with a heavy focus on meditation and understanding your body and the universe. (Both the Bene Gesserit and Mentats have forms of This. BG are more internal-focused and Mentats external.)

Im sure there's a lot more that could be pointed out. That's just a small list off the top of my head.

Any of it could be argued as coming from any number of sources. After all, Frank Herbert was inspired by other sources to create his world too. The desert planet was inspired by his experience with dunes. The religion and cultural stuff are all inspired by real life religions and cultures. None of it is from nothing.

No one has ever had an original idea. It all comes from other aspects that we absorb in our life. Lucas didn't "rip off" Dune. He certainly borrowed pieces from it though, along with a lot of other media, sci-fi and otherwise.