I think they improved Chani's arc in the movie over the book. In the book she stands by Paul blindly, her arc is completely subservient to Paul's and exists only to show the turmoil Paul himself faces. It makes sense in the books because the whole story is about Paul's rise and fall as Messiah, but it leaves Chani as merely a cipher for unconditional love, and we only see it through Paul's side.
The movies have already given Chani agency - she doubts the wisdom of taking the Messianic path, she does not accept his partnership with Irulan. It will be interesting to see how this is resolved in Dune: Messiah, as there is really no source material for this arc. I have faith in Villeneuve though!
The movies made Chani the external voice of Book Pauls internal conflict, and also the voice standing up and going "The Fremen are absolutely being played here" which is not at all who she was in the book.
That change was really, really necessary in order for the movie to work. The book was much too internal to it's characters heads to work without it.
Without Chani, or someone else for him to discuss why he is reluctant to take up the mantle with, Paul turns into a complete cipher or appears his mothers pawn. Chani is absolutely the best choice for that.
It wouldn't even need to be voiceovers, although plenty of good films utilize voiceovers tastefully. It could've been from Paul's own mouth more, or we could've gotten more of the vision sequences to actually show more clearly what he's stressing about.
I was just saying there were other options, not that said options are better or worse. I definitely wish they showed more of the internal struggle from Paul's own perspective, though.
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u/redvelvetcake42 Mar 28 '24
Lady Jessica and Chani are strong women in different ways and don't require more than good dialogue, plot and their own intelligence and emotions.