Why Dune Needed More Sweat

I loved Dune, but one thing about it irked me. On a planet where sweat is so crucial to survival, why do we see so little of it? Let's take a look at how Dune's implementation of sweat alters the emotional feeling of the story, the planet, and the characters.
Twitter: / jacknugent27
Patreon: / nowyouseeit

[@angstygoblinentertainment1097]

#releasethesweatycut

[@Alixdkari]

haha didn't need to read this sentence, but thanks

[@markant9534]

That sounds rude.

[@alexanderford3831]

As a person who moved from Arboreal Michigan to the desert of Las Vegas, NV, I can honestly say that the dry air in summer will evaporate sweat instantly, and leave behind intense salt deposits on skin and clothes. It was like moving to an oven with no humidity whatsoever. The lenses and frequent night scenes gave Dune a coolness that betrayed a very bright, very hot landscape. There weren't even visible waves of heat on the horizon, and no one wore eye protection, which is kind of a nitpick after living under the desert sun for almost two decades.

[@j.f.l.bousquet1998]

Tuaregs have been living in the Sahara desert for centuries. Have you ever seen one wearing sunglasses? Nope, they don't need that.

[@PresidentialWinner]

@@j.f.l.bousquet1998 Yet there are ancient peoples who have used snow goggles for thousands of years. They are a type of eyewear traditionally used by the Inuit and the Yupik peoples of the Arctic to prevent snow blindness. If you spend hours in the brilliant sun, you risk snow blindness, a sunburn on your cornea from reflected ultraviolet light. I'm sure they have had something similar in the desert environment/biome in ancient times.

[@HierophanticRose]

@@PresidentialWinner Snow burn is real dangerous, and because it shines from downward direction in the reflection directly into our eyes, I can see how it would be very useful.

[@CassiusGreen]

I remember only one scene with visible waves of heat which was the palm tree one. Which led to me to think about it for the rest of the movie cause it was the only scene in which we saw any.

[@pierrecarles2390]

Good point, which I was about to make: anyone who has actually hiked in a desert knows that you do not feel sweat. You certainly DO sweat, as in “water evaporates from your pores”, but the process is too fast to allow for liquid water to linger on your skin: it remains dry at all times, which is why dehydration is so dangerous in deserts: you do not feel it coming ! Now, this is about the “science” of it, and in this respect the movie Dune is quite realistic. However, being a work of art, I understand the potential dramatic need of sweat here and there in the movie, which is an entirely different question.

[@kroee]

It's a dry heat, sweat evaporates immediately. The actors should appear blushed, though.

[@DavidBaatzsch]

Yes but we associate heat with sweat so even if "realisticly" they still shouldn't sweat in extreme heat (according to your statement), seeing them sweat would emphasize the hot environment+tension they're into. It's crazy how they dryness of the actors absolutely bothered me watching this film but never got to realize it

[@2close4missiles88]

You can logic your way out of all kinds of great storytelling

[@chadwicktouchdown]

I think that's why he brought up the inconsistency of sweat in the film, the fact that certain characters in the same scene are sweating means there was intentional thought put into it.

[@emersendraney5297]

I grew up in AZ and I can assure you sweat does not evaporate immediately...

[@cchavezjr7]

@@emersendraney5297 same here, sweat running into your eyes while working or playing games outdoors is miserable.

[@metroidsuperfan17]

"In dry climate the sweat generally gets evaporated, without wetting the skin surface)." Arrakis' air is dry, so sweat is only reserved for the pain box and when melange addiction triggers Paul's prescience.

[@trueromani7262]

Exactly. Sweat gets evaporated quick. Bro I live in the middle east, and I have no idea what class divide or bullshit he is spouting.

[@metroidsuperfan17]

@@trueromani7262 Dune is a story all about aristocratic power, divine right, and colonialism. Oppression of the fremen and arrakeen workers who create the value of spice (like indigenous knowledge of furs, tobacco, and actual spices exploited by european powers) by is a central theme of the novels, so inequality is ever present in the stories. it's just that are in-world reasons not everyone sweats, namely climate and stillsuits.

[@trueromani7262]

@@metroidsuperfan17 lol no, frank herbert himself has made the concept of the books clear: it is about faulty leaders and messiahs. The atreides are not a colonial power trying to subjugate the fremen. The atreides are noble and want to form aliance with the natives. Paul is on the route of the jihad where the so-called oppressed become the opressors. Now where have we heard that? Right, the french revolution.

[@metroidsuperfan17]

@@trueromani7262 bruh its about spice

[@cullenkendrick5663]

Just because something is realistic doesn’t mean that is cinematic

[@theoneandonlyjs19]

Huh, now I realise it - I got almost no feeling that Arakkis was HOT during the whole movie

[@PedroRodriguez-kg4bq]

That could also be because there were so many shots of them all outside midday sun when the fremen avoid daylight sun at all costs

[@horace6851]

I was thinking that they were all so pale. When you're hot you looked flushed. I didn't realize the sweat was missing. But you're right it never felt hot.

[@jukaa1012]

This part of the book, and consequentially this movie, were not about that at all. The second Movie will go more into it.

[@thesmilingmercenary937]

Just really windy.

[@beast_boy97]

Now You See It!

[@donny1960]

The air on dune is so dry that sweat would evaporate instantly. The sweat is captured IN the Still Suit. So there would be very little visible sweat on Dune. Just like the movie portrayed.

[@shushunk00]

what about the slaves they did sweat, as also shown in this video too

[@16CharlyV]

I loved Dune. And I also love seeing criticism of the things I like from the point of view of someone analyzing the syntax of the medium these things are painted on. Really most of the criticism of Dune falls on the side of "its boring", "its slow", " its not epic" blah blah blah. But you really nail a good point (and even funny but not less important because of that). These kind of analysis really keep the discussion smart, interesting and curious. Congratulations!

[@billysinge8977]

As someone who used to live in Phoenix, AZ, the desert heat is very dry, meaning that sweat evaporates within seconds. Sweat occurs more in jungles or other hot places with high humidity, not in deserts.

[@cchavezjr7]

I live in the same desert and you honestly can say you never had sweat run into your eyes? Have you ever seen anyone come from up north and get out of an airplane in Phoenix? The first thing they do is wince and hold their hands up over their eyes. Nobody in this movie acted like there was any discomfort or heat at all.

[@gil2066]

we sweat less in low humidity. dune maybe need more cracked lips to show the dryness.

[@SupremacySinema]

I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought this. Still loved the shit out of the movie tho

[@luquillasnano]

I honestly thought this would be another unnecessary spotted nuance on the last fashion movie to justify an old school video essay, but you got me there with that plethora of sweat in movies. I almost even forget the role it played in Do the right thing. So thanks for the effort collecting and analyzing all of this.

[@gutar5675]

I agree that they should have made more of an effort to make Arrakis look HOT because it was a big part of the first book and the culture of the Fremen. However, a dry desert heat doesn't necessarily cause as much sweat as a more humid environment does. Arrakis is also not just a normal desert, it would likely be so hot there that sweat is evaporated almost as soon as it starts. Sweating also happens much more when you are well-hydrated, which even the house of Atreides would not be on Arrakis. They have to have special suits to capture the sweat and recycle it for drinking water. Water is so starved on this planet that it's a big thing to the Fremen if someone sheds a single tear. Having everyone sweating at all times would almost be counter to what Dune is. The Fremen would certainly all see it as incredibly wasteful

[@AnnoyingMoose]

In Total Recall a single drop of sweat was enough to let Douglas Quaid know that the man standing in front of him was real and under real stress (therefore lying to him) not just an image inserted into his mind.

[@tayz555]

I agree with this a lot. I've either lived in Albuquerque or Phoenix, my whole life. Phoenix is obviously hotter at 110+ during the summer and 100+ for half the year. I see a lot of people saying your sweat dries up fast, but I feel like one that ignores sweat that soaks into your clothes immediately which can be very visible. Also when you come back in from the outside you're usually sweating a lot more visibly since it's cooler and more humid which usually continues for like 10 minutes until your body stops. Also if you're hydrated you usually do see sweat on people's faces, even as it evaporates since more sweat is being made. Not sweating can be a warning of oncoming heat stroke-due to lack of hydration and buildup of heat in body. I think also that they don't seem to be reacting to the heat that much, like keeping their layers on and not looking particularly uncomfortable makes the message of the Atreides having trouble adjusting to the ways of the Fermin less obvious.

[@GrandHighGamer]

Outside of very early on, most of the scenes in the outside are at night or wearing a still suit. Their sweat is being recycled. With the thick military regalia you wouldn't notice if they were sweating anyway. Presumably the interiors are cooled.

[@cchavezjr7]

I grew up just west of Phoenix and sweat running in the eyes and getting the clothes wet is how it is. The people who say how sweat instantly evaporates are just trying to make a validation for the movie. I'd like to see someone come from up north in the summer and come stand outside for 5 minutes when it's 120 degrees and then compare that to how the Atreides look when walking around Dune, or Paul in the courtyard.

[@LifeOutward]

Don't ever lure me into a video with a thumbnail of sweaty Timothee again, how dare you

[@qwertyTRiG]

It worked on me too!

[@DurianKing]

Thermogenic Anhidrosis. You don't sweat in the desert. You sweat only when there are moisture in the air.

[@NowYouSeeIt]

True, but movies are not bound by the laws of thermodynamics! We see lots of sweat in dry climates in Star Wars and Sergio Leone movies. Fun fact -- The Force Awakens and Dune were filmed in the same desert in Jordan

[@DurianKing]

@@NowYouSeeIt Have you seen the movie 127 Hours? Franco got so dry, my own saliva dried up watching the movie. By the end of the movie when he drank from the dirty puddle, it was freaking satisfying. I think for people who experienced dry heat in their lives, they appreciate the realism. If you sweat in the desert, it means you're overhydrated and can stand to waste some in sweat.

[@OlleForsberg]

@@DurianKing At least Paul's lips should crack from the dry air and heat.

[@DurianKing]

@@OlleForsberg not if he's wearing stillsuits that preserve the body's moisture.

[@OlleForsberg]

@@DurianKing Yeah, but for a good portion of the middle after the attack, they don't have still suits.

[@KSE370]

Man, this is the most interesting video about sweat I've ever seen.

[@gabrielsantiago3553]

Great video and analyses. But maybe the lack of sweat in Dune is due to the dryness of the planet. Dune is a huge desert, so its not only hot, but also dry. The desert dryness + Paul's Bene Gesserit control over his feelings would result on that. It would be coherent in a way, i guess. But, of course, we don't notice distress visually. Pros and cons

[@WanJae42]

I agree. I would only add that the Bene Gesserit methods give him control of his feelings and his body!

[@gabrielsantiago3553]

@@WanJae42 good point

[@sharkprisoner1909]

I get the Bene gesserit but dryness doesn’t really affect sweating, Arizona with its famous dry heat has people sweating constantly. If anything I would think that’d just add even more sweat to balance it out, unless Paul is severely dehydrated. Great point though with his abilities, never crossed my mind. If he has so much control over other things why wouldn’t he on sweat. Also the suits recycle sweat so maybe they’re just really efficient and we don’t even see it

[@AndersonMallonyMALLONY-EricCF]

paçoca

[@carlosdlguerra]

This is part of one my criticisms of the movie , which is that the movie tells me you can be on the desert for 2 hours without a stillsuit, but I don’t FEEL like the characters needed them. And sweat would aid at that

[@20storiesunder]

When the humidity is non existence sweat wouldn't even have time to form on your skin, it would just evaporate instantly.

[@wen1746]

I agree! Sweat would've helped. There are other ways to show heat, as well. But the movie does seldom to show it. I thought it was a poor choice on the director's part not to make an effort to show the heat which he also chose to hype up earlier in the movie.

[@adityaparmar6433]

After 2 hrs 40 mins of Dune I had to finish my whole water bottle and drank 3-4 glasses on returning home. All the same time it was freezing cold in the theatre. So I guess yeah, the really sold the feeling of Arrakis to me. And that's why it's a great film to me

[@jhonbus]

Might wanna get checked for diabetes!

[@raff1944]

in alien, even though it’s not technically sweat, the androids milk/sweat/blood is a great example of inhuman sweat, incredibly eerie to me

[@chestersnap]

Yeah, it's weird when they're having a weather report saying it's 110 currently with a high of 140 and it'll be 130 in like 15 minutes (I don't remember the specific numbers) and then you have Paul in a thick black long sleeved uniform without a hat on just perfectly dry

[@billysinge8977]

It’s a dry heat, so there’s no sweat.

[@beepbop6542]

It's a stillsuit, which covers the whole body so that it can stay trap the cold and collect sweat (think of a thermos you might use to keep your water cool on a hot day). Also, surprisingly, many hot places have surprisingly long clothes. In Arabia, which Arrakis is based on, people where long, flowing, often black or white clothes to keep the sun off their skin. In the books they wear helmets, but the movie doesn't have any helmets or hats because it disrupts the facial expressions and visual story telling that movies need.

[@sp1194]

paul wasnt sweaty talking to the palm tree guy because he was probably inside before the scene. he wasnt sweaty leaving the tent because he probably dried himself off before they left

[@scottbrown2252]

Gotta disagree. I live and exercise in the desert and I don't have much visible sweat until I'm back indoors where there's moisture in the air. On the other hand, I used to live in a more humid climate and might have beads of sweat everywhere just walking around. Standing sweat happens in jungles, not deserts.

[@Sirmenonottwo]

You are sweating you just don't feel it because you're skin and sweat is hot. When you go inside the AC cools down your sweat before your skin and you feel that.

[@VanceJRM]

While I do love this video and the way it educated me on how sweat is used in films, I do have a nitpicky thing about characters not sweating in Dune: Isn't the whole point that they're NOT supposed to go out when it's hot? Especially when Paul and Jessica are out in the open desert, we don't see them when the sun is high. We see them during dusk, night and dawn. Desert nights can get pretty cold, with an average of 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, the characters shouldn't be sweating all too often. That being said, with the importance of their stilsuits and how it recycles sweat into drinking water, it would have been cool to see that process.

[@TheMajorStranger]

You seem to miss the point that on Arrakis, sweating is losing precious water so everything is focused toward sweating the least amount of water.

[@stupididiot6993]

Is this a joke?

[@ThouArtEverywhereAndNowhere]

Sweat is recycled in the suits

[@chestersnap]

You seem to miss that the Atreides family is doing absolutely nothing to conserve water at the start. That was kind of the point of the scene of the palm trees. They use water on non-native plants to flex their wealth. And the clothing they're wearing wouldn't reduce sweating, it would increase it. They should be sweating. And even later, while the stillsuits do help keep them cool, they don't wear them when they're inside their sietch.

[@mezalos]

This is why I love this channel, makes you think about the little details.

[@m.hreels9822]

Man I absolutely love your video essays I really wish you uploaded more often!

[@y.a.pthered]

Truly peak youtube video essay

[@mikadenke9102]

It’s really obvious you didn’t read the book.

[@locoben400]

Highly dry regions sweat is absorbed into the atmosphere very quickly. I've had friends stationed in Afghanistan who after showering would be dry in just a couple minutes because the moisture was so quickly absorbed into the air.

[@haughtygarbage5848]

I will need several showers now

[@doylelacrua]

Dune was overall just too easy to swallow. They would talk about how brutal the Harkonnen were but then would cut away during the brutality. The scariest thing the Baron did was eat food. Hell, I do that shit every day.

[@zavadajanos]

I like these videos because it encourages the audience to actually think about the things they see in movies, even when they are as small as sweat

[@LiraeNoir]

FIrst, insanely dry heat. Second, some major characters have Bene Gesserit training, or other extreme (as in, impossible today) mental or physical training. Remember that Jessica for example control her physiology enough to select the sex of her babies. Maybe there's some inconsistencies, I would have to re-watch the movie. But you can remove a lot of major characters from that analysis, especially Paul who is both a Mentat and had deep Bene Gesserit training, and is (well, will be) the bringer of the one and an almost end product of the genetic breeding program. Yes the movie doesn't spell all of that out. Yet. So?

[@SuperpopeGaming]

Surprised to not see a single shot from Top Gun - the most inexplicably sweaty movie I’ve ever seen.

[@newq]

Nitpick, but when you said the line about inhabitants of Arrakis needing to recycle their own sweat to survive, you showed an image of the desert mouse drinking beads of moisture from its ears. It's not drinking its own sweat in that shot. It's actually drinking dew which it collects using its own ears. It's described this way in the novel, but also that species is from Earth and actually exists here where it does exactly this. Again, this is a nitpick.

[@ManofReason]

You acknowledged that it would be a deliberate choice for the lack of sweat, but never tried to think about what that choice was. Denis Villeneuve has earned enough clout for us, as an audience, to be aware that certain choices in his films are indeed deliberate and have a reason to them. It would be common sense to say "This is a hot Planet. The characters should be sweating." If they're not, then why? This could be considered as an oversight, especially for less experienced film makers, but for someone like Villeneuve...He would have meant for a lack of sweat.

[@princessthyemis]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but this is an excellent point! Also, I consciously had no idea that sweat was associated with stress, but it makes sense now that I think about it. Last Sunday I had an anxiety attack and was sweating a LOT.

[@slocumjoecoffeebro4026]

I can see why there isn’t a lot of sweat in Dune. For Paul, i imagine it’s because of his Bene Gesserit training. You even made of point of this as the only times he does sweat is when the Gom Jabber is held to his neck and when he is hallucinating, two things his training couldn’t really prepare him for. And for the Fremen, their body’s have adapted to release as little moisture as possible.

[@oscarfriberg7661]

One scene with sweat I like is the first close up of Arnolds face in Terminator. He's all sweaty, which is weird considering he's a robot. He shouldn't sweat. Later in the film Kyle Reese points out that newer versions of terminators are so hard to spot because they're sweating.

[@sockpuppet57]

Dune (2021) 3.5 stars: not enough sweat

[@MrJamesC]

"Hey, Mr. Krabs is getting all sweaty again!"

[@lilangel3034]

I understand you're point of view, but thinking of it in the context of the story, I'm not sure I completely agree. Paul's lack of sweat could be due to a lot of things. One, as he is trained to be a Bene Gesserit, he's learned to control his physiology, to point that assimilating the planet's heat isn't too difficult - I don't recall Paul or his family ever complaining about the heat in the books. It was more of not understanding and being confronted with the subjective value of water. Secondly, as someone who grew up in a tropical environment, my body's perception of how hot it needs for me to begin sweating is different from someone who grew in a colder climate, and vice versa. Not to mention, once their wearing still-suits, their bodies' sweat is being recycled, so I don't think that the of lack it, was an oversight.

[@Lancaster22]

Maybe Paul isn’t sweating and the other character is because he’s been outside for an extended period…?

[@gil2066]

"blood, sweat and tears". yeah those are very important things for the fremen.

[@KrulKrulSprietSpriet]

I love it that everyone sat in the theatres in awe except you. You where like, where is the sweat! Love it! :)

[@thezoid.withfreaky6204]

unrelated to the movie but I read somewhere that most Hollywood stars go through a medical procedure that kills the sweat glands in their armpits, which makes it impossible for them to have that uncomfortably, distracting sweaty underarm patch most of us regular people can have sometimes. Apparently the reason behind this is that they don't want to 'ruin' the optics of their glamorous outfits when they raise their arms to wave at red carpet events. I'm not sure how legit this is though, it just felt to me like an interesting thing to throw out there and maybe ponder about

[@QuestionableLogic_]

Why Now You See It Needs More Subscribers

[@xChikyx]

my lizard brain associates sweat with heat, not stress hahah

[@NowYouSeeIt]

Even with George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life? Stress seems to trump heat in his sweaty case

[@xChikyx]

@@NowYouSeeIt well, most of the times hahaha but if I see someone sweating with no context... ahhaah

[@NowYouSeeIt]

Ok honestly fair enough, I'm not seeing a sweaty dude on a hot day and thinking they're stressed out lol. But I think in movies we definitely read way more into a character's physiology. It's like when someone coughs. In real life people cough all the time, but in a movie? Death sentence!

[@xChikyx]

@@NowYouSeeIt true, in movies everything is intended 🤔🤔🤔 everything has meaning

[@Psycho-Complex]

Lizards don't sweat silly.

[@MultiMicals]

This is a great detail that I actually noticed while watching the film i never thought of the planet as a hot one because of lack of sweat and I actually remember asking myself "why are they so at ease when being in the desert?"

[@SilverFoxSpirit97]

I get everyone in the comments saying that, in a real life desert like say Arizona, the heat is actually very dry and causes sweat to evaporate quickly, making you stay dry too, but I'd like to counter that. In film making, and media in general, being accurate to real life isn't necessarily as important as *feeling* real. I completely agree with NYSI that Dune probably should have been sweatier because, as much as they kept saying how hostile and hot Arrakis was, I didn't really feel that as a viewer. It felt like I just, forgot how hot it was most of the time, if they were sweating more I wouldn't have that problem. As it stands the only real danger I felt from the planet itself was the worms. Also, just as an added point, they have to be sweating on Arrakis quite a bit considering its literally a vital part of how they stay alive in that climate

[@TKGPYT]

In the first season or two of Dexter all the characters were just constantly sweating and soaking through their clothes. It gave it a very grimy, low-budget feel (in a good way), but for whatever reason they very noticeably stopped after a while and I think that's a shame. Maybe the actors got tired of being gross all the time.

[@GrandHighGamer]

If it was filmed somewhere hot, the actors were probably also genuinely just sweating in the heat.

[@timothywelke2047]

I need to watch it again, but didn't they generally avoid the midday sun?

[@alvins.4775]

This is a video about the use of sweat in cinema and it's amazing.

[@TheDutchRiposte]

Do you sweat? Prince Andrew: *stops sweating nervously*

[@anotsofunfirl]

I completely agree. I'm finishing the book and realize how many subtle juxtaposition are lost in the film. Not only in regards to about the House's tensions regarding the impending betrayal. But the essential role of water in Arrakis, it could have be specially used to juxtapose between the Atraides family and the Fremen when it comes to understanding Arrakis as their home. Where Paul's sweet could by reduced by time, as he is expecting his father death but also comes to understand his role in Arrakis as Muad'Dib.

[@chadballsac]

Never even clocked that in the Matrix - great work man!

[@happyMOO5]

"Are you okay? 'Cause you're sweating pretty profusely." -Along Came Polly

[@gtoadinator4102]

Just saw it for the second time yesterday!

[@cchavezjr7]

I've grown up in the Sonora desert and worked outdoors in it most of my life. Sweat does not just instantly evaporate like some are saying. Also, whenever people fly in from up north, you can physically you can see them wince, raise their hands when they feel 120 degree weather for the first time. This movie felt like everyone was in a climate controlled studio and the heat had no effect in this movie. The heat is a main part of this book. Also, the whitish atmosphere of the sky is more or less how it looks in the winter and when it's cooler in my experiences. Paul just standing out in the courtyard after the movie talks about how dangerous the heat is made no sense.

[@sirramshacklemakeshift2782]

The sweat must flow!

[@HarryRobins]

I always sweat a lot, even in super cold weather - and that gets so much more annoying because the sweat just freezes, so I end up just feeling super cold while sweating

[@bgezal]

Not only blood, sweat, and tears. But blood, toil, sweat, and tears.

[@Breezey357]

I didn't pick up on the lack of sweat when I watched it, my nitpick was that none of the newcomers looked sunburned- I'm sure there was some techno-uv protection in the book, but these ppl were coming from space Scotland, even incidental sun exposure should've given them nasty burns.

[@radonradonite]

'when in reality the house had trouble adjusting to the harsh environment of arrakis' um, guys... should we tell him?

[@blackparadoxx9656]

I don’t sweat, I perspire….like a boss!!

[@misseimear]

i wanted to see the poopy peepee stillsuit stuff RELEASE THE EXCREMENT RECYCLING CUT DENIS

[@vanforsman]

Not everyone sweats. My roommate in college had a skin disorder that prevented her from sweating-it made even slight hot environments very dangerous and ac in summer a safety item...even in Michigan. Also, Missed a great opportunity to say blood, tears...and sweat!

[@WanJae42]

I assume by the year 10,000, Sweat Block (aluminium chloride ) will be easily available to royalty. The Bene Gesserit control of the body. The dry atmosphere of Arrakis. It worked for me. Stillsuits have so little to collect ... most consistently moisture from exhalation. But I appreciate the filmmaking analysis, and will better observe how sweat is used in film in the future.

[@restlessfrager]

I fucking love this channel.

[@alexh1687]

Whiplash. That sweat on the ending drum sequence... man.

[@gracefool]

How can you miss the importance of water in Dune? The Fremen are totally obsessed with water as the key to survival. Sweaty characters would destroy it.

[@roman9509]

You will not see sweat beads in very hot and DRY weather. So no, no sweat.

[@Wookien]

I really missed the heatwaves. Should be everywhere. I also thought about the lack of sweat, but others explain that it's dry heat something, so I guess that's fine

[@theisenchristophe5123]

I do think that you are right in some way. The viewer loses a sense for heat. But it is also the lack of sweat that helps to lift up Dune from a lot of other movies. Most Movies are sweaty and even if the characters skins should look a lot more sticky, it ads to the visual language of the film. And it is probably one of the best looking films i've seen, they mastered the colorpalette on this one. Making them look sticky would make a whole other movie as you said. I like it just the way it is. Very interesting topic though, who else but you thinks about that when watching a movie

[@PrettyXXEmpty]

I don’t know why, but I personally felt uncomfortable for the characters during the entire movie cause they always had so many layers of clothing, which did not look much breathable for such weather.

[@Contributron]

I just imagine that they have very breathable clothes in the future.

[@Dk._]

Another desert dweller chiming in to say that nothing in this film felt incorrect or unnatural to me in terms of living in a dry hot desert, other than a lack of sunburns or chapped lips. But maybe the distance and angle to Arrakis’ nearest star can affect the sunburn thing. As several others have pointed out, 90 seconds outside in long sleeves without sweat while the guy laboring for a while is sweating, characters being outside during dawn/dusk/morning/evening in the wind and shade without looking wet- all very believable scenarios. Especially when we factor in the Sci fi concept of a stilsuit. Also, this was filmed in an actual hot dry desert. These actors are really out there in the dry heat. That’s what it actually looks like. Strange to expect what is not naturally already there. As for the use of sweat symbolically, you give great examples and justification for its use in the video, but for this particular adaptation, the device would be inappropriate. In the deep desert, these characters are already demonstrating what would be considered “poor water discipline” by exposing their faces so much, but of course a film cannot hide their faces too much. After already making that huge compromise for the film, if we now expect the director to add what is not there, (neither in reality nor the source material) to “make it more real” to average audiences who are unfamiliar with desert life or the book, then Villeneuve would now be adding an unnecessary violation of the narrative, and would make his characters look like wasteful fools within the logic and lore of the story. Great video, even though I strongly disagree. It’s a common complaint I see online, but I think Villeneuve made the correct choices here.

[@theWildman616]

It should also be noted that Bene Gesserit training actually does give you control over your sweating response (among many, many other physical responses that you shouldn't be able to control) So Jessica and Paul shouldn only ever sweat by choice, but all the rest of them should be running around with pit stains and chugging water every time they go outside

[@LynnHermione]

If you are sweating you are wasting moisture. Stillsuits are designed to capture it and recycle it.

[@artemisjace3782]

I did notice that the planet doesn't feel hot. I just couldn't find the reason why I had this feeling. It's clearer now.

[@markant9534]

Cause the movie is cold.

[@wen1746]

Good video essay, thank you! I agree about the sweat aspect, and personally I think this is just part of a larger process of "sanitization", where most stuff looks too clean cut and in order. It's not necessarily a bad choice but one that makes a supposedly harsh environment seem too orderly, even "tame." As an example, the lack of white-skinned characters pinking or tanning in the sun (once they're constantly exposed) also takes away from that feeling, imo. It just doesn't *feel* like a harsh environment for the invaders. There's more than one way to do it - like people worrying about their water reserves. But there's very little to really show it.

[@n-silvabts9178]

Well, where I live is hot but not humid. So, we don't sweat that much. Sometimes, I'm dying by he hot weather but not sweating. Dune doesn't have humidity at all. So, I didn't find the characters' dry skin weird at all. But I get what you mean. Good analysis.

[@mwosound]

This video is perfect. Thank you.

[@RaimarLunardi]

is it really hot? I don't remember they saying it was very hot, mostly very dry, which makes sweat evaporate very fast!

[@emagotis]

This is a important lesson in visual story telling. Maybe games would highly profit from it when they would incorporate his in they mechanics and/or cinematics.

[@Psycho-Complex]

You should have made the video more specifically on sweat in film. Dune was fine the way it was and I'm sure we'll see more sweat in the sequel. 8)

[@freyaschuler6514]

I'm completely with you if they whanted to portrait the beyond human control jessica and paul have, they should have the other atreides be more sweaty that would have also shown their diffrent type more after all Jessica is also close being "perfect" in their mad eugenics based idea.

[@freyaschuler6514]

they should then also added the drawback like overheating.

[@rezjr789]

Great closer! Blood, sweat, and tears 👏

[@FlesHBoX]

The only reason I disagree with this to some extent is that it is a core part of the story that the stillsuits reduce moisture loss to sweat to almost nothing. So at least for the shots of people in a stillsuit, having them visibly sweating would be wrong. There's a point to be made for when they aren't in a stillsuit, but definitely when they are, sweating visibly would demean the entire purpose of them wearing it. And for the non-stillsuit shots, we have to remember that Arakis isn't just hot... it's dry. Dry is the top descriptor of the planet. I've always felt like a lot of films way overuse sweat to an unnatural level. The dryest I've ever felt was cycling in 90F+ heat.

[@FlesHBoX]

I am also fairly certain that it was a deliberate choice not to have people sweating buckets in the desert, to emphasise just how dry arakis is. You're focusing on how it doesn't seem hot enough, but Arakis isn't a hot planet. Sure it gets hot, but it is a DRY planet, and everything about this movie sells that. There is no moisture on screen, except when it is being wasted or recovered, because it is precious. It's like, THE thing about Arakis.

[@gutar5675]

On a dry desert planet like Arrakis, sweat would evaporate before it even wets your skin. You also sweat much less when dehydrated and much less in dry heat than in humid areas. The man in this video is fit to talk about movies, but he is clearly not a scientist.

[@FlesHBoX]

@@gutar5675 Well, I also suspect this video may have been driven by the fact that negative reviews get more views, so he jumped on the first thing he could think of to criticize the movie over and didn't bother to research it more. He's usually pretty good about things like this, but aside from the "RL Science" aspect that is valid, but often times not massively important to most people, he also missed the MAJOR narrative points that make this criticism poorly conceived. Kind of a disappointing video from him this time.

[@hotaruhime]

I never thought that a video on sweat in movies could be so interesting ! 😂

[@ThatGooner]

Omg, this is it. I had such an empty feeling towards the world Dune had, personally, and I thought it was because the backdrops were so much drier and stiller than in BR2049, for example, but this might have hit the nail on the head for me. Great video as always, it's something I'm glad that I'll be more conscious of from now on.

[@jamesward3859]

This is a dumb nitpick

[@ThatGooner]

@@jamesward3859 It's completely relevant to world-building which is integral to huge sci-fi set-pieces like these, so, in the broader sense, it's not simply a nitpick, it's one part of a wider issue I had when trying to immerse myself in the film.

[@somebodyoncetoldme1704]

yea was thinking that for the whole movie. I mean even I was sweatier than the people in the movie.

[@thereliablesource7938]

While the dryness is a good point, it still would be better if they were sweaty

[@JT-oc8yt]

Excellent video but you did not talk about do the right thing enough!!! Sweat could damn near be a protagonist in that movie!

[@sharkprisoner1909]

This was the first thing I talked about with my family after watching it, where’s the sweat? The fact that it was in a couple scenes made me think it was for extra emphasis there but it was really bizarre to hear how hot it is when they look totally fine. Especially living in Southern California it really stood out. Great video, thanks

[@SaraStar7373]

i’m getting absolutely raging deja vu right now

[@masing1]

Glad you talked about this! This may be one thing why the movie, although beautiful lacked a layer of atmosphere and felt... dry, although not in a way that it made Arrakis feel dry. There was another cut in Dune that seemed off. Idk if it was at the Gom Jabbar or the tent scene, but one moment Paul was dripping wet and he was dry the next.

[@shubhagarwal9812]

They can't show sweat on these beautiful people.

[@vertigognome6617]

Loved this movie but had a lot of issues with small details in it (especially with world building). I loved you made a video about sweat because the movie explains it well, but we don’t see it well. You explained it a way I had a hard time wording. I love when people look like realistic because people don’t just sweat in battle scenes. We sweat in heat, from nerves, from anxiety, from stressful situations, and from exercise. When Paul is in the open hot sandy scenes, we would all be sweating. I’ve been in deserts and even if you are standing still in the heat, you’re sweating. If you’re in the shade, you’re sweating. I also would have liked to see the sweat suits in the movie more. Could have just been 5 seconds of showing off the cool idea more