The noble houses of Dune are dysfunctional precisely because they resemble so many of history’s noble families: propagated through inbreeding, filled with members of uncertain parentage, and driven by political marriages so that you can’t help but go to war with your cousin. That many of the series’ characters were conceived as part of the Bene Gesserit’s breeding program helps to further entangle the families. And the spice agony, which causes a person to take on the memories (and sometimes personalities) of all their ancestors, allows a person experience the full spectrum of familial dysfunction without ever leaving their own head.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Putting the sci fi in dysfunction
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, io9 has posted a list of science fiction's most dysfunctional families. Your Skywalkers, Cylons, and Petrellis are there, along with my personal fave, "just about everybody in Dune":
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