Quote Commentary (Possible Spoilers)
Dune (Frank Herbert), Dune (2021) Denis Villeneuve
Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin in film)
"What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises - no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting."
My love for Frank Herbert's Dune and its 2021 adaptation are tremendously difficult to overstate. Both book and film illustrate to compelling effect the shifting human and inhuman conditions that dictate and bind lived experience. As lived experience goes, Gurney Halleck has more than most, insofar as the harshness of reality is concerned. Halleck's (Herbert's) quoted words serve not only as wise advice to Paul Atreides, but adumbrate future events key to the plot. Standing in scarred defiance of his physical and emotional suffering, Halleck very admirably lives by the same principles he imparts to others.
The Boys (Amazon Prime Studios)
Billy Butcher (Karl Urban)
"Where's your fucking rage? Your self-respect? Sitting here in your little share circle, having a little whinge and a moan. Fuck 'letting go.' You should be out there with a fucking chainsaw, going after 'em! Just a bunch of scared fucking rabbits."
The Boys explores a world where superhuman people both plague and bolster an otherwise similar Earth. Powerfully conveyed by Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, The Boys's quoted take on righteous anger is justifiably fervent and colourful, if a little dismissive and inconsiderate. Butcher, grappling with ongoing grief and trauma that, to his credit, would likely destabilize any normal person, is justifiably angry with the idea of wallowing in sadness and accepting mistreatment under what he deems a condemnable guise of healing. Despite being insensitive, and unreasonably dismissive of the value of safely sharing one's feelings - sensing some projection here, Butcher - his call to action is just. Sometimes, talk isn't enough.
Dimension 20 (Dropout)
Bud Cubby (Brennan Lee Mulligan)
"Laws are threats made by the dominant socio-economic, ethnic group in a given nation. It's just a promise of violence that's enacted, and police are basically an occupying army, you know what I mean? You guys want to make some bacon?"
The first season of Fantasy High served as my introduction to D&D shows, and remains my second-favourite Dimension 20 campaign (topped only by A Crown of Candy). I would be remiss not to acknowledge that Brennan Lee Mulligan is, generally speaking, a superb dungeon master, including and especially in regards to his improvisational and dialogue skills. Here, with a characteristic dash of levity, Mulligan furthers the story while simultaneously delivering thoughtful social commentary.