Dune is the latest movie to get the meme treatment, with the internet clowning about with its name, sandy setting and the weird world of giant sand snakes, hallucinogenic drugs and suits that turn your sweat into drinking water (yum).
Another source of laughter is that the book ridiculously mixes sci-fi names like Leto Atreides and Gurney Halleck with distinctly Earthbound names like Duncan Idaho and Paul.
Quite how much of the film the online comics have watched, however, is debatable. The majority of the memes are about how "Dune" sounds like "doing" or "don't," or the fact that there is a lot of sand in the film. Nonetheless, people have managed to mine comedy gold out of these basic elements.
Some of the best memes are about the film's title, with many mashing Dune up with Shrek ("what are you Dune in my swamp?"), Friends ("how you Dune") and Shania Twain ("that Dune impress me much").
“How you Dune?” 😏 pic.twitter.com/HsrMMrPDG1
— Niccole Thurman (@niccolethurman) October 22, 2021
Dune? More like WHAT ARE YOU DUNE IN MY SWAMP? pic.twitter.com/OHR4gyGTDa
— Ashlyn the Anarchist Barbie 🚩🏴 (@ashlynanarchy) October 23, 2021
The desert-set video for Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" leads us to the next category of memes: Jokes about the amount of sand in the movie.
One sub-category of memes saw Twitter users compare the movie to other notably sandy pop cultural moments. These includes the Parks and Recreation scene with Leslie Knope falling down the pit, the scene in Sex and the City 2 that saw Carrie and co walking through the desert, plus the music video for the Spice Girls' "Say You'll Be There."
The funniest of these is probably the one that compares the movie to John Travolta's over-the-top reaction when he sees Olivia Newton-John in Grease.
The aesthetic, the world-building, the pulsing drama of Dune...truly incomparable pic.twitter.com/5PVm2UxH09
— Beatrice Loayza (@bealoayza) October 22, 2021
Paul Atreides when he first saw the dune idk I didn’t see the movie pic.twitter.com/HtQzjLWhyO
— adam (@adamjmoussa) October 25, 2021
Dune (2021) pic.twitter.com/aatHGXOHCm
— Dan (@dannah__montana) October 25, 2021
loved Dune! pic.twitter.com/XZ7til2fWP
— Cody Wimmer (@Cody_Wimmer) October 23, 2021
The Spice Girls, of course, have a Dune pun built into their name, something a viewer of Adele's Vogue "73 Questions" video made the most of.
When someone asks me what DUNE is about pic.twitter.com/h2XZ103LzU
— Tom Zohar (@TomZohar) October 22, 2021
The jury is out on how much director Denis Villeneuve is up-to-date with internet culture, but whoever cast Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa and Timothée Chalamet in one film has a clear idea of the people the internet has decided are their boyfriends.
no spoilers but jason momoa spends a lengthy scene in Dune sword-murdering people in a manbun and low-cut pirate shirt and I'd estimate that's the sexuality of about 80% of humanity -R
— Overly Sarcastic Productions (@OSPyoutube) October 22, 2021
Isaac, in particular, was the recipient of some thirsty memes, perhaps due to his nude scene.
" I'm going to watch Dune for the plot."
— Rose Henneke (@hrhenneke) October 21, 2021
The plot: #DuneMovie pic.twitter.com/SvRTBUoP2r
Wait how is it captioning what I’M saying???? #dune pic.twitter.com/x29fImovBj
— Michelle Collins (@michcoll) October 23, 2021
Of the memes that actually referenced the movie rather than just mocking things you could work out about Dune from its poster, here are some of the best:
Whenever Rebecca Ferguson uses her mind control voice in DUNE pic.twitter.com/ojW1l77de5
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) October 23, 2021
Dune (2021) but only explaining it as memes #Dune pic.twitter.com/1ESSJQd0gS
— Chelsae ★彡 (@chivesvibes) October 23, 2021
no one:
— spooky jaris 👻 (@fake_jaris) October 22, 2021
the Fremen: pic.twitter.com/FPWaCM1Fkm
it's called sandwalking and it's actually really important to not attract the shai-hulud pic.twitter.com/mfHUy969WQ
— nevona (@nevona) October 23, 2021
Dune: “People use space drugs to travel through space and gain super powers”
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) October 24, 2021
Me: “Alright”
Dune: “Space drugs are only on a dirt planet with giant worms and also the new space messiah”
Me: “Pretty reasonable”
Dune: “There’s a character named Duncan Idaho”
Me: “okay hold on
Winner of the most detailed Dune reference, however, is this uber-specific erotic text that has enough puns to launch a thousand icky porn parodies.
— Geoffrey (@geofflapid) October 22, 2021
Dune is in theaters and on HBO Max now.
