Hi, and thanks for your close reading of Irulan's role and Julie Cox's performance in the miniseries. Irulan is my favorite Dune character as well, because she's a bookworm, because "deals with it" so often, because she's so intelligent that she can stealthily be an active agent when she's forever officially occupying a de facto passive role as noble-born-wife-in-name-only (oh, and Queen of the Universe, but let's not quibble).
Irulan is a supporting role, but she's the most relatable and rounded character, at least in the miniseries (I've only read Dune, not the sequels), because she's not a hero, she's not a villain, and though she exhibits a moral failing here and, she has great strength of personal character, and can change: I love how protective she becomes of the twins in the miniseries. And she grew up to do what loves: write!
But I first fell in love with Irulan in David Lynch's movie, and ironically not for any of the reasons above. I loved her because in the movie she was a mysterious presence that implied the books' sequels contained a universe of characters we don't know yet. That and the fact that with exception of her in the background of two scenes, we only see her as a disembodied head floating in space, narrating an introduction to the film with eerie spacey music in the background and her face disappearing and reappearing like the Cheshire Cat for no reason at all but cool visuals. And when I was a kid and first saw the movie in the theater I was instantly mesmerized. Still am. Plus, Virginia Madsen's Irulan voice-over narrates the ENTIRE MOVIE. Lynch's treatment of Irulan made me wonder, "What did Frank Herbert think of Irulan? Did he and David Lynch love her too?"
The Princess Irulan Corrino
Irulan is a supporting role, but she's the most relatable and rounded character, at least in the miniseries (I've only read Dune, not the sequels), because she's not a hero, she's not a villain, and though she exhibits a moral failing here and, she has great strength of personal character, and can change: I love how protective she becomes of the twins in the miniseries. And she grew up to do what loves: write!
But I first fell in love with Irulan in David Lynch's movie, and ironically not for any of the reasons above. I loved her because in the movie she was a mysterious presence that implied the books' sequels contained a universe of characters we don't know yet. That and the fact that with exception of her in the background of two scenes, we only see her as a disembodied head floating in space, narrating an introduction to the film with eerie spacey music in the background and her face disappearing and reappearing like the Cheshire Cat for no reason at all but cool visuals. And when I was a kid and first saw the movie in the theater I was instantly mesmerized. Still am. Plus, Virginia Madsen's Irulan voice-over narrates the ENTIRE MOVIE. Lynch's treatment of Irulan made me wonder, "What did Frank Herbert think of Irulan? Did he and David Lynch love her too?"
Thanks again, David