Cat Milking

I was watching Dune with my stepson the other day. Explaining the differences between the books and the movie to him really made me think about the Harkonens in the film.

In the books Baron Harkonen is almost a mustache twirler, but not quite. His evil was in his deeds. He was a pedophile. He killed members of his own family. He made captured Atreides soldiers fight to the death. He had no regard for anyone who wasn't of noble birth. The list goes on.

None of these acts of evil were necessarily visual or presentable. Also at the time, Dune was already considered a long movie and adding in these things wouldn't have helped that.

But the movie needed a clear cut BAD GUY.

The Emperor wasn't clearly evil. He had a lovely daughter on screen that was narrating the movie. He even took his time to explain the plot to the audience. What a nice guy!

The Bene Gesserit were strange but not necessarily evil in the movie. The Reverend Mother didn't kill Paul after all. Alia and Jessica were wearing Bene Gesserit costumes by the end of the movie.

The Guild Navigators, although having vagina faces, were supporting Paul by the end of the movie. They weren't really evil either.

So David Lynch took the Harkonens and made them aesthetically evil so the audience would know who really was the villain. Mandatory heart plugs, skin mutilation, and this...



Cat milking.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what was implied here. The cat doesn't look pregnant or like its even lactating at all, so how is this supposed to work exactly? I have a few ideas but I don't even want to write them down.

And why was the cat in what looks like some kind of S&M cat bondage gear?

Then there's the steam room with midgets slaughtering cows...

I love this movie and despite its differences from the book still think its superior to the tv series. However, as I get older I have to wonder What the Fuck?