Tarot In The Movies -

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Oct 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

tarotbear	05 Oct 2001
Mandalamon started talking about tarot-themed books. I know we've done this before, but what movies have you seen where tarot was used in the plot..for better or worse? "Live and Let Die" - James Bond flik that a deck was created for; Jane Seymour read cards for villian.

truthsayer	05 Oct 2001
the plot of "the red violin" heavily evolved around a tarot reading and the history of the red violin. i won't say it was the best movie i've ever seen but it was better than "live and let die"! i think if about 30 minutes worth of the film were cut out to move the story along then i wouldn't have started getting bored in the middle. if you can just survive that middle stagnant time, the ending is terrific and pulls it all together.<<<<>>>>>> btw, anyone mind telling that smoking emoticon that smoke bothers a lot of us here and we'd appreciate it if he'd show a little more respect for our lungs? ;-) :D

Thirteen	05 Oct 2001
The cliché in almost all movies using the Tarot is to have some sort of typical spread (the Emperss shows up and the reader says, "There's a mysterious and powerful woman in you life....") ending with "DEATH!" as the final card. Because we all know that the "Death" card means someone's gonna die, right? ;) I honestly can't think of a movie where Tarot was used in anyway that was new, interesting, or dynamic. When you think about it, watching a woman (almost always a woman) interpet cards in a movie is pretty boring.

Jeanette	06 Oct 2001
I only know about the James Bond movie. But, I remember a story about a Chinese restaurant with fortune cookies, and the fortunes kept coming true. I can't remember the title of the story, can anyone else? I think the cookies predict something bad at the end. Jeanette

Mojo	07 Oct 2001
Speaking of Tarot and the movies, I am visiting Seattle and I went to one of my favorite metaphysics stores yesterday and they have a mint condition copy of the James Bond Tarot kit. It had the deck and book and a layout sheet and I believe some pictures from the movie. I've seen the deck before, but not the entire package, so it's very rare. Any of you who are true collectors might be interested. They have a website at www.astrologyetal.com

Kiama	07 Oct 2001
There was a really funny episode of the Simposons, when we see Lisa at Uni, and her near marriage to an English gy, the one where we nearly hear Maggie actaully say something... Anyway, it's really funny in it's use of Tarot, cuz Lisa goes to a medieval fayre, and is drawn into this tent. Inside itis a 'gypsy' woman, dressed very stereotypically. She offers to read her cards for her. So, Lisa sits down, and watches as the woman shuffles.... She deals the first card... "It is..." The reader gasps with horror.... "THE SQUIRREL!". I just thought that was funny. Kiama

purplelady	07 Oct 2001
Kiama,I saw that episode of the simpsons! My son watches it all the time. And then Lisa grows up and almost marries a snooty rich guy who looks down on her family..........

marichan	09 Oct 2001
While not "movies," anime is a place where you see a lot of tarot related story lines. The Vision of Escaflowne is probably the most popular, as the main character Hitmoi was often called upon to read for other characters, and to use her pyschic gift to fortell the future. When the series was released on DVD, the north american publisher's offered "Hitomi's Deck" to those who purchased all eight volumes. I thought that was pretty neat. The same thing was done for another series, "Sol Bianca" though the tarot played only a tiny part in that one.

Rhiannon	09 Oct 2001
Anyone remember the movie "the People Under the Stairs" ? In the beginning of the film the main character, a young boy, gets a reading from his older sister. She pulls the Fool card and says "This is you, Fool". (She doesn't say it in a mean way, that's actually his nickname.) She tells him all about how he's going on a strange journey and there will be perils along the way and stuff. It was a good movie when I was 16 ;) Rhiannon :)

Goldie	10 Oct 2001
If you go to http://www.tarottotes.com the lovely webmistress there is running a 'Tarot in Film' competition. The idea is to submit any TV programs or films where you have seen tarot being used. All previous films etc are listed, and you gain points by either submitting new entries or adding more information to entries already on the list. The person with the most points at the end of each month wins a beautiful tarot tote, which you get to pick yourself! I've already won two, and they are incredibly beautiful :)

tarotbear	10 Oct 2001
Goldie- went to Tarottotes and found a listing for a movie I'd like to forget - The Manitou! Dreadful piece of bad drivel with Tony Curtis as the fake psychic! I actually remember most of the dreadful plot- over 20 years ago!

Goldie	11 Oct 2001
Hi Tarotbear! Well, there's another to stick on my list of must-see B-grade movies ;) thanks for the heads-up! Actually, the list that Betty is now maintaining is great, there have been quite a few movies I would never have known about otherwise. Always good for some interesting 'research'! :-D Goldie :-)

seeker_11	11 Oct 2001
Has anybody ever noticed that, when tarot appears in a movie or TV series, it's almost always the major arcana or the court cards? Also, it's almost always the same Rider-Waite clone. Looks like Hollywood has only one tarot deck, and it's lost the numbered minor arcana too ;)

The Tarot In The Movies - thread was originally posted on 05 Oct 2001 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.