Shut Eye

[Satyrist]

Im wondering what Tarot people think of TV and movies where the Tarot is featured. It's a great device but as we all know devices can be over used and obviously misused. The most recent uses I've seen were in the show about Psychics and grifters called Shut Eye, but the Tarot is also used in the recent show Westworld.

I personally find it always misleading. They have to write with a goal in mind and use the cards to show whatever through line they're trying to make in a scene. It becomes trite. You see the death card in a James Bond movie and it means literal, "death." There's no mystery or inner conflict or even true Tarot. But what do y'all think?

I'm a writer and work in the entertainment industry, so full disclosure -my first entry into studying Tarot was for a script. I have since decided to stay away from writing cards into scripts.


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[Barleywine]

I thought it was handled fairly well in the lamentably truncated Carnivale, but it was mainly a prop and not a true plot device.

 

[FLizarraga]

Im wondering what Tarot people think of TV and movies where the Tarot is featured. It's a great device but as we all know devices can be over used and obviously misused. <snip>

I personally find it always misleading. They have to write with a goal in mind and use the cards to show whatever through line they're trying to make in a scene. It becomes trite. You see the death card in a James Bond movie and it means literal, "death." There's no mystery or inner conflict or even true Tarot. But what do y'all think?

THIS.

I found it reasonably well used (within limits) in the BBC's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and more or less OK in the much lamented Penny Dreadful. (I just don't buy John Logan's sort-of-explanation about his three-season original plan. There are way too many loose ends, and the finale felt VERY rushed. But I digress.)

But other than that it is usually as you say. I have not watched Carnivale yet, though now I have yet another reason to do it. (Thanks, Barleywine.)

 

[Padma]

I do find it misused in film. Usually because it is overly dramatic, and you just can't take it seriously (if you are a reader!) It also tends to keep Tarot in the "cheesy spooky" box for those who do not read the cards.

I've seen better use of the tarot in farcical comedy skits than in any kind of action/drama/mystery movies - where the tendency is to always use either the Devil or Death (and occasionally, the Lovers or the Tower).

 

[UniversesCollide]

I don't expect to see it accurately portrayed in most mainstream films or shows. The majority of watchers wouldn't get it and it would become a pointless scene unless they had the time (and budget) to inject a detailed lesson into the scene and could do this without losing audience interest or taking away from the plot momentum. For that reason, I barely pay attention to the cards whenever they are shown because I'm more likely to miss the intended point by seeing the cards for what they really mean instead of seeing what the general audience is meant to see. haha

 

[Satyrist]

THIS.



I found it reasonably well used (within limits) in the BBC's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and more or less OK in the much lamented Penny Dreadful. (I just don't buy John Logan's sort-of-explanation about his three-season original plan. There are way too many loose ends, and the finale felt VERY rushed. But I digress.)



But other than that it is usually as you say. I have not watched Carnivale yet, though now I have yet another reason to do it. (Thanks, Barleywine.)

Oh, I forgot about Penny Dreadful. Its hit and miss with that show. And I tend to focus on the writing mostly. There are very good actors, sets and effects and all but the writing is probably where it succeeds and fails. The Tarot in that show is totally warranted but not always true. It's funny because sometimes I find the writer used the right card and gave a meaningful moment to the scene but for the most part it's that they've created a scene or character and choose a card to represent that person or thing and the meaning is lost for a narrow minded literal expression, don't you think?


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[Spectre Made Flesh]

Tarot isn't usually accurately portrayed in fiction, but I think it can still be done in an enjoyable way. The old English horror film Dr. Terror's House of Horrors has Peter Cushing's character read the fortunes of 5 strangers on a train (using the Grimaud Marseille!) Inevitably, Death means Death etc. but the satisfying thing about such films is that the Tarot is shown as something that works, and that the cynics who scoff at it are the ones who meet a sticky end.

Even in the James Bond film Live and Let Die, it's suggested that the tarot reading character Solitaire does actually have psychic powers - which isn't what people may expect from a James Bond film where it's usually about guns, stunts etc.

 

[mah jong]

The character Anna Draper laid out a celtic cross reading in a Mad Men rerun I saw recently. She was reading for the main character, Don Draper. The spread matched the character and his plot arch quite well.

 

[FLizarraga]

Oh, I forgot about Penny Dreadful. Its hit and miss with that show. And I tend to focus on the writing mostly. There are very good actors, sets and effects and all but the writing is probably where it succeeds and fails. The Tarot in that show is totally warranted but not always true. It's funny because sometimes I find the writer used the right card and gave a meaningful moment to the scene but for the most part it's that they've created a scene or character and choose a card to represent that person or thing and the meaning is lost for a narrow minded literal expression, don't you think?

YES, unfortunately.

I recall particularly the scene where she draws the Lovers card while talking to Ethan --a card that also, and conveniently, had a very show-specific imagery. (It shows a woman kissing a scorpion, if I'm not mistaken.)

 

[Philistine]

My favorite use of tarot was in the recent film, 'Knight of Cups'. Tarot is not featured so much on screen as it is used as the actual structure of the story.

There's a quick scene in the middle where the main character gets his cards read, and those cards feature as the titles for each "chapter" of the movie. The final chapter has a title screen *not* named for a tarot card, which to me implied that the main character had overcome his central conflict in the story and was now forging his own destiny (so, not describable by a tarot archetype).

It's all told in a fever-dream style, which relates well to the tarot device, and you can tell the filmmaker (Terence Malick) has more than a passing appreciation for tarot in the subtle way he used it in the movie.

As an aside, 'Knight of Cups' (like many of this director's films) is a bit over-serious and indulgently stylized, so I don't necessarily recommend it, but I enjoyed it. It has flaws to be sure, but the use of tarot really struck me as a refreshing take and not just another spooky cliché.