Christopher Nolan's Saturn-Neptune Opposition

Is it any surprise that Christopher Nolan -- director of the mind-bending Memento, the dark Batman Begins, and The Prestige -- has a natal Saturn-Neptune opposition?

The Prestige is about two magicians who will go to nearly any length to top each other. The themes concern death (Saturn) and deception (Neptune). Another film about magic -- The Illusionist -- also contains the same themes, and was released during the current Saturn-Neptune opposition.

In Salon.com, Andrew O'Hehir interviews the director. I have included the planets in brackets to illustrate the themes of the Saturn-Neptune opposition:

At one point, Michael Caine's character, who seems to serve as an authorial voice, offers the observation that a magician makes the real world [Saturn], which is actually simple and solid all the way through, seem full of mystery [Neptune]. When I ask Nolan whether that's also what the movies do, he says, "Very much so. Movies can create a realm of magic and mystery, where anything and everything is possible [Neptune]. I think people look to them as an escape from the predictability of ordinary life [Saturn]. There's nothing wrong or shameful in that. That's why I love movies myself."

But does he really think, then, that the real world is devoid of mystery? "There are times when I'm afraid that's true, yes. But in movies, in storytelling, in imagination, so many other things are true. I suppose part of me believes that if we can imagine wonderful things, create them in art or fiction [Neptune], then they're actually real [Saturn]."

Nolan understands that the audience wants to be deceived. In Memento, he used confusion and deception to masterful ends to tell a story about a man who had amnesia.

Another way Saturn and Neptune interact is through Saturn's heavy influence upon Neptune's vision. Saturn-Neptune movies can be quite dark, dystopian (The Matrix and Apocalypse Now were released during Saturn-Neptune squares). And Batman Begins definitely fits that bill. (Tim Burton's Batman -- also quite dark -- was released during the Saturn-Neptune conjunction of 1989.)

A Saturn-Neptune director releasing a film about reality versus illusion -- a film in which he deliberately tries to throw off the viewer -- released during a Saturn-Neptune opposition? Now that's magic.

Tags: astrology - christopher nolan - saturn - neptune - the prestige