'The Prestige' and the Archetype of Gemini
This post presumes that you have watched the movie. The "prestige" is given away asap, so please turn away if you don't want to know what happens.
After having watched The Prestige -- my earlier post was written before I viewed the film -- Gemini and Mercury scream out for attention. Christopher Nolan's natal Saturn-Neptune opposition is square Mercury in Leo, making it a T-square. In fact, Mercury is exactly square Neptune. The deception (Neptune) thus becomes more clear, as Mercury plays a prominent role in this film. Mercury -- as will be seen below -- rules siblings, fingers, and written communication. Mercury is also excellent at lying and disguising himself.
Mercury rules Gemini, and the Twins are the "prestige" of both the film and the illusion that confounds Angier (Hugh Jackman). The "prestige" is the final third of a magic trick, that which amazes the audience. The illusion is this: Borden (Christian Bale) enters a door and re-appears from another door several yards away within one second, which is physically impossible. Angier does not understand how it can be done; Cutter (Michael Caine) says that it can only be done via a body double. However, the man who comes out from the second doorway looks exactly like Borden!
The answer to the illusion is that Borden had a twin all along, who appeared from the second doorway. His twin even went so far as to have two of his fingers amputated so that he could look exactly like his brother -- Mercury rules the fingers. His brother was Borden's assistant, the bearded and spectacled man who never spoke -- Gemini is a master of disguise and Neptune is the god of deception. In fact, the two brothers took turns in both roles, going so far as to share Borden's wife (Rebecca Hall) and mistress/assistant Olivia Webscombe (Scarlett Johansson).
Another aspect of Mercury's role in this film is that Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay with his brother (Mercury rules siblings).
Mercury-Neptune plays out in deceptive (Neptune) forms of communication (Mercury), notably the fabricated journals that each rival plants into the others' hands. It should be noted that Hermes (Mercury) invented lying.
The two magicians live out two different types of stage magic: Angier is the showman, and Borden is the craftman, i.e., he is more focused on perfecting his art. (Olivia Wenscombe later teaches Borden how to be more theatrical). These two characters can be seen as playing out different aspects of Nolan's chart. Nolan has a Sun-Mars conjunction and Mercury in showy Leo (Angier), and an obsessive Venus-Pluto conjunction in perfectionistic Virgo (Borden).
If the Leo Sun-Mars conjunction symbolizes Angier, then we can see how he is supported by Nikolas Tesla (David Bowie), who is represented by brilliant and literally-electric Uranus in a tight sextile to the Sun. Tesla's invention somehow creates duplicates -- another manifestation of the Gemini archetype.
Christopher Nolan was born July 30, 1970, time unknown, in London.
Tags: the prestige - christopher nolan - twins - gemini - mercury
After having watched The Prestige -- my earlier post was written before I viewed the film -- Gemini and Mercury scream out for attention. Christopher Nolan's natal Saturn-Neptune opposition is square Mercury in Leo, making it a T-square. In fact, Mercury is exactly square Neptune. The deception (Neptune) thus becomes more clear, as Mercury plays a prominent role in this film. Mercury -- as will be seen below -- rules siblings, fingers, and written communication. Mercury is also excellent at lying and disguising himself. Mercury rules Gemini, and the Twins are the "prestige" of both the film and the illusion that confounds Angier (Hugh Jackman). The "prestige" is the final third of a magic trick, that which amazes the audience. The illusion is this: Borden (Christian Bale) enters a door and re-appears from another door several yards away within one second, which is physically impossible. Angier does not understand how it can be done; Cutter (Michael Caine) says that it can only be done via a body double. However, the man who comes out from the second doorway looks exactly like Borden!
The answer to the illusion is that Borden had a twin all along, who appeared from the second doorway. His twin even went so far as to have two of his fingers amputated so that he could look exactly like his brother -- Mercury rules the fingers. His brother was Borden's assistant, the bearded and spectacled man who never spoke -- Gemini is a master of disguise and Neptune is the god of deception. In fact, the two brothers took turns in both roles, going so far as to share Borden's wife (Rebecca Hall) and mistress/assistant Olivia Webscombe (Scarlett Johansson).
Another aspect of Mercury's role in this film is that Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay with his brother (Mercury rules siblings).
Mercury-Neptune plays out in deceptive (Neptune) forms of communication (Mercury), notably the fabricated journals that each rival plants into the others' hands. It should be noted that Hermes (Mercury) invented lying.
The two magicians live out two different types of stage magic: Angier is the showman, and Borden is the craftman, i.e., he is more focused on perfecting his art. (Olivia Wenscombe later teaches Borden how to be more theatrical). These two characters can be seen as playing out different aspects of Nolan's chart. Nolan has a Sun-Mars conjunction and Mercury in showy Leo (Angier), and an obsessive Venus-Pluto conjunction in perfectionistic Virgo (Borden).If the Leo Sun-Mars conjunction symbolizes Angier, then we can see how he is supported by Nikolas Tesla (David Bowie), who is represented by brilliant and literally-electric Uranus in a tight sextile to the Sun. Tesla's invention somehow creates duplicates -- another manifestation of the Gemini archetype.
Christopher Nolan was born July 30, 1970, time unknown, in London.
Tags: the prestige - christopher nolan - twins - gemini - mercury
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posted by Jeffrey Kishner at 11/07/2006
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