One of the presents Santa left under the tree for my daughter this Christmas was “Brave,” the latest animated motion picture from Pixar-Disney.  What a delightful movie!  As with any good tale, there is rich opportunity to explore the astrological themes involved.  But first, let me tell you a little about it.

Superhero movies are a favorite in my household. Thor is one of several that we've enjoyed in the past few years.

When Thor was first released, my daughter had just finished a main lesson in school on Norse mythology. The movie seemed quite true to the myths, so it was a nice complement to her studies. I enjoyed the film for many reasons, but especially because it gives such a great illustration of the essential problems with Mercury, aka Loki. 

Last night I went to see a local high school production of Les Miserables. What a marvelous show! I was blown away by the talent of the cast and was especially proud of my dear friend's son, one of the leads.

When it comes to art and song I often see things in astrological terms. While watching Les Mis I couldn’t help but notice how the themes expressed in the musical correlate with the symbols of astrology.

A few posts ago I wrote about Mars: what a strong Mars is, and what it might look like in images. The movie Avatar provides rich material for a further discussion of Mars, both good and bad. (Actually, we could discuss all of the planets using this great film--but we will focus on Mars for now.)

 My daughter recently celebrated her 11th birthday. Among her presents was the movie Tangled, an animated rendering of the Rapunzel story. As an astrologer I often see astrological symbols at play in film and TV. To me, Tangled is all about the Sun and Saturn.

The Sun signifies the life force and all that is life-giving. Saturn signifies things that are old and dying, along with death itself. As such, the two planets do poorly in each other’s signs. The Sun is in detriment in Saturn’s sign of Aquarius, while Saturn is in detriment in the Sun’s sign of Leo. These opposing forces of light and dark, good and evil, young and old go to battle in the movie via the two main characters, Rapunzel and Gothel.