Saturday, June 29, 2013

1) Gays' Hurrays.....2) Zodiac Types in Fiction

#1....Good news arrived for the LGBT front this week:
In a pair of major victories for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that married same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits and, by declining to decide a case from California, effectively allowed same-sex marriages there................(SEE HERE)

Lots of articles and commentary have flooded the net on this topic already, so I'm limiting my own contribution to links to previous postings touching on the Gay rights issue (most have some comments attached):

From March this year:
GAY MARRIAGE

from June 2011:
Homosexuality, Astrology, Prejudice

From June 2009:

Stonewall, Prejudice, Astrology.




#2..ZODIAC TYPES in FICTION (Gone With the Wind, Little Women, Ally McBeal.)

I wonder how often authors of novels, or screen writers for film and television consider astrology, or more likely, simplified Sun Sign astrology, when describing characteristics of the individuals who bring to life their books and dramas? I've thought about this several times in the past - there are posts on this very topic relating to Gone With the Wind (HERE) and Little Women (HERE) with suggestions in the posts and in several comments beneath them as to astrological matches to characters in the novels.

Another instance of what I'll call ZIF (Zodiac in Fiction) came up for me recently. We're years late catching up with what used to be a hugely popular TV series in the USA from 1997 to 2002: Ally McBeal.

My husband, out on some errand by himself spotted a garage sale in the neighbourhood and came home clutching a big white box, still cellophane wrapped. It was the entire 5-season series of Ally McBeal on DVD, and he paid only $3 for it plus another, single DVD (can't even recall the film). Such sets cost a lot more than $3 on the net. We suspect this set might have been produced for the Chinese market, a clue: choice of subtitles = Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin - and English. We're almost to the end of Season 2 now, and greatly enjoying the series.

Ally McBeal was created and mostly written by David E. Kelley whose series are always A-grade (LA Law, Boston Legal, The Practice, Picket Fences, Harry's Law to name the best known).
More on Kelley, and his natal chart in an archived post HERE.

The Ally McBeal series had a super cast, good musical interludes with vocalist Vonda Shepard, well-written characters, humour, romance, whimsy, fantasy and frequently interesting courtroom dramas.

Ally McBeal, played by Calista Flockhart, and one of the senior partners of the law firm for which she works, John Cage, played by Peter MacNicol, share a birthday we were told in the course of Season 2. This revelation immediately had me surmising on a Sun sign for them. It had already become obvious the two had similar characteristics: a definite quirkiness, romantic awkwardness, mild eccentricity and frequent dips into whimsy, while both remained talented in their professional life as courtroom lawyers. A quick Google search sent me to a site where commenters were betting on Scorpio as Ally's likely Sun sign - mainly because it's Calista Flockhart's, who plays Ally. That could not possibly be correct, here's why.

Each season devotes an episode to Thanksgiving and an episode to Christmas, presumably to be screened during November and December. Characters are always muffled in scarves, gloves and hats for outdoor scenes, it's often snowing in Boston,where the series was set, in these episodes. In season 2, in an episode following fairly quickly after the Christmas one, there was a combined birthday celebration for Ally and John - so it could not possibly have taken place in Scorpio time. More likely, and I had already suspected, Ally and John, and their shared whimsy, fantasy, and eccentricities alongside otherwise very astute legal minds, must surely have Neptune/Pisces and/or Aquarius/Neptune/Pisces prominent, with likely some Capricorn in there too, strong link to the law.

It's all just fiction, of course. I doubt that David E. Kelley gives two hoots about astrology, though perhaps one of his assistants might have offered hints.

If any passing reader has an instance of ZIF, a pet fictional character or situation, from well-known novels, TV or films, with likely matching Sun Sign - do let me know !

8 comments:

mike said...

Ahhhh...free to love and take those vows (if the two of you live in the appropriate state within the "united" states of America)...wonderful wonderful! Your marriage will not (currently) be recognized by a non-allowing state, nor will the federal government provide certain marriage benefits in a non-allowing state.

Johnny Mathis "Wonderful Wonderful"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0_XfxnXWI

I don't get too hung-up on the astrology of scripted characters. I can become fascinated by the astrology guessing-game of the characters in my real life, however.

“Too often do reviewers remind us of the mob of Astrologers, Chaldeans, and Soothsayers gathered before 'the writing on the wall' and unable to read the characters or make known the interpretation.” Charlotte Bronte

mike (again) said...

Well, Twilight, who woulda thunk it...StarIQ.com does have an Ally McBeal astrological write-up:

http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/article.asp?PageID=419

Twilight said...

mike ~~ The state-led differences in several areas always strike a bum note for me - this is another instance of it.

I wonder....if a gay couple marry in a gay-friendly state, then fall out of love, could they just move to gay-unfriendly state(s) to avoid the legal costs of divorce? I realise there's another $$$$$$$$$ aspect to this of course, but it does throw up some curiosness.

The other instance of state inequality which bugs me a lot is the difference in ballot access rules, state by state. In Oklahoma ballot access laws for presidential elections are so ridiculously tight that there's never a third choice other than D or R - whereas some more enlightened states have several other choices on the ballot. As these are supposed to be UNITED states, in an election as crucial (allegedly) as that to choose the president, surely we should all have the same choices?
Grump...grump.

*****

Ah!!! I'd missed that Star IQ piece on Ally McBeal - thanks ! But they have fallen into the same trap - not taking note of the content of the scripts, and realising that Ally's birthday could not possibly be in Oct/Nov to give her a Scorpio Sun. It appears people are just not paying close enough attention!
;-)

Sonny G said...

interesting topic ..

I always thought of raymond burr//perry mason and ironside as a capricorn..

matlock/andy griffith always felt like a gemini to me..

but andy taylor/mayberry/ andy griffith always felt like a cancer sun /cappie moon.

angela landsberry/murder she wrote felt like a Sag..

just my take on a few shows I enjoyed.

Twilight said...

Sonny ~
Thanks for those additions - I agree on Raymond Burr as Perry Mason and Ironside - those characters smelled of a heavy dose of Capricorn ;-)though Burr didn't have what I think of as "the Capricorn look" - craggy, austere, lean, long face and jawline.

I'm not as familiar with Andy Griffith's characters, so can't add anything there.

Jessica Fletcher (played by Angela L.) - I remember her, yes.
Sag. would be a match - or maybe Gemini as second choice.


A lot depends on how finely any character has been drawn by good writing allied with the author's grasp on human nature. It's easier to match a character to a sign or astro influence when it's a character from a series of shows or books, so that their characteristics are fully investigated and depicted.

The two literary examples I mentioned, Little Women (and sequels) & Gone With the Wind were both written by females with females at the core of the stories. I've just realised that. :-) Probably not significant.

Two memorable characters from Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove (and sequels and prequel)
are wonderfully drawn in the novels and ripe for astrologising -

Gus McCrae - Typical Gemini, I always thought.

Capt. Woodrow Call - Capricorn for sure.

;-)





Sonny G said...

"the Capricorn look" - craggy, austere, lean, long face and jawline.

YIKES lol.. I dont look like that at all.. musta been that libra ascend that saved me.. 'wink'
I;ll send a pic to your email:)
odd though about Capt. Call.. I got a 3rd decan scorpio feeling from him.. too hurt- too sensitive and super "over sheltering" himself from anything or anyone who might peek thru the tough exterior and learn his secret.

Twilight said...

Sonny ~~ Well....yes, Libra rising is usually thought to produce a good-looking individual, full of charm....
;-)

Re Captain Call - hmmm - that's interesting. I can see what you mean. He was certainly reticent to show his feelings - very awkward when it came to showing emotion except when really roused and angry - reminded me a bit of my Dad (I could almost make an argument for Aquarius then). He was good respected leader and naturally authoritative, stickler for good behaviour - I think that's where I saw Capricorn traits.

What a brilliant writer and story teller Larry McMurtry is !

Twilight said...

UPDATE ON ALLY'S BIRTHDAY/Zodiac sign

We watched season 3's birthday episode (Ally and John Cage) the other night. Ally was about to turn 30 (shock horror!)
In one scene she looked at the calendar, camera gave us a close-up - it was APRIL! I didn't get a chance to see whether the day was marked - but anyway, all guesses so far have been wrong!

She and John Cage ain't Scorpio Sun, nor Pisces, nor Aquarius. she has to be either Aries or Taurus Sun.

Taurus doesn't fit at all, I can kind of see Aries, if there were some planetary action in Pisces next door.

The series' creator, David E. Kelley was born 4 April - I'm wondering if he perhaps sees himself as a combination of Ally and John (with his tongue in his cheek) - he was a lawyer in his earlier career).