Astrology: Film: Review: ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ (2013)

The title Saving Mr. Banks tells us this man will be saved. The person in charge of delivering the fellow from harm is another matter entirely. Learning the identity of that individual is at the weepy core of John Lee Hancock’s movie.

Mention the word “save” and, archetypally, Neptune leaps to the fore. Neptunian energy, in its sometimes extreme compassion, will do whatever it takes to keep you from falling into the bowels of hell, and even jump into the fires in your place. However, that planet is also tied to people’s deep need to be rescued because their innocence or irresponsibility keeps them from surviving or making their way in the real world.

Saving Mr. Banks throws together two characters bursting with Neptune traits. One is Australian-born P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the author of the Mary Poppins books which feature the iconic nanny who self-transports – in a boundaryless Neptunian fantasy world – via umbrella and comes to save the Banks household. The other is Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), the entertainment (Neptune) visionary (Neptune) who’s been itching to turn Travers’ Poppins into a blockbuster movie, a medium ruled by Neptune.

Disney needs Travers to give him the rights to her work. And Travers, as her banker points out, could use the money. So, in 1961, she hops a plane to see what Disney has in mind, but armed with a mental list of the embellishments and add-ons she’ll emphatically forbid. “You don’t know what she means to me,” she says of Mary.

The bulk of the movie is the face-off between these two headstrong people, as the put-upon Travers deals with creative assaults and grating suggestions from the Disney-appointed screenwriter (Bradley Whitford) and songwriters (B. J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman).

But what also comes to light is just how archetypally joined by Neptune both Disney and Travers are. Disney, the creator of Disneyland and later Disney World, is obsessed by the planet’s magical and seductive vibe, and sees Mary Poppins as a transcendent (Neptune) and inspiring (Neptune) force. He’s the father (Sun) figure who, through a movie, can introduce the flying nanny to millions of children and families.

Travers carries a different kind of Neptunian baggage. Her father’s (Colin Farrell) alcohol addiction (Neptune) influenced her taking solace in the world of the imagination (Neptune). For those several days she spends in Hollywood, Travers essentially revaluates two Neptunian father (Sun) figures – her biological dad and Disney – as through Mary Poppins’ eyes.

Saving Mr. Banks easily switches out Mary Poppins’ umbrella handle for Neptune’s trident.

Astrology Film Rating: ☉♆ (Sun, Neptune)