RWS in popular culture

I was struck the other day to see this illustration based on the RWS Three of Swords in the New York Times. Though the symbolism is clear without any knowledge of Tarot, I was still intrigued to see it being used.

How widely used and known do you think that the RWS images have become?

Weiner Sun

Another example of the RWS in popular culture, though obviously not immediately meant to convey a meaning in the same way as a newspaper illustration, is the Weiner Bros logo that appears at the end of "Mad Men" every week; Trump XIX with Weiner Bros in place of The Sun at the base. The real Don Draper's widow gave a reading back in series 2, I think, using the RWS, and it seems that Matthew Weiner has some definite tarot knowledge.
The only representation I can find is this sequence badly filmed from someone's television and put in the conext of a fake scenario: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1CGD2iEj2I — it comes right at the end.

Great question. I think a corresponding question is, "How endemic to Western culture--whether pop or 'high'--are the Marseilles trumps?"

The answer to both questions is, very much so. In the case of the Weiner Brothers Productions card, I would tend to agree with your assessment that this man must know at least a little about tarot and have at least a passing fascination with it; the choice of one's production company's logo is not a light one, I imagine.

But there are many other examples of cases where it's clear that there is little knowledge of tarot and that cards have been chosen for their imagery or archetype; this is evidence for the cards--specifically RWS and Marseilles--having entered the visual pop culture "language" or lexicon. See, for example, the Dolce and Gabbana perfume range that came out a few years ago, based on the trumps. Although they used Deviant Moon images in the magazine adverts, I believe the Marseilles trumps were the underlying starting point.

a true test of the importance of a symbol is when it's parodied or quoted out of context. the barrel of oil pierced by three swords is a really wonderful example, because the mere composition itself is carrying the information.

the production company logo is less impressive because it doesn't expand or comment on the IDEA of the Sun card; instead it's simply a re-use of the existing image.

the Happy Squirrel card is a notable example since, unless the broad public has a basic grasp of what tarot is and does, the joke wouldn't work at all.

I hope others will continue to use this thread to post examples of the use of tarot imagery in pop culture.

The gatefold sleeve to Led Zeppelin's fourth album is iconic in classic rock artwork; it also features an RWS icon:

when I was in high school I saw a touring production of HAIR, the tribal love-rock musical. There was a large painting of The Lovers as a major part of the stage set. I would have thought this image from HAIR from the 1970s was universal but I've just spent 30 minutes on google images and other musical theatre sites trying to find it. No luck.
I was the only person in my group of young theatre students who knew where the image came from.
Thirty years later I saw a revival tour and the designer had added The Magician to The Lovers, still from the W-S deck, but used the images in completely different contexts. New director, new generation of actors, much broader tarot savviness. Maybe.

bogiesan said:

when I was in high school I saw a touring production of HAIR, the tribal love-rock musical. There was a large painting of The Lovers as a major part of the stage set. I would have thought this image from HAIR from the 1970s was universal but I've just spent 30 minutes on google images and other musical theatre sites trying to find it. No luck.
I was the only person in my group of young theatre students who knew where the image came from.
Thirty years later I saw a revival tour and the designer had added The Magician to The Lovers, still from the W-S deck, but used the images in completely different contexts. New director, new generation of actors, much broader tarot savviness. Maybe.

Click to expand...

I saw this on ebay a week or so ago while doing my standard search of tarot items. It's a promotional Lovers card that came from a 1971 production of Hair according to the seller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Tarot-...930?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad48913ca

Although I can't vouch for the authenticity of the item, it does appear that there was a connection between Hair and The Lovers - or at least an interesting coincidence if you believe in such things.

Oh, and the movie The Princess and the Frog featured a ne'er do well fortune teller character who performs a tarot reading (link to YouTube below). From around the 2:07 mark to the 2:31 mark you'll see some questionable RWS imagery with the closest being something resembling the Tower at 2:24. Around 2:58 you'll see a pretty good representation of the Ten of Wands - that is, until it animates...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6yw2SmG674

The Three of Swords is a pretty popular tattoo image.

Also, in Dennis Hopper's movie "Dark Tide", one of the characters does a reading for Hopper, using (if I remember correctly) RWS cards. Card images are visible on the table, and she offers some brief explanation of what they mean.

RWS imagery is used in the video game Uncharted:

"In Cutter's notebook (and via gameplay mechanics Drake's journal), two specific tarot cards are pictured: "The Magician" and "The High Priestess", with Talbot's name written above the former and Marlowe's name written under the latter. In mysticism, the Magician is said to be able to make anything he imagines real simply by saying it aloud, referencing Talbot's control of Cutter. The tarot card he slips Cutter is "The Tower", a card traditionally referring to a great fall or a rude awakening. This is a clear reference to his subsequent forced jump from the high tower he was standing on after being confronted by Talbot and Marlowe, who proceeded to burn the platform after their men poured gasoline all around Cutter."

Pasted from this site: http://uncharted.wikia.com/wiki/Talbot