Scorpio Ryan Gosling’s Cinematic Portrayal Of Scorpio In Drive

It’s his nature.

There are some movies that reflect magickal principles and symbols in very direct fashion. “The Game” with Michael Douglas immediately comes to mind as a cinematic meditation on the “Tower” card. “Faceoff” with Nicholas Cage and John Travolta is pure Gemini, with crossed identities, switched faces, duality, good vs evil, etc.. “Back To The Future” is pure, Mercury Retrograde involving time travel and going back in time to set things right for McFly’s parents. But I have never seen a film with such a deeply embedded astrological theme, from start-to-finish, even channeling the sign of the lead actor. The film is “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling and the sign that drives the narrative, from start-to-finish is Scorpio.

First off, Gosling is a Scorpio (11/12/80). Gosling’s Scorpio Sun is conjunct Uranus in Scorpio, giving him access to the fully explosive character he plays in “Drive.” In fact, he has no name and is simply known as “Driver.”

Gosling doesn’t speak much. Instead, he lets his driving do all the talking, which is fast, violent and crafty. By day, he’s a film stunt driver and part time mechanic. By night, he’s a get-a-away driver for petty thieves. In essence, he has one foot in this world, the other in the underworld. In fact, he works for a part-time hood known as “Shannon” played by Bryan Cranston who has connections with two, Jewish gangsters played by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman. Funnyman Brooks is totally chilling as the avuncular Hollywood producer who slits throats like he’s gutting a trout.

Gosling sports a windbreaker with a scorpion on the back, just in case you’re not getting it. And like a true Scorpio, he’s not halfway. Gosling’s character is all in and whether he’s smashing a hoodlums fingers with hammer, or be-friending the mother and kid down the hall, he’s fully present, intense and loyal. Scorpio gets a bad rap sometimes, but their loyalty is unquestioned.

One of the great scenes in the film is when Gosling takes a joyride with the mother and the son he’s be-friended through LA’s aqueducts. Again, it’s a Scorpionic detail that some people might miss as the water represents his contact with his emotions and its in a car; motion/emotion.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Gosling’s character is violent? In fact he’s so violent that in a scene where he’s protecting the mother, beautifully portrayed by Carey Mulligan, that he goes way beyond merely warding off the bad guys. Driver spends an uncomfortably long time getting crushing sounds out of the bad dude’s head.

This film has a bit of Scorcese’s Taxi Driver in it. Gosling’s Driver is corrupt in that he helps bad guys getaway, but he also has a fixed morality that borders on overcompensation.

Near the end of the film, he utters a line about the scorpion and the frog and how the scorpion cannot help himself, that’s it’s his nature to destroy.

Gosling himself has a bit of an interesting background. He came through the Disney factory which has produced a stable of manipulated child stars. Is scorpion prince of them? If “Drive” is any indicator of what lurks in his soul, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him if his programming breaks down.