The Magician in the Slain Deck
Photo source: Mary K. Greer
Even though Buffy died twice, her tarot deck will apparently never have the opportunity. And I was so looking forward to it!
I got the word in an email from TFAW yesterday, since I had pre-ordered. Officially, Dark Horse says the cancellation is due to “circumstances beyond our control.” What could those be? Noted Tarot author Mary K. Greer speculates that someone who controls the rights thought a Tarot deck would be “too occult” and attract “the wrong people.”
Wasn’t it the wrong people who made BtVS a hit in the first place? And as Greer notes, several episodes of the series featured Tarot readings.
“Someone who controls the rights” can just …
I guess that someone who owns the rights should just get a life instead of irritating the fan base that makes money for the product. Academic conferences on the philosophy of the Buffyverse only bring in so much. Why not widen your sights. Oh, wait! I forgot! You’re an executive in the entertainment industry. That means you’re just the other side of brain dead.
12 August 2008 Update: I have found the deck listed on another site for September distribution. TfAW originally listed for August distribution, so I am hopeful that we may eventually see this deck. For details, see my 12 August entry.
12 November 2008 Update: It was a false hope. The EE order was canceled today.
4 comments:
Oh, that's sad and kind of ridiculous!
Sigh!
This is not meant as a put down of tarot fortune telling, but if the cancellation of that Buffy deck is related to any controversy about tarot cards, I think it’s time for tarot to be rebranded in the US.
The fact that tarot cards are sold in the US only for fortune telling is limiting the ability of those cards to fully become a part of our culture. In Italy where people play real card games with tarot, they had dancers dressed as tarot cards as part of the Olympics ceremony. Try to do that in the USA and the fundamentalists will shoot it down.
I have this thought that entertainment corporations could make more money with the gaming side of tarot than they would always stressing the fortune telling aspects. In France where tarot is recognized as a game there are all kinds of pop culture tarots. There’s even been a Disney tarot published for game playing in France. If American companies knew what the French know about tarot cards, that they could be used for card games, tarot could be like all the different versions of the Monopoly boardgame on the market. We could buy tarot decks based on Star Wars, Elvis, Betty Boop, Looney Tunes, the Simpsons, Scooby Doo and much more!
Thanks for the comment, Dave. I hadn’t heard of Tarocchino before.It looks interesting, and I will definitely look into it more.
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