|
Aquarian
actor Seth Green is one of those rare celebrities whose popularity truly
spans the gender barrier. He has managed the delicate image balance between
being considered a sex symbol and "every guy's best-friend." As he
summarized his own appeal, "I’m like the guy they knew from high school.
People feel they know me."
A professional
actor for more than half his life, Green's first film role was in Hotel
New Hampshire, starring Jodie Foster, at the age of ten. He also
portrayed a young Woody Allen in Radio Days when he was
only twelve years old.
However,
he is best known for two of his more recent roles. First, as Dr. Evil's
teenage son Scott Evil in Mike Myers’ Austin Powers movies. Secondly,
for his three-season stint playing Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne, his werewolf/rock
musician character on the hit WB television show Buffy the Vampire
Slayer. Currently, you can see Green in a cameo in Josie
and the Pussycats as a member of the boy band Du Jour.
Mannish
Boy
 Green's
Aquarius Sun, his astrological “self,” is in a tense, 90-degree square aspect to the planet Mars. Mars’ astrological associations correspond
to its mythological link with Aries, the Greek god of war. These include
male sexuality, aggression, force and assertive action. The
essential, classical function of Mars is to divide and dissociate that
which is unified or alike.*
Much like
fellow actor Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Green’s Sun-Mars square is representative
of his attraction to roles that challenge standard notions of “machismo.”
Xander
(Nicholas Brendon): You're considered somewhat cool.
Oz (Green):
I am?
Xander:
Is it because you always tend to express yourself in short, non-committal
sentences?
Oz:
Could be.
(Dialogue
from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
While the
square is considered a "hard" aspect, it suits the natural character
of a Sun-Mars relationship to have this contention present. It tests the
line between threatening and non-threatening expressions of "maleness,"
setting the childlike wholeness of the Sun against the imposing standard
of "Martian" manhood.
Tonight
is the night that Kenny Fisher becomes... da man.
Green’s
character Kenny Fisher wishfully anticipating his initiation into manhood
in Can’t Hardly Wait
In
one sense, Green's Sun-Mars square can be associated with his "boyishness,"
as being 5’4” has allowed him to play adolescents while in his mid-twenties.
An example is Scott Evil, who had to reconcile his own ambitions to the
pressure of having Dr. Evil for a dad.
Scott Evil:
I was thinking, I like animals. Maybe I’d be a vet.
Dr. Evil
(Mike Myers): An evil vet?
Scott Evil:
No! Maybe like work in a petting zoo.
Dr. Evil:
An evil petting zoo?
(Dialogue
from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery)
However,
one notable role has provided him with a deeper metaphor for the concerns
of his Sun-Mars square.
The
Wizard and Oz
Willow
(Alyson Hannigan): Oz is a werewolf.
Buffy (Sarah
Michelle Gellar): It's a long story.
Oz: Got
bit.
Buffy:
But obviously not that long.
(Dialogue
from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Oz was introduced
to Buffy fans in the second series. He was revealed as a
werewolf on an episode called “Phases,” which first aired on January 27,
1998. This also launched him as the romantic interest to Willow, Buffy's
brainy friend. The conflicting principles of a Sun-Mars square find an
excellent analogy in werewolf lore. It describes the theme of a conscious
individual faced with his/her reckless, animalistic side.
During his
time on the show, Oz struggled with the potentially dangerous consequences
of his alter ego. He locked himself in a cage on Full Moons to protect
the innocent. Willow was often perilously close to attack whenever the
werewolf was loose. Just as it seemed he had control over himself, he
realized she was an unwitting catalyst to his transformation. With no
other choice, he left town (and the show) to protect her.
New
Expeditions
Green, like
Christina
Ricci, recently received a conjunction from the planet Uranus to the position of his Aquarius Sun. In his case, of course, this means
it also “triggered” his Sun’s square to Mars. Interestingly, like Ricci,
one of Green's upcoming movie roles (in The Attic Expeditions)
involves portraying a character with mental illness, of a sort.
Already pronounced
a future cult classic, it is a clever and deliberately ambiguous tale
of a halfway house for recovering mental patients, dubbed "the house
of love." Unlike Ricci’s Prozac Nation, however, this
black comedy's aim is not to deliver a sympathetic examination
of clinical depression.
True to Green’s
conflicted Sun-Mars combination, his character, Douglas, is at odds with
his own behavior. The added presence of Uranus points to the nature of
his personal eccentricities, which make the status of his own sanity somewhat
ambiguous.
The transient
passage of Uranus is characterized by an “anything goes” mentality, a
push toward true individuality. It is understandable that actors
receiving this particular transit, like Green and Ricci, would be drawn
to roles that allow them to behave in a less inhibited, perhaps more bizarre
manner than usual.
A
Few Good Men
Having repeatedly
resolved to work harder to bring new challenges his way, Green is likely
to try new things and take more interesting chances this year, perhaps
some related to his new production company, Lucid Films, which he started
with fellow actors Breckin Meyer and Ryan Phillipe. Again, Green’s Sun-Mars
square suggests he can thrive in a highly charged, “masculine” atmosphere,
especially in creative fields.
For a Sun-Mars
man like Green, a challenge might be what it takes to bring him back to
a future Buffy episode. However, the possibility of Oz reappearing
at some point is strong, especially considering the ever-expanding “Buffyverse,”
evidenced by original cast member Angel’s (David Boreanz) eponymous spin-off
show. The transit of Uranus comes loaded with surprises, defying expectations
of any kind. Green should have some good ones in store for his fans in
the near future.
Notes
*Classical
definition of Mars quoted from Robert Schmidt, Whether & Whence,
Cassette Two, an introduction to his translations of Hellenistic Astrological
texts for Project
Hindsight.
|
