Why Audience Matters: A Look at How Pan’s Labyrinth Fits into Fantastic Literature
In literary theorist, Tzvetan Todorov’s, The Fantastic” A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, he provides a framework for what he describes as “fantastic” literature, or literature that involves a supernatural world or events. Todorov’s framework hinges on the idea of the fantastic being defined by the presence of shocking events. Early in his framework, he defines the fantastic with the idea of “hesitation,” the feeling that readers and characters experience when they are deciding whether the shocking events they have encountered are real or just something they imagined (Todorov 136). However, he later expands on this idea by introducing the idea of the “generalized fantastic,” where a work is defined as
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In the generalized fantastic, there is no longer hesitation present, rather characters adjust to the shocking events though a process of “adaptation” (Todorov 14). But this raises the question: what if the characters perception of the shocking events are inconsistent? In Pan’s Labyrinth, a dark fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro, there are differing views between the characters about what is real and what is fantasy. These inconsistencies show a limitation of Todorov’s framework, because there is no consensus about the disturbing nature of the events in his framework, therefore there is no clear characterization of Pan’s Labyrinth. To make the definition of a fantastic work clearer, it would be more effective define a work based off of the audience’s perspective rather than character’s perspective, because while the rules governing a fictional world can be
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) written and directed by Guillermo del Toro is a dark fantasy film that uses fantasy and inspired true events of the after effects of the Spanish Civil War to create a symbolic parable that was influenced by fairy tales and myths. Even though this film is explicitly about the times during Franco it is also a film that can speak for any time period, past, present, and future. Through the use of phantasmagorical elements in the fantasy sequences del Toro uses doubling to reinforce the horrific events that have and can happen again in reality. The film takes place five years after the Spanish Civil War during Francisco Franco’s reign of terror. The story focuses on Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) as well as Ofelia’s evil stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Both characters represent something bigger than they actually are; Ofelia is seen to represent Spain and the antifascists whereas Captain Vidal represents Franco and fascism. Ofelia has to complete three daunting tasks given to her by the Faun (Doug Jones) that is said to reunite her with her family, the King and Queen of the Underworld. Del Toro uses doubling of the mythical realm with the ‘real world’ throughout the film that emphasizes the underlying meaning of the film. The film also follows the story of the anti-fascists rebels that are hidden amongst the trees and mountains. The character Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) is able to fool Captain Vidal for most of the film and help the rebels. It is not until the near end of the film where Captain Vidal realizes that Mercedes has been helping the rebels the entire time and it is due partly because of his misogyny that he is unable to see her as a threat to his cause.
It is not often that a strong and significant female character is introduced in a movie and/or book as the main character. Pan’s Labyrinth, though not the typical fairy tale, introduces the viewer to three females that prove controversial and necessary to the plot, which passes the Bechdel Test, designed to identify gender bias in the media. There is Carmen, the loving mother, Ofelia, the supposed princess/innocent girl, and then there is Mercedes, Captain Vidal’s maid and rebel spy. These three women show different portrayals, different characterizations, of how women should defy the gender bias in films.
Hannah Simon Escape into the Heavens Right before a storm, there’s always that feeling of calmness and serenity, almost so soothing you want to stay outside just to feel the breeze blow your hair across your face. The air becomes still and off in the distance you can hear the rustling of the leaves. But within minutes, the sky becomes ominous with clouds rolling in and then the realization hits you. It might be a smart idea to take shelter. As you shut the doors behind you, you can’t help but to peer out the window at the impending wrath of Mother Nature you left behind.
"Pan 's Labyrinth" is directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a magical realism drama. The screen shows the magical world of bizarre situations, a fictional out of Pluto 's daughter "Ophelia" to roam the world. To 1944 as the background, the fascist murder of guerrilla fighters as a real-world story. The whole film myth and reality are intertwined, is a complete metaphor and reflection on the Spanish civil war. One side is the little girl innocent fairy tale, while the Nazis are inhuman torture and slaughter. Two living scenes intertwined in a film, brings out a moral and human conflict. This is the child to see everything in the eyes, and what we see, it seems that the other world.
Labyrinth begins by presenting its hero, Sarah, who is not yet sent on her mission and seems like an average teenaged girl. She is then presented with a situation that is reminiscent of many damsel in distress stories, she is misunderstood by her father and locked away in her house by her “wicked stepmother.”1 Then Propp’s necessary mediation happens, this one falling in the “the hero is dispatched directly category” 2 when Sarah is sent on her quest by the villain Jareth. She does this because she is a seeker hero, on a quest not for a “kidnapped princess”3 but for her kidnapped baby brother Toby, whom she accidentally banished to the goblin kingdom and whom Jareth will not give back. This is a modern interpretation of the classic fairy tale formula. The hero is really a heroine and she is rescuing the male character. She also isn’t especially prone to violent adventures but does what she must out of integrity and a need to protect her brother. The villain also does not fit the prototype of the Propp’s villain, who should be “ugly, often grote...
Pan 's Labyrinth is a film with the thrilling mythical story-line in the development of a civil war. A young girl by the name of, Ofelia, is sent out with her pregnant mother to live with her captain/army based stepfather. As she arrives, she is a greeted with a fairy that peaks her interest because of her fascination with fairy-tales. She is directed to a labyrinth and welcomed by a faun explaining her relation to a mystical king. In order to be reunited with her true father, she needs to complete three difficult tasks. With her failing to complete her last task, she earns her spot in her world with her mother and father.
... genre would have evoked immense terror whereas at present the novel will not have the same effect as horror is popular in this civilization.
Guillermo del Toro was born in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico and was raised by his Catholic grandmother. He had an interest in filmmaking at a young age but learned about special effects and makeup first. In 1993, del Toro got his career break with Cronos after it won nine academy awards in Mexico (Guillermo del Toro). Soon after, del Toro created his first Hollywood film, Mimic. Unfortunately, del Toro describes Mimic as the worst film he has ever made and the hardest to work on due to constant interruptions by producers. He returned to Mexico in order to form his own production company, greatly disliking the demanding Hollywood studios (Guillermo del Toro). Del Toro is well known for his films in the horror genre and his love for dark beauty
In “The Great God Pan” (1894) Machen uses ancient Greek god Pan to serve as a symbol of spiritual reality that lies beyond human perception and knowledge. Machen’s use of this divine entity and his success in rediscovering a minor figure of the classical pantheon, yet “mostly neglected by earlier authors of English literature” (Pasi 69), provide what Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari argue to be the significant value of a minor author, “…by using a number of minority elements, by connecting, conjugating them, one invents a specific, unforeseen, autonomous becoming” (106). “The Great God Pan” uses a detective plot and English upper class male characters’ search for an elusive figure, Helen Vaughan, who travels by assuming various identities. Helen, through her changeability of her identity destabilises the humanistic notion of identity as a stable phenomenon, and enters into the domain of becoming Pan. This fluidity and indeterminacy of Helen’s character is Machen’s attempt to undo the established notion of canonical subjectivity, and propose an alternative possibility of becoming. Helen’s insistence on entering into the zone of inhuman – god Pan- involves a position of alliance with the elements of her desire, which are beyond human accessibility and control. Helen, with this alliance with the god Pan, which has multiple forms and identities, enters into the flux of becoming Pan.
The film Pan’s Labyrinth, has several common concepts with Joseph Campbell’s theory on heroes in Hero with a Thousand Faces. His theory emphasizes on tests that show their moral and basic instincts for the rite of passage to their threshold, in this case, the underworld. Campbell’s theory is a concept that surrounds an individual’s journey to heroism. This concept pertains to Ophelia due to her circumstances as a child who ventures out on thresholds, tests, and so forth. Campbell’s depiction relates to Ophelia as he describes the levels in which one must attain and accept as a female heroine. Furthermore, his theory exaggerates on the making of a hero to the resurrection in terms of physical and spiritual transformation. Ophelia’s character depicts a hero who has been resurrected as a human. Thus, she begins her journey to cross the threshold, “pass from the everyday world in the world of adventure,” (Campbell). There are many stages in the film that depicts Ophelia’s introduction to the stages of being a hero. More so, it focuses on tasks, which Ophelia must pass or fail in order to determine her role in the film; Princess of the Underworld or just a human soul. This is lead by the faun who simply reassures a place of ‘paradise’ for Ophelia only with her cooperation to listen and follow her morals.
In the movie Pan's Labyrinth, Ofelia escaped the frightening and commanding presence of her stepfather though her fantasy books and her immense imagination. This theme of escape from oppression is also evidenced in the novel The Book Thief, where Max escapes his oppressive reality through writing and his friendship with Liesel. Liesel herself was able to escape the reality of the war that was around her, and the death of her brother through her love of books and reading. This may lead one to wonder whether there is some truth in these fictional tales, is it possible that books and the act of writing can help one to survive an oppressive situation psychologically, and what factors contribute to an individual overcoming oppression?
Rudolfo Anaya’s, Bless Me, Ultima and Guillermo del Toro’s, Pan’s Labyrinth are two coming-of-age stories. Both the novel and the movie are full of events that contribute to the disillusionment of the main character’s childhood idealism and the realization of the real world they live in. Both protagonists absorb themselves in a mythical world full of fantasy and each receives exposure to religious theology and trauma by the violence of men. Despite the fact that Antonio and Ofelia have different familial role models and travel along different paths, their childlike innocence, disillusionment, and initiation into adulthood comes about through similar themes: myth, religion, and violence.
Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro takes place following the Spanish Civil War in 1944. The film is told primarily through the point of view of young Ofelia, who is soon to become Princess Moanna. Guillermo relies heavily on magic realism to portray the innocent minds of children during the time of conflict. As a spiritual sequel to The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth displays a first hand account of how children are both directly and indirectly affected by the war. In the film, Ofelia’s mother, Carmen gives birth you a little boy, after the birth of the child the audience is able to see how the innocence of children is restricted during times of adversity.
Nowadays, people are still enticed by fear, they have a curiosity for the supernatural, evil and frightening. Although modern day society is supposedly politically correct, we are still an immoral society and many of us would treat a creature like Frankenstein’s creation or a vampire like Dracula like a monster. In this way, the novels still have social significance.
Phillip K. Dick, revered American science fiction writer, once said, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away” (Popova). Whether the character in a book or the reader of said book, how can anyone know what is reality and what is an illusion? When a specific character in a book and the reader experiences this mental dilemma of what is reality and what is an illusion, we call that sensation “the fantastic.” The fantastic is a term coined by literary critic, Tzvetan Todorov in his book, “The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre.” The fantastic creates a feeling of hesitation and contradiction when met with an event that was previously thought impossible by the specific character in the novel.