According to Marina Wagner, fantasy and fairy-tales need a narrator and a circle of listeners to exist. This makes cinema a suitable medium for this genre, where the camera narrates and the audience listens. Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) shares several characteristics with fairy-tales and myths. However, its link and continous parallelism with reality, given through a complex conflux of stylistic film elements, and the crudeness in which the film’s topics are conveyed, make the film more suitable for mature audiences. Pan’s Labyrinth, unlike common fairy-tales, recurrently switches between both real and fantastic worlds. This essay examines how the worlds are contrasted through cinematography and mise-en-scène, and connected by edition and sound.
Cinematography and mise-en-scène play a crucial role in contrasting worlds in Pan’s Labyrinth. With regard to cinematography, colour is employed to create a powerful and meaningful contrast between the ‘worlds’ present in the film: the ‘real’ world, the life in the camp represented by Vidal; the fantasy world, where Ophelia fulfils the
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The first flagrant moment (fig. 4.5) is when Vidal, poisoned by Ophelia, follows her into the labyrinth. There is a mixture between yellow, green, and blue. This is the first time in the film in which the colours clash. Minutes after, when Vidal has already murdered Ophelia and gotten killed himself, the most extraordinary colour contrast happens. First, Ophelia is lying in the floor, almost dead (fig. 5). The whole frame has a sad blue shade. Next, an extremely intense yellow light appears upon her (fig. 6), taking her into the fantasy world, where she is in front of her father in the underworld and everything is golden. Finally, she is back in the real world, which is now between blue and green, (fig. 7) demonstrating that she has died as a mortal but lives in spirit, confirming the duality of this
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.
Like all the fairy tale will have a happy ending. "Pan 's Labyrinth" is no exception, but this layer of happiness is immersed in the bitter and depressed in the deep. Too much blood and tears, too many memories, too much darkness. Ofelia finally found her parents, returned to the eternal sweet home, but not one can really happy together. A fairy tale is hope, is the dream, is the comfort, is the ideal country. "Pan 's Labyrinth" is such a fairy tale, Ofelia through the murky darkness of the labyrinth find her happiness, just as experienced the cruel history 's Spanish people. Guillermo applied a metaphor in the end. The end of the tragedy is the film 's surface cover, in essence, is the protagonist Ophelia 's comedy
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.
The director Roman Polanski likes to make a lot of scenes in his movies through doorways and windows, and the reason of that is simply because in that way, he creates a bigger sympathy with the audience, they get to see the films from the main characters o...
The film Wendy and Lucy, directed by Kelly Reichardt, presents a sparse narrative. The film has been criticised for its lack of background story, and as a short film, much of the story is left to the viewer to infer from what is presented in the plot. However, Wendy and Lucy is able to depict the intimate relationship between Wendy and her dog as well as reflecting more broadly on the everyday, and commenting on the current economic state of the film’s setting in America. This essay will examine how film form contributes to the viewer’s awareness of the story in Wendy and Lucy and allows a deeper understanding of the themes presented. The aspects of mise-en-scene, shot and editing and sound in the film will be explored.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
Pan’s Labyrinth, (El laberinto del fauno) (2006) by Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro is a Spanish-Mexican film which tells the tale of a young, imaginative 11 year-old girl – called Ofelia - who has a love for books and fairy tales. The story depicts events which involve her, and occur during the year 1944, in the setting of Spain living under a fascist regime as a result of the War. The film uses the aspect of fantasy and imagination to portray many themes within the narrative, themes which stem from the war and its impact which it has made in the county of Spain. The themes which can be taken from Pan’s Labyrinth include; the forces of resistance, rebellion and oppression - and the aspiration for liberation. Childhood and disobedience
Once the story is adapted into a film, the viewer is required to rely less on his imagination, as opposed to text, where the imagination and life experiences are projected onto the written words. In a film, the viewer takes a ride on the director’s interpretation. For example, in the novel, Barren Lives, the author uses descriptive imagery to have the reader imagine what the barren and dry landscape looks like. Where as in the film, the audience is presented with an accurate and detailed landscape the director chooses to present. One of the reasons that Barren Lives is the preferred choice of the masses is the fact that more of the viewers visual and audio senses are engaged simultaneously. This is especially apparent during the opening scene of the film, Vidas Secas. The film opens with an extreme long shot, where the surrounding landscape seems to envelop the characters. This scene not only shows the desolate landscape that was described in the book, but is paired with an ambient sound of an oxcart wheel that disturbs the audience. The discomfort created by the ambient sound can help the audience relate to the discomfort the characters feel throughout the film. When adaptation is done correctly it can be a beautiful
Gallagher, T. 2002. Senses of Cinema – Max Ophuls: A New Art – But Who Notices?. [online] Available at: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/ophuls/ [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014].
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?
... music is played as a hypnotising music into the silence and beauty of the night. Similarly, these two scenes use the same style of cinematography in filming the unreality. Long shots and extreme long shots are commonly used allowing the audiences to get a big picture of the fantasy and get indulged in the imaginary world. The simplest yet appropriate costumes and make-up are applied to reflect the pure intentions insisted by the characters and their genuine expressions in their fantasy. Both of the films selected have different or similar filming techniques in depicting the characters’ fantasy world, but they consist of the same meaning of creating the fantasy diegesis: that is the portrayal of desire, happiness, innocence and pursuit of dream.
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.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a science fiction novel that includes action and thriller. The novel is about a sixteen year old boy named Thomas who wakes up with no memory from where he came from or who he is or what he was doing there and in a metal cage box surrounded by many teenage boys looking at him weirdly. Throughout the novel there is many science-fiction themes and characteristics displayed such as futuristic technology, alien, robot like creatures environmental and social changes also unrealistic and fictional events.
Spielberg’s Schindler’s List uses a variety of macro and micro techniques that are effective in eliciting strong emotional response form the spectator. Unlike horror films, which rely on micro techniques to create tension or foreshadowing, Spielberg relies on unconventional techniques that are often juxtaposed to have the spectator feel unsettled. Despite not being a horror film, it is compatible through the lack of violence in the film and the context of the Holocaust. Therefore, as a spectator, it is clear that ‘horror’ in a horror movie differs greatly to ‘horror’ in this particular film because of Spielberg’s raw and authentic style in making the spectator feel uneasy as the narrative progresses.
Christopher Nolan’s 2010 action thriller Inception provides a discerning outlook into the specificities of human thought processes and dream meaning through exceptional cinematography, labeling it an exemplar of filmmaking. The film follows the ambitious corporate thief Dom Cobb as he attempts to infiltrate a man’s mind and place an idea through the act of inception. Employing “dream sharing”, Cobb controls both the appearance and feel of the subconscious world, but at the alarming cost of being trapped should he fail his mission. Nolan brilliantly combines mise-en-scéne elements of setting and sound design, with inimitable cinematography and editing styles to project the dream world on a film medium, narrating a story that reveals the blurred line between fantasy and reality. By doing so, the film builds upon traditional conventions of moviemaking while developing its own style and motifs that are remarkably distinctive.