Pan's Labyrinth Essay

The film Pan’s Labyrinth, by the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, has transcended and surpassed many records in the film industry. Pan’s Labyrinth contains many peculiar aspects that pertain to realism and to fantasy that make it distinct from other films. Del Toro displays the realistic and fantasy aspects of the film in such an unorthodox manner that many films have not even gone to the level of genius that is Guillermo del Toro. The protagonist, Ofelia, displays certain characteristics and other aspects that in turn gives Pan’s Labyrinth that sort of special charm that differentiates it from other similar films. The main character Ofelia and the structure or form of the story are what make the film, Pan’s Labyrinth, truly unique and special. One of the most important
These two scenes which display fairy tale traditions, serve to add to the fairy tale structure of the film. By having these two scenes display references to oral and literary traditions, del Toro invigorates that pure feeling of a fairy tale story within the film. That feeling of a fairy tale, which stems from Zipes said that fairy tales display “purest bias in the youngest and freshest of soils”, fortifies that form of a fairy tale within Pan’s Labyrinth (Zipes 12). It is pretty ironic that there are references to fairy tales when the film itself is a sort of fairy tale of its own. Another way that the story of Pan’s Labyrinth is distinctive is that the film “intertwines distinct stories and story lines; engages the genres of both the fairy tale and the historic political resistance film” (Orme 223). Pan’s Labyrinth contains fairy tale aspects such as the inclusion of the tale of Princess Moanna and the magical tasks that the Faun gives to Ofelia. The inclusion of these aspects of the film add to the magical fantasy setting