Guillermo Del Torro's 'Pan's Labyrinth' is set in 1944 Spain. Under the rule of the fascist dictator Franco. There are many references to this within the film some of which include:
Representation of Women:
The adult women in 'Pan's Labyrinth' are presented as invisible. This is particularly evident in the form of Mercedes who states towards the end of the film "That's why I was able to get away with it. Because I was a woman I was invisible to you." There is also the treatment of Ofelia's mother. To Vidal she is quite literally just a child bearer. He requests that, if the doctor has to, "Save the child." and not the mother. Even Ofelia is overlooked by the Captain until the very end. Any other women are minor characters and work in the kitchens. They are workers and are invisible in Fascist Spain.
Context of War:
Set towards the end of 1944 but WWII is not the war that is focused on. The Civil War in Spain is the war that we see fought during the film. The Royalist rebels fighting against the Fascist Regime implemented at the time. This is the realist side of the film; the political drama storyline happening at the same time as Ofelia's fantasy storyline. This fantasy storyline is left very deliberately ambiguous. Is it in Ofelia's imagination or is it really magic?
Fantasy Aspects:
These are not so much relevant to the time the film is set but more the mixture that is included. There are aspects from Alice in Wonderland (Vidal's Watch, Ofelia's Dress, Eat Me table in the Pale Man's Lair etc), The Princess and The Frog (the Toad under the tree), Hansel and Gretel (table of treats) and various other, lesser known mythologies (the God Pan for the title). All of these are classics not only meaning they would've been out during the time the film is set but have been diluted in modern day society. Stripped of some of their more macabre aspects.
Guillermo Del Torro as an auteur of film has reintroduced these aspects. Often in his films there are recurring themes of:
The Grotesque
Fairytales as a backdrop for a more brutal tale
Troubled Adolescence
Child Heroes or Heroines
Fatherhood
The Supernatural
Catholic Iconography, Clockwork and Insects
Colour is also very significant. Del Torro works with strict palettes. In 'Pan's Labyrinth' all the set within the house is beige and yellowing, the nights are steel grey/blue and everything within Ofelia's world is very golden and red. A lot warmer. In this way he creates highly stylised and definitive boundaries. He wanted to make the fantasy world a lot more personable and intimate. This is achived through almost uterine colours. Gold of light through skin and the red within.
In 'Pan's Labyrinth' We see many of these aspects coming through. Most notably the fairytale and supernatural or grotesque elements. Another influence of Del Torro's work that is seen in this film is his inspiration take from Goya paintings from one of three different eras:
Fantasy & Invention (during Goya's mental breakdown)
Mixes fantasy and nightmare
Black Paintings (during Goya's descent into madness)
Focused on Witchcraft and Nightmares
Disasters of War
Battlefield horror of the Peninsula War
The most notable influence of Goya in 'Pan's Labyrinth' is probably the Pale Man. Inspire by Goya's painting of Saturn Devouring his Children (a Black Painting). There are other influences of art too. Such as the Faun being taken from a Picasso painting or Nijinski 'Dancing the Rights of Spring'. The Pale Man also links to Guillermo Del Torro's first film Cronos who also ate his own children.
Therefore, Guillermo Del Torro's autor style influences 'Pan's Labyrinth' quite deeply as does the context of the time it was written.
Narrative Significance:
It is also interesting than in 'Pan's Labyrinth' evil is just as convinced of its righteousness as good is. Ofelia never doubts herself when facing the pale man the same way Vidal never doubt himself in all he does to hunt down the rebels. Vidal's qualitied mirror Ofelia's good ones adding a depth of moral complexity to the tale and it is left up tot he viewer to decide which one they believe in more; Vidal's reality or Ofelia's? The is a very clear element and subtext of choice and disobedience carried throughout.
"Captain, to obey - just like that - for obedience's sake, without questioning, that's something only people like you do."
Ofelia doesn't blindly follow the Faun's orders when it says she must sacrifice her brother in order to enter the underworld the same way the doctor allows the tortured partisan to die. Del Torro uses fantasy elements to brace very harrowing and emotional issues. Regardless of stylisation the film retains it's core base in very human emotional grounding.Significance of Colour:
The world's mirror each other to further convey this. There are keys, knives and doors that are important in both worlds. Vidal's dinner with 'esteemed guests' is shot in direct parallel to the dining hall of The Pale Man. It is then particularly significant that at the end of the film the golden colour starts seeping into Vidal's world. Seen through a shot of Ofelia running towards the labyrinth. Vidal is silhouetted by a golden sunset/rise. The colour connotes different things depending on the scene. The toad's swamp is very golden because he holds a treasure that Ofelia seeks. The Pale Man's lair is red because he is dangerous and feasts on flesh. Vidal's world is cold and grey because of how cold and militaristic he is etc.
Significance of Fairytale:
Ofelia as Red Riding Hood and Vidal as the Big Bad Wolf. Del Torro favours both the simplicity and the brutality of classic fables. However, he also rejects the excessive exposition used in Hollywood retelling. Explaining unexplainable magic takes away what makes it magical. Therefore, while the rebels could be the huntsman come to save Red Riding Hood from the Wolf they could also be viewed just as rebels. That Mercedes, a very motherly character, is capable of such great violence towards Vidal goes against her archetype. Del Torro mixed the fantasy and real worlds this way.
Traditional pre-pubescent girl going through a right of passage to become a woman (princess). Fairy Tales are, after all, the external manifestation of the struggle from childhood into adult life. Ofelia's tale is very reminiscent of both 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Wizard of Oz'. She has clothing that relates her to both. The Alice dress and Dorothy shoes. There is also the fact that she crawls through and down many holes to get to her fantasy world and at the end of her journey she gets to return to, what she believes, is home. The particular focus on watches also relates to 'Alice in Wonderland'.
The monster, as part of this journey, represent something that must be understood and overcome. Ageing, decay, darkness. Elements of the harsher and harder side of life that must be understood. Once the very basics were explained, the sun setting and the phases of the moon, through creature more about the internal human urges needed to be explained. The Pale Man is arguably the reification of human bloodlust. The Faun, by definition, is a giver of life and a dangerous and savage creature. He is not Pan. Pan, as Del Torro says, "would've been too dangerous of a character to put in a fable like this. It's just the international translation of the movie title".
Del Torro also uses the very fable-esque rules of three. On several occasions Vidal counts down from three before he murders or issues a punishment. You have to go through three quests, a genie will grant you three wishes etc. There are three tasks, three doors, three keys, three fairies in 'Pan's Labyrinth'. There are often also three female character (three daughters 1 good 2 evil). Here there is Mercedes and Ofelia who are essentially younger and older versions of the same character.
Eyes:
There is then some key symbolism in the importance of eyes. The opening shot of the film is where the camera pans physically into Ofelia's eye before we hear her tale. We know from the start that this is how she ends; it is then left to interpretation as to whether or not this death is the end of her reality though. Ofelia, at the start of the film, replaces the eye of a statue. This is a key moment as it is almost as though she is therefore gaining/re-gaining the ability to see things the way she needs to. The girl is the fable voiceover at the start is, after all. blinded to the world she once lived in by the world above.
There is also a particular focus on looks. Where the actors and how the actors look. This starts in the eyes. The Pale Man can only see a child if they have eaten his feast, he therefore knows the child both has flesh to eat but is also greedy.
Ofelia, on the other hand, can see all the time. She is, however, powerless to act upon anything it is that she sees. This is both due to her age and the fact that she is a child.
Pan's Labyrinth Meaning Essay Awarded Grade A
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