Literary Elements of the Film the Pan's Labyrinth - Essay Example

Pan’s Labyrinth has an assigned topic The film Pan’s Labyrinth is a dark fantasy by the renowned director Guillermo de Toro. The film’s background is Spanish political history, about five years after the civil war. The film’s narrative blends the real world with a fantasy world centered on an abandoned labyrinth. Besides, the director attempts to retell the story of a young girl and the fantasy world she created, her attempt to survive the harsh reality, and the clash between the real and the imaginary worlds. The movie ends with the rejoining of Ofelia, with the other members of her family. Thesis statement: The analysis of Pans Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro, based on literary elements like plot, symbolism, and conflict proves the futility of hatred/war and the role of motherly tenderness in reducing violence and bloodshed in the mortal and immortal worlds. Analysis: This section is divided into three: Plot (the theme of motherly tenderness), symbolism (war and violence), and conflict (between real and imaginary worlds, and internal conflict related to dual personality). Theme: motherly tenderness First of all, motherly tenderness is the most important theme unearthed by the director in the film. To be specific, the heroine (Ofelia) who sacrifices her own life for the wellbeing of others is symbolic of motherly tenderness. As pointed out, the film’s plot is interconnected with military/ political history of Spain, especially during 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War between the Republicans and Nationalists. In the film, the director provides ample importance to the internal turmoil in Spain. Charles Derry makes clear that “Where as Pans Labyrinth takes places after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the violence still continues” (323). Military posts were established to stamp out the resistance. In the film, Captain Vidal is portrayed as a brave character that fights against the rebels. From a different angle of view, the film is a fanciful after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the violence still continues. Military posts were established to stamp out the resistance. In the film, Captain Vidal is portrayed as a brave character that fights against the rebels. From a different angle of view, the film is a fanciful on the background of fascist repression and violence, the heroine is drawn into a mystical, old labyrinth and uncovers a tale that has long been forgotten. In the film, Ofelia realizes that Captain and his fascist allies try their level best to bring down the rebels who fight for freedom. This attempt destroys Ofelia’s world and she wants to have an escapade from this imminent danger. The film depicts Ofelia as the incarnation of the Princess Moanna. She thinks herself as the incarnation of Princess Moanna, because she cannot adjust with the hard reality. As far as she is concerned, the incarnation is a temporary escapade. She wants to take care of her pregnant mother and she finds a better medium to escape from it. In the film, Ofelia is forced to conduct a journey to imaginary world. To make her transformation from Ofelia to Princess Moanna, she is aided by a mantis and the faun. Jack David Zipes states that “ After her first encounter with the faun , Ofelia becomes convinced that she is truly the princess of Moanna, and once she receives a blank book from the faun , she fills it with her imaginings” (358). The faun shows her the way to go away from the ridiculousness of the material world to go into the glory of the spiritual place, under world. In the end, Ofelia sacrifices her life to prove that she is the Princess Moanna and reunites with her resurrected father and mother. Motherly tenderness symbolizes Ofelias attempt to reduce violence and bloodshed in the mortal and immortal worlds. When Ofelia asked to hand over the innocent baby to the faun to hurt, even though the objection will destroy world, she is not ready to do that, because her innocent world has no pains, no troubles and death. She is ready to do that only after the recovery of her mothers pain. To fulfill her achievement her last test, Ofelia wants to hand over her baby brother to the Faun to stab and get an innocents blood. Instead the baby brother’s innocent blood, Ofelia sacrifices her life, and proves maternal love. In short, the inherent motherhood forces Ofelia to sacrifice her life for the wellbeing of others. Symbolism: war and violence In the film, the director makes use of a number of symbols to communicate with the viewers in general. Here, symbols are necessary because the magical world and real world showed striking similarities through symbols. For instance, the director makes use of war, violence, motherly tenderness etc as the symbols. The director brings before the audience the Spanish Civil War and it aftermaths. Roger Elbert points out that “Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the greatest of all fantasy films, even though it is anchored so firmly in the reality of war” (571). Violence occupies an important role in the movie. Brutality and violence once again proved by killing the good hearted doctor by the captain. One can even see the fantasy world and real world symbolizing as Heaven and hell respectively. In the underworld there are no pains, diseases and problems. But the real world is filled with problems and pains. In the film, the war symbolizes Spanish Civil War and violence as the byproduct of the same. The war ended with the victory of the nationalists and the exile of thousands of Spaniards. Within this scenario, the rebels continued their rebellion and it resulted in internal conflict in Spain after the Civil War, the Francoist regime hindered the progress of the people in Spain. In the film, the directors make use of violence as a symbol of despotism and warmongering. In this dark, harsh and brutal world, the girl lives in her imaginary world trying to survive and to meet her father again. James Roman points out that “In the end her spirit is saved for eternity, because she had met the test of humanity and sacrifice” (351). One can see that the character of the Captain in the film is the embodiment of violence. The violence and brutality are presented in the film, in the form of a monster with eyes having on its grasping hand and the diagrams showing eating of children. In short, Vidal in the film is the visible example of violence. Sometimes Vidal himself symbolizes Franco doing all kinds of mischief to her. On the other side, Ofelia symbolizes the revolutionary spirit of those who fought for the future of Spain. Conflict: between real and imaginary worlds, and internal conflict related to dual personality As pointed out, conflict between the real world and the fantasy world is an integral part of the film. Ofelia has obviously had a rough life. She was born into a war-torn country, her father died and her mother remarried a cruel and heartless military leader. She is completely torn between these two worlds. The world of a girl like Ofelia wants is a place without pains, diseases, problems and worries. Instead the girl sees and finds a world with many problems, worries and violence. To escape this reality she cannot fight against them. This questions her inner thought and makes her to create a dreamy world without any violence and offence. But Ofelia prepares to conduct a pilgrimage to the world of fantasy and imagination, her last refuge. Ofelia creates an imaginary world to escape from this world. A girl like Ofelia can only protest the evil environs before her by jumping into the other worlds, maybe the worlds of tales. She has been torn between the real world and fantasy world. The conflict between real world and the fantasy is proved once again when the faun becomes furious at the heroine for giving in to the persuasion of the real world and the same threatened her desire to become an immortal. Therefore, she is left in coldness of the real world where she has to witness war, torment, sadness and even the sad demise of her mother. Nicholas Mirzoeff points out that, “Ofelia finds and explores a counterreal to the world of violent domination in which she lives” (273). Ofelia was obviously brought to the country against her will from her familiar surrounds. Fascinated by fairy tales, Ofelia sets out a journey with her pregnant mother to live with her new stepfather, a merciless captain of the Spanish army. Ofelia becomes the incarnation of Princess Moanna. In a dark, harsh and cruel world, she lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and king again. Philip Brown makes it clear that “It also shows the connection between the painful reality and the powerful world of imagination” (N.pag.). To be specific, Ofelia bridges the two worlds. The difference between the two worlds is made clear because in the imaginary world she becomes the Princess Moanna in spite of her defiance, where as in the real world it kills her. Summing, the film’s plot is related to the political/military history of Spain in the first half of the 20th century. The clash between the real and imaginary world is beautifully portrayed by the director. With post-war suppression at its height, Ofelias mind creates an imaginary world to escape from reality. On the backdrop of fascist repression and violence, the heroine is drawn into a mystical, old labyrinth. Ofelia has obviously had a rough life. She was born into a war-torn country, her father died and her mother remarried a cruel and cruel military leader .The inherent tenderness in Ofelia helps her to realize the problems faced by her nation. In short, Vidal in the film is the visible example of violence. In the film, Ofelia makes use of her imagination to connect both the worlds, mortal and immortal. In short, the director makes use of his creativity to prove the futility of hatred/war and the role of motherly tenderness in reducing violence and bloodshed. Works Cited Brown, Philip. On the Cusp: Astrological Reflections from the Threshold.USA: Gorman House Publishing, 2010. Print. Derry, Charles. Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century.USA: McFarland, 2009. Print. Elbert, Roger. Roger Eberts Four Star Reviews--1967-2007.USA: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008. Print. Mirzoeff, Nicholas. The Right to Look: A Counterhistory of Visuality. USA: Duke University Press 2011. Print. Roman, James. Bigger Blockbusters: Movies That Defined America. USA: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print. Zipes D, Jack. The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films. New York: Taylor & Francis,2011. Print. Read More