Scenes from Pan’s Labyrinth featuring the film’s theme lullaby.
Ofelia’s Fantasy vs. Captain Vidal’s Fantasy
After the image of Ofelia’s death; blood running in the opposite direction of what the real world would present us with, we are thrown into a whirlwind of the opposing worlds. Ofelia’s fantasy is a land of rich colors, flowing cinematography, and fairytale creatures.
Ofelia showing the warm tones of her fantasy world.
Pan’s Labyrinth usurps the traditional male space of the Underworld, displaces it, and designated it a female realm: the questing hero is the runaway princess Ofelia (Ivana Baquero); lies, pain and ‘death’ occur outside its borders; and the ultimate desire is to return to this netherworld as home rather than brave its perils and escape from it. The visual impact of the fantasy world is Freudian in its gendering – from the downward wipe through the mother Carmen’s (Adriana Gil) swollen belly into the fairytale landscape, the imagery is continually organic and uterine, with rich warm colours, earthy carnervous spaces and the recurring curved feminine shapes reminiscent of the Faun’s horns… Moreover, this world seems to value energy and action and extols rebellion, disobedience and freedom of choice. (Edwards 142)
On the other end of the spectrum is Captain Vidal’s world of cold, dull colors and sharp movements and graphic killings. Vidal has no interest in Ofelia or females in general. He even shows limited affection for his wife. The little affection that exists is for the male child she is close to bearing instead. Fairytales are a waste of time and life is a harsh cold place where killing is a natural thing to do.
Ofelia’s stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez), parodies the White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland with his beloved pocket watch an his desire for order, precision and unfailing obedience. Yet his controlling, mechanical, cog-driven world is in overt opposition to the fairytale realm. This ‘fatherland’ is ruthlessly and sadistically masculine and death-dealing, where men are in power, in action and inexplicable. (Edwards 142)
The Captain figuring out that his "followers" are disobeying him.
The Pale Man after being woken up by Ofelia tasting the forbidden food.
Edward’s article goes into the similarities between Captain Vidal and the Pale Man. The best example of their likeness is each man sitting at their dinning table. Fire blazes behind both men sitting at the end of the table. Both are satirical and monstrous; they see human beings as dispensable.
The visual comparison of the two as brooding demons in hellish dining rooms relocates the site of true horror, for the war atrocities we witness are far more distressing than the fantasy monsters, and the Captain is revealed to be far more frighteningly and deadly to Ofelia than anything she faces underground. (Edwards 145)
Edwards also compares Vidal with the fun in saying, “When a monster inspires more affection and displays more paternal care than a man, we are ourselves forced to reassess what we demonize” (Edwards 145).
Visual Masterpiece
The mise-en-scene in this film is more than note-worthy. “ Only he has been able to make use of an extraordinary handsome mise-en-scene in such a way as to reinforce rather than reduce the horrors of history” (Smith 6). The make-up has taken Del Toro’s piece to a whole new level. The pale man’s lack of eye balls except for his hands and the faun’s towering and intimidating appearance add an element to Ofelia’s fantasy land that no other fairytale has ever explored.
Detailing the fantastically creative creatures of Pan’s Labyrinth including commentary from the director.
We don’t know whether or not we can trust the faun because he is putting her in many different crazy situations and his character/appearance is that of an absolute sketch ball!
The faun does his best to gain Ofelia's trust.
The editing transitions are worth taking a second look at as well. “The technique of the masked cut is vital to the fluid texture of the film: the camera is always tracking behind tree trunks only to emerge unexpectedly in another place, another time. Sound bridges serve the same purpose” (Smith 8). Score also enhanced the movie, especially the lullaby, in my eyes. The lullaby was played more than once and became the tune that represents the essence of the movie.
Works Cited
Edwards, Kim. "Alice's Little Sister: Exploring Pan's Labyrinth." Film as Text: 141-46, 49. Print.
Smith, Paul. "Pan's Labyrinth." Film Quarterly 60.4 (2007): 4-9. Print
I enjoyed your post because it had two movies to watch, which broke up the reading. The clips were spaced a decent distance apart, which showed good organization. I only got confused by your use of block quotes because the blog format made it hard to distinguish between your words and the words you were quoting. This also means that your quotes melded extremely well with the flow of your essay, so good job with that. I also like how you mentioned the camera cuts. The wording you used really got your point across quickly. I also liked how you described the Faun. It was funny and different.
ReplyDeleteForm and content--this is an excellent post! Wow!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I really like the captain Vidal and the pale man comparison. The videos were excellent and related to the post really well. I did notice the flawless transition in the film as well, which made the cuts between the two realms more “fluid”. Also you should look over the formatting, especially for the first block quote. Didn’t notice it was a block until I read half way through. Also I would suggest cutting down on the number of block quotes used. A quote or two would suffice at what you are getting at.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I like that you mentioned the scene with the pale man, this reminded of the story of
ReplyDeleteAdam and Eve where Eve ate the from the apple, casting them from the garden of Eden. This to me made me feel that Ofelia had more control over her fantasy land than Pan did. Because just before she ate the fruit she had, opened the wrong lock box.