Pan’s Labyrinth – Literature Review
I. Introduction – historical background
The Spanish Civil War lasted from July of 1936 till April of 1939. The intensely ferocious war was between the Republicans and the Fascist nationalists, lead by General Francisco Franco. Victory was in favor of the nationalists and General Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years after the war, up until his death in 1975. The nationalists were supported by Germany of Nazism and Italy of fascism by soldiers and munitions (Berdah, 304). On the contrary, the republicans were supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico. However, Britain and France agreed on an official policy of no intervention – although France did intervene at some point. By the end of war, any party associated with the republicans was persecuted, and the majority of them escaped to Southern Spain to refugee camps (Yale Press, 5).
II. Outline of Pan’s Labyrinth
Pan’s Labyrinth, also known as El laberinto del fauno in Spanish is a fantasy film produced in 2006 by the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. From Del Toro’s series of movies over the years, it can be noted that he has the tendency to combine poetic elixir with an imaginative vision, with occasionally a tweak of horror. The film’s main plot is about a little girl, Ofelia, moving in with her stepfather during the upsurge of Fascism. Pan’s Labyrinth is unique such that the film’s storyline is based on a fairytale: it is parable; a simplified story of a greater spiritual or moral
Many know about the idea of the "monomyth," or the hero's journey as an outline for many of our modern books, movies, t.v. series, etc. Joseph Campbell's definition for the hero's journey is, "the quintessential (or best example) of an archetypal myth. " The Disney film Hercules is one of the best examples of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. For instance step one of the hero's journey outline is the Ordinary world. Hercules was born the son to Zeus and Hero.
The films “The other conquest”, “Jerico”, and “I the Worst of All” are all a depiction of what life would be like during the Spanish Conquest. These films give different point of views during the Spanish Conquest. The films give a person a well-rounded view of how the world really changed for different people during a historical movement. After watching these films, one is able to assess and determine their own truth about what exactly happened to Amerindians and Spaniards during this time.
Pancho Villa was a revolutionary Mexican leader who controlled much of Mexico’s northeastern parts in 19145-1915. Pancho experienced military setbacks when he broke with Venustiano Carranza’s
Hoggle: A Character Analysis In the book Jim Henson’s the Labyrinth by A.F.H. Smith the character Hoggle goes through an extreme character evolution. Hoggle is a small, goblin-like creature who assists Sarah in her journey. He starts off as a grumpy and irritable character who later transitions into a loyal and helpful companion. As Carroll states “He is a self proclaimed coward and refuses to apologize for it.”
In Ray Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451”, the character Guy Montag is similar to the prisoner in “The Allegory of the Cave” because, Montag and the Prisoner were brought into the world with forced opinions and thoughts that shaped how they feel and think. Both Montag and the prisoner had nothing to look back on that showed a different opinion, so they were both stuck to believe anyone at face-value. These forced opinions however, were later changed after they were revealed by a character (the old man or Faber) and caused them to shed a whole new set of skin.
Del Toro, additionally, contrasts the real world and the fantasy world through the use of colors, shapes, and varying levels of organization and cleanliness. Furthermore, he places objects of the real world into the fantasy one to draw relations between the two. Through these three singular parallels, Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth explores the realities of fascism in Franco-Era
Throughout the years Barrie’s story changed quite a bit, but the changes were mostly the physical appearance that showed modernization, but the message in Disney’s 1953 movie Peter Pan stayed consistent with Barrie’s novel. Peter Pan story shows how society was becoming modernized but the ideals of the people stayed the same. Gender roles do not change and are the same in both the novel and movie. Peter Pan is a great tale that has been enjoyed for more than one hundred years. This tale is about learning from your childhood and there are a lot of messages that Barrie sends to his audience.
Men, women, and children were caught in the crossfire and sometimes even deliberately murdered by both sides. del Toro does not sugarcoat the brutality of the Spanish Civil War as even the first image the audience is shown is of a dying and bloody child. Indeed, much of the violence in the movie is experienced by the young and innocent. In The Transnational Fantasies of Guillermo del Toro, it is suggested that the violence in the movie “is commensurate with the brutality of certain fairy tales in their original form and also with a realist vision of the cruelty of war that uses the figure of the child to create greater empathy and affect the spectator”(Davies 192). While much of the cruelty in Pan’s Labyrinth is very graphic, it is the explicit nature of what is experienced by children that makes the movie hard to watch for some.
The Federalists favored a strong central government while the Republicans draw attention to the states’ rights. The Republican Party supported France while Federalists supported England. The Republicans supported France because they supported America in its fight for independence. Also, France had the best navy and Republicans respected the strength of their navy. Hamilton supported England because they had more goods and services where they needed to continue trade routes.
In the wildly popular Mexican film, Los olvidados (1950), Spanish director Luis Buñuel exposes the harsh realities of life in Mexico during the 1950’s. Luis Buñuel’s work on Los olvidados portrays a societal loss for all hope due to crime and violence as an infinitely vicious cycle, coupled with addressing the lack of reform for dilapidated living conditions throughout Mexico. In Los olvidados, Buñuel follows Pedro (Alfonso Mejía) a neglected bastard, and El Jaibo (Roberto Cobo) the leader of a gang of homeless children loitering in vacant lots. For Pedro, and the rest of the cast, a series of unfortunate outcomes have been strung together though common ignorance and a lack of self-control. Luis Buñuel’s use of focal length, editing, and dialogue
Dystopian literature has become more common in today’s society. Some of the top book series are about dystopias. One of the top dystopian book trilogies is “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. While most dystopian novels are similar in some aspects, “The Hunger Games” is specifically relatable to Margaret Atwood’s novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Collins describes the society of Panem in “The Hunger Games”.
A labyrinth is a maze with one way out. Figuratively, the labyrinth represents the twists and turns of life ultimately leading to an end
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a gorgeously realised tale of fantasy and horror, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. The story follows a young girl, Ofelia, who travels to the countryside with her ill mother to live with her new stepfather, Vidal, a captain in Franco’s Fascist army. The film explores how Ofelia uses her imagination as a copying mechanism to deal with the monstrosities of her reality as well as to interpret the horrific events unfolding around her. Del Toro employs a number of cinematic devices including cinematography, sound and editing to effectively draw parallels between Ofelia’s reality and imagination, ultimately creating a powerful film that condemns the nature of Fascism.
The Hunger Games: A Modern Day Odyssey? The Hunger Games is about a civilization that randomly selects two members from the different districts. Those two members are then forced to fight in an “arena” in which there is only one victor. In a way the Hunger Games is very similar to the Odyssey. The Odyssey begins years after the Trojan War has ended and Odysseus has not returned home.
Running the Maze Imagine being trapped inside of a place with no memory of how you got there and the only way to get out was through a maze. James Dashner’s young adult, science fiction novel, The Maze Runner is about just that. There were a brunch of themes in the novel but the most important ones were maintaining rules and orders, making sacrifices, never giving up, and manipulation, even though something may look simple it might be harder than it seems. All these themes were practiced by Thomas and other Gladers in the Glade. Dashner also wrote the sequels to the Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and Death Cure.