Cleverly designed and detailed
sets, using very little in the way of digital effects, Pans Labyrinth has the rich feel of an old-style studio production
where the manipulation of light and shadow create a dark, treacly atmosphere of
menace. (Hunter, 2006)
Pan’s imagery and sound draws you into the story, with the
inventive and detailed style in which it was produced. It does not use a
multitude of digital effects but costume design replaces this. Heavy breathing
and the films theme tune are heard at the start, cutting to an image of Ofelia
lying on the ground, blood trickling back into her nostril indicating time
running backwards. Immediately our suspense and horror is building, the camera
plunges into Ofelia’s eye and enters the fantasy world, the voice-over informs
us of the fairytale and starts to represent the traumas of Spain. There are
images of the ruined bell tower at Belchite, printed on the cover of Reconstruction in 1940 (Smith, 2007). The
lighting alternates between warmth and an eerie blue. In the bedroom there is a
warm glow, until night fall when the room changes to an eerie blue. These
colours are evident throughout the film. In this scene the fairy enters
reality, showing the fluidity of the narrative. Sound bridges are used to
connect narratives, for example Vidal’s gramophone continues into Ofelia’s
fantasy scene. Images predict events in the narrative, for example, Ofelia
opens the magic book, the pages spreading with blood predicting her mother’s
miscarriage that occurs seconds later. The ideas for set design came from
literature and paintings. Ofelia seen as ‘Alice
in Wonderland’ discovering a fantasy. Goya’s painting Saturno Devouring his Son was the influence for the pale man. The
three order iconography in the film in so intricate, Tanvir states that,
First,
there are three orders that are visible in this film; Vidal's fascist group,
the revolutionaries and Ofelia's imaginary world. In an interview Del Toro
explains that in the film everything is in threes; there are three fairies,
three tasks, three doors etc. The relationship between the fascists, the
revolutionaries and the imaginary world too functions like a triangle - with
the fascist group on one side and the other two on the other side. Tanvir,
2009)
There are many other elements of
three in the film, three crystals, thrones, three females and fascists etc. Smith states that Del Toro has described Pans Labyrinth as “Esperanto”, which he
believes is the universal language that could mend the problems of
communication between cultures.
As we shall see, Del Toro’s
practice is a valuable example of transnational cooperation. Eluding nativism
(shooting “in exile”), he also avoids facile multiculturalism and cinema of the
host country. (Smith, 2007)
The universal language bridges the
cultural/historical elements of the film with fantastical scenes suggesting a
new paradigm for the production of world cinema. Even though Pan’s is viewed as a Spanish film it was
co-produced with The Tequila Gang (Mexico’s production company) and the Spanish
production company Estudios Picasso.
Gender
implications are shown in Pans Labyrinth.
Vidal’s masculinity shows the domination of fascism in 1944. Women are unimportant
and one feature of fascism is control, in which he projects onto Carmen in
order to take away her independence. He does not even notice his maid,
Mercedes, conspiring against him with the resistance. The theme of disobedience
and choice is resonant throughout the film. Ofelia disobeys on many occasions,
for example, ruining her dress and defying the faun.
The parallel
structure portrays Vidal as the pale man, who consumes and destroys what he
pleases. The image of shoes in the pale mans lair portrays the sacrificed
children of the Spanish civil war and the image printed in the papers in 1944.
(Spector, 2009) Vidal’s system of control depicts the anxieties felt at this
time, symbolised by locks, keys, and watches. The good is organic and archaic.
For example, the faun covered in earth and leaves and the resistance residing
in the forest. Religion is evident in Pan’s;
the cathedral-like architecture of the kingdom; the book of genesis and the
sacrifice of Abrahams son shows Ofelia’s disobedience, as Abraham followed
God’s wishes, whereas Ofelia refuses the control of religion here which was the
undercurrent of the Spanish civil war. The clarity that the two worlds are
separate are defined when Ofelia returns to the kingdom despite her defiance.
The resistance also defy control and refuse to commit acts that are considered immoral,
Yocom states,
These two worlds make material
what is true of orally told tales: although folktales are set in fantasy realms
they are always also about our lives in the world at hand – human,
contemporary, infinitely flawed. (Yocom, 2008, pg 348)
There is a certain parallel
structuring to the narrative the toad feeding on the tree and killing it is
representative of Franco destroying Spain representing how both Ofelia and the
resistance are trying to defeat evil. Ofelia's portrayal of the world around her
shows us the desperation to change it. Adarkar, In Magill’s Cinema Annual
states how Del Toro informed us of how the war really affected the Spanish
people
In fact the last member of the
resistance was executed in the sixties. That’s exactly the point of the movie.
This is not a war that was neatly framed by what the history books say. It is
still alive today in one form or another. (Adarkar, 2007, pg 299)
Del Toro shows the immoral acts
using extreme violence from Vidal and the doctor’s defiance of Vidal shows the
resistance as a moral community only committing violence when necessary to
restore order. The language of disobedience and dissent is show in these scenes.
Schuberth states that,
Those who torture monsters;
therefore those who are tortured are good – and if the good perpetrate violence
or it is committed in their name, it stems not from evil, but from the need to
restore moral or theological order. (Schuberth, 2005)
Pan’s Labyrinth shows both
good and evil exist in reality and fantasy. The images show us how the modern
melancholy of the present day is still threatened by fascism. The film portrays
historical and fantasy elements simultaneously, as Ofelia’s first visit to the
Labyrinth is preceded by Vidal’s violence. Pan’s
compensates the horror of the real with fantastical elements and it connects
the narrative well.
The cross-cutting between Ofelia’s quest for the toad is
paralleled with Vidal’s quest for the resistance. These paralleled mirror
structures are seen to be more than just fantasy
Pans Labyrinth changes between
the Lacanian “mirror stage”, in which the images switch between the imaginary
and the symbolic, as argued by Pat Byrne or as Kant would argue, the analytic
and synthetic”. (DMS, date unknown)
Jacques Lacan stated that the
“non-verbal-filled-with-image-stage he called “the imaginary state”.” Is the
earliest stage of development for a child and is shown through iconic and
representative images, discovering the difference of the parallel worlds.
We have entered what Lacan
called the final stage of human development, “the symbolic stage”. It is a
stage marked by the awareness of difference, the awareness that there are two
worlds that humans like to bounce back and forth between: the fictional and the
factual ones. (DMS, Date unknown)
The film transcends space and
time and shows us vibrant realities and the fantastical world of Ofelia’s
imagination. The start and end of the film are intertwined, the effects of the
trauma cannot be changes and we persist until new events in the film awaken the
memory of the first scene.
‘Preserved from all attrition
by the process of repression’, they become ‘a permanent source of free excitation’.
Thus, while the cause of the trauma cannot be recovered, nonetheless its
effects persist through the agency of the unconscious: when a new event or
experience awakens the memory of an earlier scene, ‘that memory acts from then
on like a veritable “internal alien identity”, henceforth attacking the subject
from within. (De Lauretis, 2008, pg 139)
De Lauretis’s fragments and fantasies
from childhood are clouded with repression, Vidal’s control in this film
dominates and Ofelia’s defiance breaks that control. Her constant defiance
frees her from controls and her defiance of immoral acts allows her to return
to the fantasy kingdom. The reason we use these make believe monsters to
understand fascist regimes is there are many aspects that are not open to
literal representation. Nothing is evidential in this film but is very
suggestive.
References
Adarkar, V., (2007) Magill’s
Cinema Annual. (25th Ed.) US: Gale Cengage
Clark, R. And McDonald,
K., (2010) ‘A Constant Transit of
Finding: Fantasy as Realisation in Pan’s Labyrinth’. Children’s Literature in
Education. Vol. 41, pg
52-63. (Accessed 19/02/2010)
Smith, P.J., (2007) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del
Fauno)’ Film Quarterly. Vol. 60, No.
4, pgs 4-9.
Yocom, M. R, (2008) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth/ El Laberinto del
Fauno’. Marvels and Tales: Journal of
fairy-tale Studies. Vol. 22, no. 2, pg 345-348.
Filmography
Pans Labyrinth (El
Laberinto Del Fauno) (2006) Guillermo Del Toro. USA: Optimum Releasing Ltd.
Websites
Bond, P., (2007) ‘Into the depths of Franco’s Spain: Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno).’ World
Socialist Website. [ONLINE] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/laby-j11.shtml
(Accessed 21/02/2010)
DMS, (Date unknown) ‘Psycho-Critical
Analysis of "Pan's Labyrinth": Myth, Psychology, Perceptual Realism,
Eyes & Traumatic Despondency.’ [ONLINE] http://donamajicshow.tumblr.com/post/196479492/psycho-critical-analysis-of-pans-labyrinth-myth
(Accessed 18/02/2010)
Gonzalez,
E., (2006) ‘Pan's Labyrinth’. Slant Magazine. [ONLINE] http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:O8x-IG1MY7MJ:www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/pans-labyrinth/2412+pan%27s+labyrinth+allegory&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
(Accessed 21/02/2010)
Herrero, C., (2007) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del
Fauno)’. [ONLINE] Cornerhouse Manchester.
UK: Manchester University. http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol12no1/reviews/pan.htm
(Accessed 18/02/2010)
Honcharik, K., (2008) ‘Pan’s
Labyrinth: Adult Movie in a Fairytale Aesthetic’. [ONLINE] http://kyleprowriter.com/Pan's.html (Accessed
19/02/2010)
Hunter,
A., (2006) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)’. Screendaily
[ONLINE] http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/us-americas/features/pans-labyrinth-el-laberinto-del-fauno/4027487.article
Lavoie, J.,
(2006) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. Montreal Film Journal. [ONLINE] http://www.montrealfilmjournal.com/review.asp?R=R0001073
(Accessed 18/02/2010)
Newitz.
A., (2007) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth – Can Fantasies Rescue Us from Fascism?’ [ONLINE] http://www.wired.com/table_of_malcontents/2007/02/pans_labyrinth_/ (Accessed 21/02/2010)
Picture house (2007) ‘Pans Labyrinth’. Picture house.
[ONLINE]
http://www.panslabyrinth.com/
(accessed 24/02/2010)
Schuberth, J., (2008) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del
Fauno)’ Journal of Religion and Film.
[ONLINE] Vol. 12, No. 1, http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol12no1/reviews/pan.htm
(Accessed 18/02/2010)
Spector, B., (2009) ‘Sacrifice of the Children in Pans Labyrinth’. Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche. Vol. 3, No.
3 pg 81-86 [ONLINE] http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/jung.2009.3.3.81
(Accessed 19/02/2010)
Tanvir, K., (2009) ‘Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of
History’. Wide Screen. Vol. 1, No. 1.
[ONLINE] http://widescreenjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/viewArticle/11/6
(Accessed 18/02/2010)
Travers, P., (2006) ‘Pans Labyrinth.’ Rolling Stone.
[ONLINE]
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/10345062/review/12987263/pans_labyrinth
(accessed 24/02/2010)
By Lea Weller BA
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