Comparing Beasts Of The Southern Wild And Pan's Labyrinth

When comparing the terms fantasy and reality, the adult mind categorizes the respective events of the two perspectives. Fantasy relates to the impractical while reality pertains to the facts and our experiences. In the mind of a child, there isn’t necessarily a distinction. Rather the lens in which children see through is an unrestricted view of the world that is not constrained by the rules of practicality. None better depicts the power to fantasize and imagine than the two films Beast of the Southern Wild and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Hushpuppy, the main character and narrator of Beasts of the Southern Wild, lives in a bayou of Louisiana called the “Bathtub” with her father Wink and the rest of the village. Raised with an unorthodox approach by her

When hushpuppy experiences the storm, she imagines the ice caps melting and the inevitable release of the auroch. As her father comes closer to death, hushpuppy envisions the Auroch’s getting closer and closer to the Bathtub. The Auroch’s are depicted to be ferocious as they destroy homes and towns on their journey to the Bathtub. In the same breath, we hear her thoughts: “sometimes, you can break something so bad, that it can’t be put back together.” As the animals destroy homes, her dad is becoming weaker and weaker and she realizes that her dad too cannot be put back together. She feels weak as her world is falling apart around her, but is conflicted by her belief that the Auroch’s “know when your heart is weak, and makes them hungry.” By the end of the film Hushpuppy faces the auroch, in which the ferocious beast kneels before her. We sense great strength from Hushpuppy, but also there is a realization that the auroch, the death of her father, is not her enemy. Rather, the relationship between her and nature can result in something negative but ultimately will not destroy her. In Guillermo Del Toro’s film, Pan’s Labyrinth, we see common parallels through the use of magic and fantasy as