Discuss how the use of the fantasy genre in Pans’ Labyrinth influences the way it portrays themes. In Guillermo Del Toro’s movie Pans” Labyrinth, we follow Ofelia, the well-informed young stepdaughter of a heartless army officer called Vidal who escapes into a peculiar but fascinating fantasy world. Del Torro uses the fantasy genre to explore and enhance the different themes that the movie portrays. The movie is a classic fairytale with a twist, as Del Torro attempts to explode the limitations of the traditional fairytale by recontextualizing the stories of the typical Disney scenarios. The fantasy aspect of the movie enriches the story of a main character rebelling. However, the fantasy is used in a way that we can relate to. One of the …show more content…
In many fairytales, disobedience is the act that sets the story in motion, however in Pans labyrinth, disobedience is outlined as a crucial and imperative value. There are many disobediences throughout the movie, such as that of the rebels, who aim to free Spain from the command of fascism. Also, there is the disobedience of Mercedes who works with the rebels and aids them in their fight against Vidal. Furthermore, another significant disobedience in the movie is that of Ofelia, who ultimately questions and neglects the commands of her mother, captain Vidal and even the Fauno when she explicitly tells Ofelia not to eat any of the enormous feast that she will discover upon entering the pale man’s den. However, I believe the most effective and striking disobedience here is that displayed within the very text of the movie, where Del Toro’s use of powerful referencing comes into play. Here, Del Toro sets up many intertexts that make meaning, a matter of choice. For example, all the linking references in the pale man scene. Firstly, we have the table, that links back to the banquet scene earlier on in the movie, that sees the pale man sitting in the …show more content…
Throughout the movie, Ofelia travels into a magical world which the viewer is uncertain exists. In this fairytale world, there is gloomy and powerful threats that continually make Ofilia challenge her girlhood as she has to repeatedly to tasks that even the strongest women would fear. Ofelia is obsessed with becoming a princess and being transported to this blissful world that the Fauno has told her about, where there are no terrors from her step-father. However, Ofelia is met with the classic contest of good vs evil, as she has to save her baby brother from a life of torment with Capitan Vidal. She successfully does this however; she pays the ultimate price as she ends up paying with her life. She is then transported into a magical hall with bright lights and grand designs, where her parents welcome her home. This is where we realize that she is now in a place of virtue and purity and that she has overcome all the evil in her life. David Freeman backs this up in his Article where he concludes that “in a war torn between good and evil, there is not place for innocence. For no one is innocent; you must, like even the seemingly apolitical Mercedes and the Doctor, choose a side. This message lightened a little by the revelation that innocence is alive somewhere, even if it isn’t here”. This confirms the point that for
The left door which they entered was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, they ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their way.They could hear something breathing heavily which didn't sound human. Tyson pushed the boulder blocking the place where they could hear the heavy breathing and soon Annabeth realized they were in Alcatraz so she told the group about it.
The movie the Labyrinth tells a story about a group of unlikely heroes trying to make their way though a maze in order to defeat the Goblin King. The story starts out with the main character Sarah whom, without even realizing it, wishes her baby brother to be taken way by Jareth the Goblin King. He tells her that if she wants her brother back she will have to make her way through the labyrinth and to the castle beyond the Goblin City. She only has 13 hours to complete the seemingly impossible task or her little brother Toby will be turned into a goblin. While making her way through the twisted and endless maze Sarah runs into many weird characters. The first person she encounters is Hoggle a very untrustworthy dwarf whom is under the influence of Jareth. He is selfish and does things only if there is something for him to gain. He betrays Sarah many times throughout the movie, but in the end he proves himself to be more than a traitorous coward. Ludo is a yeti and despite looking vicious is a gentle and caring monster. Ludo also has the power to control rocks. Sir Didymis is a loudmouthed, but noble knight who displays his valor throughout the movie. The four heroes manage to fight their way through the perilous labyrinth. The Goblin King Jareth is defeated and Sarah’s brother Toby is saved. Though the characters in this movie seemed to be nothing more than ordinary, and if not odd, they fought their way through labyrinth and conquered an entire army of evil goblins and their king. (Labyrinth 1986)
Are friends the best resources when in need? Yes, no? Well in these stories they are. Like in Harry Potter, he used his friends all the time like when he is wondering Voldemort is still really still alive who are the people that he comes to…his friends. Or in The Maze Runner Thomas when thomas is wondering about if he should go out in the maze and face the greevier’s. Who are the people that he goes to...his friends! In these two stories Harry Potter and The Maze Runner there are some similarities, but there are also some differences.
Primo Levi once said, " Human memory is a marvelous but fallacious instrument. The memories which lie within us are not carved in stone; not only do they tend to become erased as the years go by, but often they change, or even increase by incorporating extraneous features.." The memory of a human being is a fascinating matter, but it is not something that stays with us forever. Memories will often change or multiply with unnecessary information, but they are what define you as you.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) written and directed by Guillermo del Toro is a dark fantasy film that uses fantasy and inspired true events of the after effects of the Spanish Civil War to create a symbolic parable that was influenced by fairy tales and myths. Even though this film is explicitly about the times during Franco it is also a film that can speak for any time period, past, present, and future. Through the use of phantasmagorical elements in the fantasy sequences del Toro uses doubling to reinforce the horrific events that have and can happen again in reality. The film takes place five years after the Spanish Civil War during Francisco Franco’s reign of terror. The story focuses on Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) as well as Ofelia’s evil stepfather, Captain Vidal (Sergi Lopez). Both characters represent something bigger than they actually are; Ofelia is seen to represent Spain and the antifascists whereas Captain Vidal represents Franco and fascism. Ofelia has to complete three daunting tasks given to her by the Faun (Doug Jones) that is said to reunite her with her family, the King and Queen of the Underworld. Del Toro uses doubling of the mythical realm with the ‘real world’ throughout the film that emphasizes the underlying meaning of the film. The film also follows the story of the anti-fascists rebels that are hidden amongst the trees and mountains. The character Mercedes (Maribel Verdu) is able to fool Captain Vidal for most of the film and help the rebels. It is not until the near end of the film where Captain Vidal realizes that Mercedes has been helping the rebels the entire time and it is due partly because of his misogyny that he is unable to see her as a threat to his cause.
Her mother gave her hope and was the one who introduced her to fairy tales. So having that ripped out of her by Captain Vidal made her dislike him more. All she saw in him was a domineering, almost inhuman man who only serves to make her current situation miserable all the more. So, wondering into the labyrinth of her own accord and at the same time going against what she was told not to do. This is where she encounters the faun who gives her a book that shows her the three tasks she must accomplish in order to return to her rightful world. This, in turn, empowers her to become her own hero, and distancing from the stereotype that every princess needs a prince to rescue her. So, when the faun came to her asking her to bring her recently born brother to the labyrinth, which she obeyed in spite of her nature to go against what is usually mandated of her. Here, one can speculate that Ofelia is her own person, having finished all tasks on her own without help from a male lead, which most films monopolize on nowadays in order to validate its success. Ofelia is choosing her own path through her own choices. She is not a pretty girl in need of a man to save her because she is saving herself, as shown by the outcome when Captain Vidal shoots her. As she lays dying, a small, fading smile plays on her lips as Mercedes hums a lullaby, holding Ofelia; her return to where she originated from certain when she decides not to “shed the
“Fear me,love me,do as I say,I’ll be your slave” says Jareth The Goblin King from the Labyrinth. By using irony, the author of a story can create a surprising events. Authors use multiple kinds of irony to make stories more surprising.
Like all the fairy tale will have a happy ending. "Pan 's Labyrinth" is no exception, but this layer of happiness is immersed in the bitter and depressed in the deep. Too much blood and tears, too many memories, too much darkness. Ofelia finally found her parents, returned to the eternal sweet home, but not one can really happy together. A fairy tale is hope, is the dream, is the comfort, is the ideal country. "Pan 's Labyrinth" is such a fairy tale, Ofelia through the murky darkness of the labyrinth find her happiness, just as experienced the cruel history 's Spanish people. Guillermo applied a metaphor in the end. The end of the tragedy is the film 's surface cover, in essence, is the protagonist Ophelia 's comedy
...f this saga, the splendid portrayal of characters, the use of spiritual elements, and the historical
The film Pan’s Labyrinth, has several common concepts with Joseph Campbell’s theory on heroes in Hero with a Thousand Faces. His theory emphasizes on tests that show their moral and basic instincts for the rite of passage to their threshold, in this case, the underworld. Campbell’s theory is a concept that surrounds an individual’s journey to heroism. This concept pertains to Ophelia due to her circumstances as a child who ventures out on thresholds, tests, and so forth. Campbell’s depiction relates to Ophelia as he describes the levels in which one must attain and accept as a female heroine. Furthermore, his theory exaggerates on the making of a hero to the resurrection in terms of physical and spiritual transformation. Ophelia’s character depicts a hero who has been resurrected as a human. Thus, she begins her journey to cross the threshold, “pass from the everyday world in the world of adventure,” (Campbell). There are many stages in the film that depicts Ophelia’s introduction to the stages of being a hero. More so, it focuses on tasks, which Ophelia must pass or fail in order to determine her role in the film; Princess of the Underworld or just a human soul. This is lead by the faun who simply reassures a place of ‘paradise’ for Ophelia only with her cooperation to listen and follow her morals.
The story of Jason and the Argonauts’ quest for the golden fleece and his ultimately ill fated love affair with Medea is told with stunning, sometimes humorously self-referential, deceptive simplicity. Right from the start, Argonautika pulls the audience in its prologue with chants of dramatic events, leaving the spectators with a desire for more. The heroes who make up the crew
I unwilllingly walked through the entrance of regret and guilt. With teary eyes from what happened the night before, I didn’t know what I could say. All I thought was ‘It was an accident’ but that didn’t matter anymore.
Many other characters alter his viewpoint of the world. Some of these characters die, one is a murderer, and another introduces him to local myths. The heroine in Pan’s Labyrinth is Ofelia, a girl trapped in the middle of a revolution and escapes into a world of fairytales through books and imagination. Ofelia’s mother, Carmen, is pregnant and very sick. Under the influence of her husband, she encourages her daughter to stop reading childhood fantasies and to obey her new husband....
Obedience is thought to be a high moral standard which we are to follow. On the other hand, disobedience is considered a moral flaw, wrongness, or something you just should not do. When your mother says that you can’t eat cookies for dinner, how likely are you to listen? This is an act of disobedience.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner is a science fiction novel that includes action and thriller. The novel is about a sixteen year old boy named Thomas who wakes up with no memory from where he came from or who he is or what he was doing there and in a metal cage box surrounded by many teenage boys looking at him weirdly. Throughout the novel there is many science-fiction themes and characteristics displayed such as futuristic technology, alien, robot like creatures environmental and social changes also unrealistic and fictional events.