Pan's Labyrinth

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Pan’s labyrinth is a dark-fantasy film. It combines elements of fantasy with elements of the horror genre: such as fairies, monsters and blood. The director uses these elements in order to create a successful, but at the same time it shows the brutality of the historical context. The fantastic world in which Ofelia seeks refuge is conceived to look both as a way to escape from the reality and as a metaphor of the reality. The director creates an imaginary world using several devices. The first one is the use of color. It is clear since the beginning that the color choice is different for the two worlds. Warm colors belong to the fantasy while cold ones belong to the reality. Golden, amber and red tones are used to suggest a ‘womb-like’…show more content…
The most obvious reference is made to Alice in Wonderland, Ofelia is dressed in the same way as Alice. As the last one falls down the rabbit hole, Ofelia also embarks on a journey to discover herself and the unknown inside the tree. Both of them face growth, change and self-discovery. Another element present in both Alice in Wonderland and Pan’s labyrinth is the banquet. It is an important element in the film in order to create a parallelism between the two worlds. Both tables, the one in the reality and the one in the fantasy, are in the same position and the scenes were shot in the same way. The table is a symbol of the greed of both world and it connects the brutality and monstrosity of Captain Vidal and Pale Man. Both of them are bloodthirsty as they eat off people’s blood. With the Pale Man is more evident because he literally eats people. The banquet is highlighted in both cases by the use of the lights in the center of scene. It has to be reminded that the film is set in 1944, people were starving because of the war but the high ranks of the society could still afford to waste food Other elements that the film has in common with Alice in Wonderland are the labyrinth and the pocket watch. The labyrinth itself is an important element since it both part of the title, end and climax of the film. It is a metaphor since it represents the…show more content…
The Pal man is the clear representation of Cronus, he is bloodthirsty and thanks to Goya’s painting he is depicted as a real monster. While in Goya’s painting ‘Saturn devouring his children’ Cronus (or Saturn in the Roman mythology) eats his own children, in the film the Pale Man devours the fairies who were supposed to lead Ofelia. Both the painting and the mythology act as a metaphor for the darkness that surrounds the Pale Man, it is a common element in horror movies and it highlights the unknown and the fear of it. In Pan’s Labyrinth it can be also seen as a metaphor of the Pale Man blindness and at the same time it refers to the need of open the eyes to see the harsh reality beyond
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