Sunday 27 May 2012

Pans Labyrinth Case Study


Eclecticism: The idea for Pans Labyrinth came to Guillermo Del Toro, through various sources such as his own notebooks but the film was influenced by his own work, "The Devils Backbone, Lewis Carroll's books-Alice in Wonderland, Jorge Luis Borges Ficciones, Arthur Machens "The Great God Pan" and he was influenced by Arthur Racham's illustrations and he gained the idea of the character of the faun from childhood experiences with lucid dreaming. In the film, Pans Labyrinth Guillermo Del Toro used some computer generated imagery in the effects but mostly used make-up and animatronics. 

Parody: This can be applied to Pan's Labyrinth for instance we see Captain Vidal criticising the resistance and their political ideologies for a democratic Spain.
Bricolage: It could be argued that there is bricolage in the film as Del Toro uses a combination of warfare associated with The Devils Backbone and both narratives are identical and Del Toro uses Roman and Greek mythology and combines them with Alice in Wonderland, this shows that Del Toro is able to use other pieces of influences but he uses it in away that's essential to characterization of the character and context of the narrative which Ofelia's story is constructed which results in the audience who are familar with his characters and narratives, if they have seen Del Toro's films already.
Acts against modernism: I would say that Pans Labyrinth acts against modernism when we see Ofelia put something underneath her mothers bed to help her get better but before this we see the doctor giving Carmen getting more ill even when given medicine it doesn't work but when Ofelia puts something under her bed she becomes better but when the the thing underneath Carmen's bed is found and killed after this Carmen eventually dies. Another example would be that of the book which helps Ofelia learn the future.
Nostalgic: Pans Labyrinth could be considered to be nostalgic as it celebrates the defeat of fascism by the resistance forces in the Spanish Civil war. In Pan's Labyrinth, Othelia's story operates within the framework of the Spanish civil war aftermath in which rebels fight against the fascists and gain back the Spain they were so loyal to. Othelia's personal experience mirrors this as she longs for the happy childhood she once knew before having to adjust to her paranoid and sadistic stepfather and the surrounding chaos. To cope with her personal experience under fascism in Spain, she imagines herself as a protagonist who imagines herself in her own fairy tale despite being told by her mother not to believe in them any more. In the film, Othelia constructs an alternate reality which also her brother confines in another reality without knowing about the reality of warfare in the Spanish civil war. I would also say that it celebrates Ofelia coming back to her kingdom such as when we see the King and queen of the underworld we see it as a reference to Alice in Wonderland.   
Narcissistic: I would say that the postmodern characteristic of narcissism is conveyed in Pans Labyrinth when we see the scene where the various characters are seen sitting around the table which involves the characters of Carmen (Ofelia's mother) and Captain Vidal, one of the characters ask Carmen and Captain Vidal how they met, Carmen then mentions how they met and she puts her hand on Captain Vidal's hand, he then pulls his hand away showing how self indulgent he is and how he only cares for himself and not for Carmen's or Ofelia's life. Vanity is also shown by Ofelia when she's doing a task where she has to open a door but eats a bit of forbidden fruit which a fairy tries to stop her but she pushes her away and causes the monster to wake up, which puts herself in danger and two of the faries get eaten which conveys how narcissistic she is.
An active audience: This can be applied to Pans Labyrinth because at the start of the film, we find out that Ofelia is a princess of the underworld but didn't know this before because she lost memory of her identity. What I found those was that when viewing the last scene from the film, that when she is killed by her step father we're wondering whether she be able to gain the identity and freedom she lost from her mortal existence but as an audience we're thinking what will happen in the Spanish civil war etc, this mode of address is used as the director is expecting the audience to know about the Spanish civil war.
Hyper-conscious: I would say that Pan's Labyrinth, is aware of itself because when we first hear a narrator telling the audience about Ofelia/princess Moanna who escaped her bodyguards and fell into humanity in which she forgets about her previous identity but its only when she gets told by the Faun that she was a princess but I would say that it only becomes self aware when Ofelia actually comes to the kingdom that she's able to embrace her own identity.

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