Essay 4 Video

Pan's Labyrinth

Introduction

The film by Guillermo Del Toro takes place in two different realms, reality and fantasy. The transitions between the two would be difficult, however Del Toro‘s film has “extraordinary fluidity of movement between fantasy and reality” (Smith 5). The camera cuts between the two realms are seamless and natural. The film combines advance cinematography along with vast symbolism and meaning.

The Underworld

The underworld (underground realm) in the film is home to princess Moanna and her royal family. The mise en scene used in the presentation of this environment is done well. The realm is an obvious contrast to what we are used to or what we think of as the underworld. Edwards states that “traditional depiction an Underworld were emphatically masculine and adult space” (Edwards 142). The prop used in the underworld looks like medieval towers and buildings. The lighting in the first scene is dark and does not give a detail look of the realm. From watching the beginning of the film not much can be determine form the real, if it was a good or bad place is not known. I thought this realm throughout the film is depicted as middle ground to the masculine traditional ideals of the underworld and utterly “matriarchal, feminized” and colorful of Alice’s Wonderland (Edwards 142). Which why answer the question, of why did the princess runaway from this place where “lies, pain and ‘death’ occur outside its borders” (Edwards 142). The scene for the underworld in the beginning of the film was a wide shot of the realm as the camera moved across. All the scene minus the last one of the underworld had dark lighting that did not show the full environment.

Here is image of the first scene of the underworld (underground realm). From this image you cannot tell much about this realm, if it is a good or bad.

In contrast, Alice’s fantasy realm is colorful and is what people expect a fantasy to look like. From this image the realm looks like a peaceful and a good place.

The Faun

This half goat and half man creature, from Roman and Greek mythology, has a prominent role in the film. The Spanish title film is name after it, “El Laberinto del Fauno” or translated to “The Faun's Labyrinth”. The Faun's costume is marvelously designed from its curved horns it is lower goat extremities. Its face seems to be some look like sort of mask with graved “circular swirls” on it. It has a relatively smooth face and white eyes compare to the rough texture that make up the rest of the its body. Its body is covered with wood and other grass-like substances. It creaks like old wooden floor when it walks in the first scene, which would make it seem to be made of earth and other natural material rather than flesh. Its locomotion is ridge which farther correlates with its earthly make-up. The Faun’s costume and design make it seem like an ambiguous character, which we are not told or shown to trust. The Faun’s agenda are not known from the beginning. The sincerity “The Faun’s evocation of the fantastic realm to which Ofelia will return as Princess” is questionable (smith 9). I thought that the creature’s suspect nature is amplified by the creature appears. I action that is question about is the purpose of “the mandrake which Ofelia places beneath her mother’s bed and the Captain later discovers” (Smith 8). The mandrake that the Faun gives Ofelia seems to establish a link between the mother’s pregnancy with itself. And once this human resembling root was destroyed it signals the death of the mother or the child.

Here is an image of the Faun. you can see its goat like feature along with its Earth/Natural material make-up.

Here is a close up of the Fauns face,you can see the spirals in its face and also how smooth it is. While its body has a rough wooden make-up, which is visible in its arms and hands.

Work Cited

Edwards, Kim. "Alice's Little Sister: Exploring Pan's Labyrinth." Film as Text: 141-46, 49. Print.

Pan's Labyrinth. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. 2006. Film.

Smith, Paul. "Pan's Labyrinth." Film Quarterly 60.4 (2007): 4-9. Print

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