Archetypes In Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth
ENG4UI-05
Mr. Amoroso
September 29
2014
Billy McPherson

Pan’s Labyrinth
An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype is how the dictionary defines an archetype. In the movie Pan’s Labyrinth it characterizes strong elements of both romance and irony. When analyzing the plot, characters, symbols, and scenes of the movie, it shows these element throughout the whole duration. Ofelia, our archetypal hero shows how the movie has both a romance and ironic plot. First off, the setting is in Spain 1944, where a civil war had just ended and fascism had conquered. Now this meant that Spain wasn’t in the best shape and definitely was not an innocent country. It’s quite ironic that amidst
all the fighting and war the only sense of innocence came from Ofelia. We never quite know in detail, what happened before she and her mother Carmen went to live with her step-father Captain Vidal. On the road towards Vidal’s mountain hideaway Carmen becomes sick and stops the car. This allows Ofelia to take her first steps on her journey. She finds a mysterious stone on the ground and places it into a statue a few feet away. It was a statue of a Faun, and the placement of his eye into the statue marked the beginning of Ofelia’s magical quest. There is a big importance on eyes and sight in the movie and it really tells us from that point that not everyone has the eyes to see the invisible world she is about to experience. This idea completely contrasts Captain Vidal as he is someone who punctures the eyes of others and does not believe in what cannot be physically seen. Ofelia quickly realizes that no one believes her and no one seems to believe in the magic, making her journey a lonely one. As soon as the car arrives at the house, we can already see the first glimpse of Captain Vidal and his pocket watch. He is absolutely obsessed with the idea of time and order. Everything must be perfect and on time. Ofelia steps out of the car and goes to shake the Captains hand with her left hand. He squeezes her hand and yells at her to have proper manners. I would say that Captain Vidal is the devil figure in this movie. He is a cruel individual that dispenses horrendous violence against a villager he feels is showing disrespect to him, and engaging in the chilling torture of a captured rebel. Vidal is quite similar to Cronus, the Greek god of time, death and harvesting. Cronus has also been called father time which again brings back the point of Vidal always checking his watch. Everyone fears him even his own men. He’s a clear representation of Spanish fascism and on a different level he represents the oppressive world around him that most people take part in without questioning what they’re doing. The doctor realizes that he had been obeying just for the sake of obeying and that only men like Vidal could do such a thing. The doctor had broken free of the oppressive figure and liberated himself even though he was killed for it. Just like the doctor, Ofelia will need to liberate herself from her oppressive father figure, who in this case represents the devil to achieve her initiation. But we cannot forget the idea of time. Everything about Vidal is all about time. It is clear that the rigid conformity is symbolized by both the handshake at the start and every time he checks his watch. Not to mention the fact that his office walls are waterwheels and gears, which is very similar to the inside of a clock. This obsession of time parallels with his obsession of death, though Vidal cannot admit it. He actually denies it at the dinner party but his entire existence is basically reduced to the story of his father, who died and broke the watch. Vidal knows that he is just living to die. He’s counting the minutes and seconds and hates himself for it. We can see this when he runs up the hill and says “this is the only decent way to die” and he also slices at his reflection in his mirror while shaving. It actually seems like he wants to die.
Ofelia was confronted by a “fairy” who led her to the middle of the Labyrinth in which she met the Faun. Now in Greek mythology, fauns and the god Pan, were very similar. They were both half-man half goat, bearing the hindquarters, legs and horns of a goat. Pan, was the god of nature, shepherds and flocks. The faun in the movie becomes a shepherd and in this case guides Ofelia through her actual and figurative Labyrinth she must undergo. So it’s quite obvious that the faun appears as the mentor in the movie and helps Ofelia get back to her true father. I can safely assume that the faun in Pan’s Labyrinth, is actually Pan. Despite, the faun’s monstrous appearance, he is actually the only one in Ofelia’s life that actually understands her desire to become more and to reach her full potential. So the faun tells Ofelia that in order to get back to the Underworld, she must complete 3 tasks to prove that she has not become a human. Now, back to the time element. Vidal’s time clock isn’t the only one going on. The clock that really drives the movie is that what Ofelia must follow. Her 3 tasks must be finished by the time the full moon arrives. Her first task is to retrieve a golden key from the belly of a toad that lives under the roots of a tree. The image of the tree is very similar to that of an image of a uterus. So she is basically returning to the womb in a sense. The ground is also damp and moist symbolizing once again the womb giver of life. The fact that she must defeat a toad that is blocking the tree from growing symbolizes the idea of breaking out of the oppressiveness and continuing her growth. Ofelia also sees in the book of crossroads the outline of a uterus that becomes red, predicting her mom’s problem. And as she leaves the bathroom, she sees her mother bleeding and crying for help. Then comes the 2nd task.
Ofelia must retrieve a dagger from the Pale man, but it is imperative that she does not eat anything, her life depends on it. She draws a door with chalk and enters his chamber. But she only has a limited time to complete this task before the door closes. As she enters Ofelia sees stacks of shoes and pictures of the Pale Man eating children. This is another representation of Cronus. The Pale Man is a brutal representation of the oppressive figures of Ofelia’s world, mainly Captain Vidal, Spanish Fascism and the Catholic Church. To explain this further the scene of Vidal having dinner with his guests, including a Catholic priest, is shown at the same time, in which nobody dares to question the Captain’s cruel motives. As Ofelia goes over to the 3 doors in the wall, the fairies are pointing to the middle one which is the flashiest one. Instead she goes against them and opens the old ratty door. This symbolizes the flashiness of our world and that what is most important to us might not be in the prettiest door. Ofelia manages to retrieve the dagger, but on her way out she cannot resist the temptation of eating a big juicy grape. This symbolizes the wealth accumulated by the oppressive figures in the movie. This awakes the Pale Man who instantly places his eyeballs in his hands and starts chasing
Ofelia. The Faun was very angry at Ofelia for falling for the temptation of the real world and told her that she could never return to the underworld because she had failed.
This is a low point in the movie. She is alone and scared. She must now face the real world and experience war torment and sadness. She also had to deal with the death of her mother while giving birth. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse, the faun reappeared and gave Ofelia another chance. She was told to take her new baby brother into the Labyrinth at night, which she did and to complete her initiation and open the portal to the underworld she must spare a few drops of innocent blood. But she refuses. Then Vidal comes in and takes the baby back and shoots Ofelia. This causes drops of her own blood to fall into the Labyrinth and open the portal completing her final task
self-sacrifice. I would say that Mercedes is the earth mother in this movie because she is very protective and warming towards Ofelia. She is definitely a mother figure and bears good feelings of home, family and heritage. Not to mention that she is always around when Ofelia is feeling down or sad. The Pale Man would be the Creature of Nightmare because he threatens Ofelia during her task and is a complete perversion of the human body. Ofelia also wore white a lot, symbolizing good and pure. She also wore a green dress when she was doing the 1st task and this symbolizes growth, sensation, hope and fertility.
The grapes also symbolize the forbidden fruit in terms of Adam and Eve and the same mindset of “I thought that nobody would notice”. The number 3 also appears a lot. There were 3 tasks, 3 magical rocks and 3 locked doors. The number 3 represents light, and spiritual awareness and unity. The eternal Life rose story can be interpreted differently but I think it resembles Spain. The people in the story talking about this rose are the people of Spain and the flower is their political freedom. But the thorns are in the way. The thorns represent the fascist regime blocking Spain from being free. It is also ironic that she is to be princess of the underworld. The underworld is usually seen as a hellish place but in this film it’s the complete opposite.
The anima in Pans Labyrinth would be Mercedes because she has many of the traits of the anima. Mainly her desire to make an emotional connection to Ofelia. She also tries to save her from the evil of Captain Vidal. The Animus in Pans Labyrinth would be Captain Vidal because he is very aggressive and barbaric. He also seems to be a very physical person. He is also very violent. The shadow figure would be the pale man because he is a monstrous figure who is really the darkest part of each of the characters.
Pan’s Labyrinth includes both a romantic and ironic plot pattern that is shown using all of the different symbols and characters. It is really about 2 different stories happening at the same time. One side is war torn and the other is a journey to the light.

Bibliography http://www.ballpoint.org/greekgods/cronos.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)
http://integr8-sciencethesacred.blogspot.ca/2010/11/pans-labyrinth-archetypal-psyche.html