Pan's Labyrinth Analysis
Pan’s Labyrinth
Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro delivers a unique, richly imagined epic with Pan’s Labyrinth released in 2006, a gothic fairy tale set against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain. Del Toro's sixth and most ambitious film, Pan’s Labyrinth harnesses the formal characteristics of classic folklore to a 20th Century period. Del Toro portrays a child as the key character, to communicate that children minds are not cemented. Children avoid reality through the subconscious imagination which is untainted by a grown-up person, so through a point of an innocent child more is captured. The film showcases what the imagination can do as a means of escape to comfort the physical trials one goes through in reality. The protagonist of the film, a twelve year old girl named Ofelia avoids the problems she faces by embarking on a dark and puzzling journey that requires her to fulfill three dangerous tasks in order to reveal the truth of her lineage as the long-lost princess of the underworld similar to that of a person trying to escape a labyrinth and the challenges they face and overcoming them. This was the case for Ofelia who had to go through many challenging tasks that tested her in order for her to realize her true nature: love, respect for life and honor. The film explores the imaginative journey through the eyes of a child by the use of visual effects and techniques used to capture scenes, along with foreshadowing and the creative use of symbolism in human or object form.
Ofelia uses her imagination as an escape because there are no feelings inclining her to stay in the real world. Del Toro creates the change in the imaginary world using a variety of film and visual techniques. The changes in lighting occur when a transition from the imaginary world to reality are evidently seen. When exposed to the corruption and violence of the insensitive reality, the lighting is presented in a cold harsh light that is grey and feels
Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro delivers a unique, richly imagined epic with Pan’s Labyrinth released in 2006, a gothic fairy tale set against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain. Del Toro's sixth and most ambitious film, Pan’s Labyrinth harnesses the formal characteristics of classic folklore to a 20th Century period. Del Toro portrays a child as the key character, to communicate that children minds are not cemented. Children avoid reality through the subconscious imagination which is untainted by a grown-up person, so through a point of an innocent child more is captured. The film showcases what the imagination can do as a means of escape to comfort the physical trials one goes through in reality. The protagonist of the film, a twelve year old girl named Ofelia avoids the problems she faces by embarking on a dark and puzzling journey that requires her to fulfill three dangerous tasks in order to reveal the truth of her lineage as the long-lost princess of the underworld similar to that of a person trying to escape a labyrinth and the challenges they face and overcoming them. This was the case for Ofelia who had to go through many challenging tasks that tested her in order for her to realize her true nature: love, respect for life and honor. The film explores the imaginative journey through the eyes of a child by the use of visual effects and techniques used to capture scenes, along with foreshadowing and the creative use of symbolism in human or object form.
Ofelia uses her imagination as an escape because there are no feelings inclining her to stay in the real world. Del Toro creates the change in the imaginary world using a variety of film and visual techniques. The changes in lighting occur when a transition from the imaginary world to reality are evidently seen. When exposed to the corruption and violence of the insensitive reality, the lighting is presented in a cold harsh light that is grey and feels