Pan's Labyrinth: Film Analysis

Sarah Boeving
Comp 2, Section A
Ms. Susan Trudeau
February 3rd, 2014
The non-default family Family is typically seen as a grouping of a mother, father and their biological kid(s). Still, there are many different families out there that are much more abstract from that grouping. Personally, I believe that there isn 't a default family, just like there is no such thing as pure perfection. There will always be flaws as well as positives, we all just see them differently. Ofelia 's family in Pan 's Labyrinth is a rather flawed family, yet it has its small advantages. Mainly the difference between blood and non blood “relatives” is apparent in this movie which I believed to be an interesting family. Pan 's Labyrinth starts out with Ofelia, her mother
and her unborn brother moving to a house in post-Civil War Spain in 1944. Ofelia 's father died during the war so Carmen, Ofelia 's mother, marries Captain Vidal, who is the father of Carmen 's unborn child, thus the stepfather of Ofelia. Fairy-tales play a large role in Ofelia 's life and she ends up finding a stick-bug which she believes to be a fairy. Ofelia is led to the entrance of a labyrinth but is stopped by Mercedes, one of Vidal 's maids whom is a spy for the rebels of the Civil War. During the night Ofelia sees the fairy again and is led to the labyrinth where she meets a faun. The faun claims that she is a princess and must complete three tasks to enter her kingdom. In the meantime, Vidal 's nature is revealed when he kills two farmers who he suspected as being spies when they were clearly innocent. The next day Ofelia completes the first task of getting a key from the belly of a toad and is worried about her mother 's condition due to the pregnancy. The faun gives Ofelia a mandrake root to help with her mother which soothes her sickness and pain. Ofelia starts to develop a friendship with Mercedes, who indulges Ofelia 's love for fairy-tales. For the next task, the faun warns Ofelia to not eat any of the food she see 's in the secret chamber but while retrieving the key she ends up eating a grape anyways. The faun is infuriated and refuses to give her the next task. All the while, Captain Vidal becomes much more vicious and tortures a prisoner and kills the doctor who put said prisoner out of his misery. Vidal catches Ofelia taking care of the mandrake root which Carmen throws into the fire, thinking her to be childish. Carmen starts to scream in agony as the root burns and dies during labor. After the funeral Vidal discovers Mercedes is a spy and believes Ofelia is associated with her. Mercedes is tied up and Ofelia is locked in her room. The faun gives Ofelia one more chance to prove herself. He tells her to grab her brother and a dagger and come to the labyrinth. Ofelia sedates Vidal and takes her brother, running to the labyrinth. The faun reveals that Ofelia must use the blood of an innocent to return to her kingdom. Ofelia refuses to kill her brother and Vidal catches up with her, taking her brother and shooting her in the head. As soon as Vidal leaves the labyrinth the rebels are waiting for him as well as Mercedes who shoots him in the head. Mercedes finds Ofelia 's body and weeps but hums a song which Ofelia enjoyed earlier. Originally I believe Ofelia did actually fit the stereotype of being a member of a “modern family.” But with the death of her father, her relations became quite different. Throughout the movie we see that Ofelia is off in her “own little world” which her blood mother doesn 't quite understand, believing that Ofelia should have grown out of it by then (especially for the time, 10 years-olds were expected to be mature) Because of this, Carmen and Ofelia are rather distant from each other expect for a few moments when Carmen tells Ofelia- “The captain has been so good to us...
Please, Ofelia, call him father. It 's just a word, Ofelia, just a word” Clearly Carmen see 's a great future for her and Ofelia and throughout the movie wishes that Ofelia felt the same. Carmen seems fairly patient until she discovers the mandrake root which she throws into a fire while saying- “You 're getting older, and you 'll see that life isn 't like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place. And you 'll learn that, even if it hurts.” At this point Carmen takes a big shift in character and eventually dies in labor which leaves a sour note on Ofelia. Captain Vidal, whom is Ofelia 's stepfather is a very harsh character. Vidal does not care for Ofelia and overlooks her completely as if she is simply Carmen 's shadow. Vidal is solely interested in his child which Carmen is bearing throughout the movie. When Carmen goes into labor he actually says that no matter what he wants his child to be saved, even if that means the death of Carmen. Not to mention before that he claims constantly that the child will be male, despite no one knowing the true gender of the child. While he does not care for Ofelia, he clearly cares for his unborn child and even arrogantly
claims- “I choose to be here because I want my son to be born in a new, clean Spain.“ In the end though, after he kills Ofelia, Mercedes takes his child from him claiming that the child will know absolutely nothing of him then kills him. Mercedes is not a character you see often in the movie but I would say she is one of the few positive influences in Ofelia 's life, unlike Vidal and Carmen. Mercedes caters to Ofelia 's bright imaginative nature, taking what Ofelia says calmly and honestly like- “My mother told me to be wary of fauns.” when Ofelia asks about fauns, wondering about the one she 's been doing tasks for in the labyrinth. Mercedes is shown to be protective of Ofelia. After the death of her mother Mercedes is seen holding onto Ofelia 's shoulders comfortingly. Even after Ofelia finds that Mercedes is a spy, she does not mind and actually wishes to go with Mercedes. As soon as both are captured, Mercedes escapes and cuts Vidal across the mouth saying “-Motherfucker... Don 't you dare touch the girl. You won 't be the first pig I 've gutted!” Mercedes quickly runs to the rebels to get their support for an attack and is distraught to find that Vidal killed Ofelia already. Calmly she shoots him in the head but finally breaks down for the first time in the movie at seeing Ofelia 's dead body. Knowing that Ofelia took comfort in her fairy-tales, Mercedes starts to hum the song which Ofelia enjoyed earlier. Mercedes could be seen as a motherly or even sisterly character and truthfully, in the end she was the only family that Ofelia had left. Mercedes was never a blood relation to Ofelia but was the one character that showed the most concern for her well-being, other than her mother. In class, I remember talking about how typically female individuals got along better and in the case of this movie I find it to be true. Most of Ofelia 's female “relatives” are the positive points in her life. It may have a relation to the times, but most of the male characters, like Captain Vidal, show little to no interest in Ofelia. Therefore Ofelia had to confide in her female relatives, in this case Mercedes, because her mother was too busy catering to Vidal 's “needs.” Ofelia 's family is certainly a negatively based one but I feel that Mercedes and even the rebels who don 't get much screen time, care a great deal about Ofelia despite not being blood relatives. Even Ofelia, who is only partially related to her baby brother refuses to kill him for her own gain which I believe shows how non-blood relatives can still care a great amount, with the one exception being Ofelia 's stepfather. A modern family, which is typically seen as having blood relations isn 't always the best case scenario for some like Ofelia. Like Ofelia, some people must adapt and find a new family and in this case I believe Ofelia 's family, which is made up of non-blood relatives suited her well for the short amount of time she had to live.

Citations:
“Pan 's Labyrinth Quotes” IMDb, np, 8th February, 2014
Susan Wloszczyna, “Surprises lurk inside 'Pan 's Labyrinth '” USA Today, USA Today, 9th February 2014.
Ben Nuckols, “Del Toro crafts a harrowing fairy tale.” Weekender, Starbeacon, 7th February 2014.
David Lamble, “The world of the Labyrinth” BayAreaReporter, Ebar, 9th February 2014.