Pan's Labyrinth: Crash Course Film Criticism #9
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Date: 2022-04-04
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Comments and reviews: 10
bc
When analyzing the alignment of the faun, it-s important to remember that he never wanted Ofelia to be obedient. At the end, he reveals that she passed the test by not sacrificing her brother, and in the second trial, the knife is found in the one she chooses herself, not the one the fairies direct her to. Even the first trial, I believe she was told to -shove the rocks down into the toad-s mouth- which she also ended up not doing, instead tricking it into eating the stones. All that taken into consideration, I think it-s plausible that the faun wanted her to agitate the Pale Man. After all, if you can pass the trials by completing 2 out of 3, it-s not a good test. But why would he want her to anger the Pale Man? I think it, as well as everything else he does, is to teach Ofelia disobedience. He-s preparing her to be a leader, and if she accepts commands without question, she will expect her people to do the same. She has to wake the Pale Man, so that the faun can get angry with her, so they can see if she remains rebellious even when there-s backlash. As we can tell from Vidal, obedience leads to tyranny and fascism, and if Ofelia is obedient without thought, she will be a tyrannical and fascist leader.
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When analyzing the alignment of the faun, it-s important to remember that he never wanted Ofelia to be obedient. At the end, he reveals that she passed the test by not sacrificing her brother, and in the second trial, the knife is found in the one she chooses herself, not the one the fairies direct her to. Even the first trial, I believe she was told to -shove the rocks down into the toad-s mouth- which she also ended up not doing, instead tricking it into eating the stones. All that taken into consideration, I think it-s plausible that the faun wanted her to agitate the Pale Man. After all, if you can pass the trials by completing 2 out of 3, it-s not a good test. But why would he want her to anger the Pale Man? I think it, as well as everything else he does, is to teach Ofelia disobedience. He-s preparing her to be a leader, and if she accepts commands without question, she will expect her people to do the same. She has to wake the Pale Man, so that the faun can get angry with her, so they can see if she remains rebellious even when there-s backlash. As we can tell from Vidal, obedience leads to tyranny and fascism, and if Ofelia is obedient without thought, she will be a tyrannical and fascist leader.
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Cabbolf
The -fairy tale world- is supposed to be real in the context of the film. I can prove it. [SPOILERS] In the scene where the rebels burst into the room in which Ophelia had been imprisoned, they find she has already escaped. There's a short, -blink and you miss it- shot wherein the camera pans (hahaha) down to show a chalk door like the one Ophelia had used earlier. She is not in this scene to be imagining that door, and the fact the camera pans down to it makes it very clear that its absence was not to an oversight in the production. The only reasonable conclusion in light of this is that she did indeed escape through the magical door she had made, and if that part of the film is -real- then the other elements must be as well.
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The -fairy tale world- is supposed to be real in the context of the film. I can prove it. [SPOILERS] In the scene where the rebels burst into the room in which Ophelia had been imprisoned, they find she has already escaped. There's a short, -blink and you miss it- shot wherein the camera pans (hahaha) down to show a chalk door like the one Ophelia had used earlier. She is not in this scene to be imagining that door, and the fact the camera pans down to it makes it very clear that its absence was not to an oversight in the production. The only reasonable conclusion in light of this is that she did indeed escape through the magical door she had made, and if that part of the film is -real- then the other elements must be as well.
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Chup
3: 50: Okay, all these years later, and I didn't know about the 'flower' ending.
When I went to see the movie, I came to the conclusion that I had just been -Jacob's Ladder--ed. AGAIN!
In other words, I thought all the magical stuff was just something her dying mind had conjured to make her passing easier. in retrospect there was probably enough info to prove that not true, but I was just still pissed, so walked out, and never thought of it again until now.
That being said, it was my first exposure to Del Toro (and his long time friend Doug Jones, who has appeared in a lot of Fantasy/Sci-Fi stuff since then.
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3: 50: Okay, all these years later, and I didn't know about the 'flower' ending.
When I went to see the movie, I came to the conclusion that I had just been -Jacob's Ladder--ed. AGAIN!
In other words, I thought all the magical stuff was just something her dying mind had conjured to make her passing easier. in retrospect there was probably enough info to prove that not true, but I was just still pissed, so walked out, and never thought of it again until now.
That being said, it was my first exposure to Del Toro (and his long time friend Doug Jones, who has appeared in a lot of Fantasy/Sci-Fi stuff since then.
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monkeygoesbananas
I wish I could believe that Ofelia really did survive and live eternally in the underworld, but saying that someone -returned to the kingdom of their father- is a common euphemism for death in many cultures, so I imagine the fairy tale was only an allegory for her situation, a way for her to wrap her mind around things that are unfathomable to her as a child. She was always going to die. That's the point - war is cruel, senseless, and people die for no good reason.
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I wish I could believe that Ofelia really did survive and live eternally in the underworld, but saying that someone -returned to the kingdom of their father- is a common euphemism for death in many cultures, so I imagine the fairy tale was only an allegory for her situation, a way for her to wrap her mind around things that are unfathomable to her as a child. She was always going to die. That's the point - war is cruel, senseless, and people die for no good reason.
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Juci
I love Pans' Labyrinth, because it shows my grandfathers' homeland as it truly was during his time there and why he had to escape to Cuba. My grandfather and others like him would appreciate this film more so than US audience who have no idea of Spaniard History. I am not saying US people don't know anything of it, just that it is different when you are from that country and experienced that regime first hand.
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I love Pans' Labyrinth, because it shows my grandfathers' homeland as it truly was during his time there and why he had to escape to Cuba. My grandfather and others like him would appreciate this film more so than US audience who have no idea of Spaniard History. I am not saying US people don't know anything of it, just that it is different when you are from that country and experienced that regime first hand.
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panzerfausto
I went to watch the film in a cinema in London with a spanish friend very introverted and shy guy. He got so upset with the fascist smashing the bottle of wine in the face of the old man that he shouted -Hijo de Puta! - at the top of his lungs. Later he told me it was totally impulsive and couldn't believe he did that in a packed cinema: D
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I went to watch the film in a cinema in London with a spanish friend very introverted and shy guy. He got so upset with the fascist smashing the bottle of wine in the face of the old man that he shouted -Hijo de Puta! - at the top of his lungs. Later he told me it was totally impulsive and couldn't believe he did that in a packed cinema: D
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Daniel
This movie is perhaps the ONLY spanish-speaking, non-dubbed movie that I love. And I'm from Argentina, so hearing spanish is pretty common here (but my distain for dubs comes from poorly dubbed anime of the nineties, Disney's dubbed movies on the contrary, are quite good. I think I like Del Toro's work, though.
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This movie is perhaps the ONLY spanish-speaking, non-dubbed movie that I love. And I'm from Argentina, so hearing spanish is pretty common here (but my distain for dubs comes from poorly dubbed anime of the nineties, Disney's dubbed movies on the contrary, are quite good. I think I like Del Toro's work, though.
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crash_course
Personally, I think it's so easy to say that all the supernatural things in this movie are a metaphor, Ofelia's coping mechanism.
I would counter that in Del Toro's other works, the supernatural is undeniably (in universe) real, so not here?
I mean, was the Fish Man in Shape of Water a metaphor?
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Personally, I think it's so easy to say that all the supernatural things in this movie are a metaphor, Ofelia's coping mechanism.
I would counter that in Del Toro's other works, the supernatural is undeniably (in universe) real, so not here?
I mean, was the Fish Man in Shape of Water a metaphor?
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crys
this was my favorite movie when i was 3, i always remembered it but not the name so i googled the plot and found it, i do remember how much i hated the pale man scene and i still do hate it probably from trauma from when i was 3 lol but i have no clue why this was my favorite movie
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this was my favorite movie when i was 3, i always remembered it but not the name so i googled the plot and found it, i do remember how much i hated the pale man scene and i still do hate it probably from trauma from when i was 3 lol but i have no clue why this was my favorite movie
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Julianna
I view the Captain as the pale man especially towards the end where he got shot in the face and his eye rolled back that kinda makes me think that he turned into the pale man somehow and the faun makes me this of the maid who-s always with the little girl I forgot their names
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I view the Captain as the pale man especially towards the end where he got shot in the face and his eye rolled back that kinda makes me think that he turned into the pale man somehow and the faun makes me this of the maid who-s always with the little girl I forgot their names
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