Topic > Pan's Labyrinth: Cultural Context and Cinematic Elements

The extract I have chosen is taken from the film Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and I will analyze it in terms of its social, geographical and historical context and then focus on how it uses cinematography, sound, editing, genre, mise-en-scène, symbols, narrative structure, themes and motifs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Pan's Labyrinth is set in 1936-1939 during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War was a military uprising against the republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received aid from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. There was one time in the film where we heard the rebels being called communists. The Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union, as well as from the International Brigades, composed of volunteers from Europe and the United States. The republicans were the Captain and his army. The geographical location of origin/setting of the film is in Spain. To be more precise, these are the woods. It was near a water source and it looked like a river. In the film politics plays a huge role, in the film there was the Captain and his army who were made to look like bad guys. Causing resentment from viewers especially when they attack nationalist rebels, who seem to simply want to free their people from government oppression. Viewers immediately feel solidarity with the rebels who are killed in the woods. Even for Mercedes to just sit there and see what happens. The film makes the rebels look like victims and the Captain and his army look like monsters without morals. The rebels' point of view compared to the republicans. In the film the difference in social classes was very evident, especially in my excerpt in the captain's mansion, he had maids and snakes who did the jobs he needed, such as preparing meals and cleaning the house. house. He had people clean the sheets when Ophelia's mother bled during childbirth. The people who are at the top of the social hierarchy are mostly rich people or high-ranking military officers. I also noticed that there were status differences when it came to gender when Ophelia's mom told people in the store how she met the captain, he ignored it and said he didn't know what he was talking about. Many maids/servants were also mostly women. While the men were more the military and powerful people who were at the table during the dinner scene. The economic situation of the characters in the film varies. Ophelia and her mother may come from a not-so-affluent lifestyle. Her mother was a shoemaker and took over the business after her husband died, so this type of lifestyle was new to her and Ophelia. There were also the servants and Mercedes who wore humble servant clothes compared to the elegant and nice clothes of the captain and his rich friends. The rebel had clothes that looked old and patched compared to the rich characters in the film. The Captain had the highest economic status in the movie: he had a mansion, a servant, and a bunch of expensive-looking things inside the mansion. Del Toro has stated that he considers the story a parable, influenced by fairy tales, and that it addresses and continues themes related to his previous film The Devil's Backbone (2001), of which Pan's Labyrinth is a spiritual successor, according to del Toro in DVD commentary by its director. In the film Pan's Labyrinth the mise-en-scene is an important part of the film. Mise-en-scène is the arrangement of scenes and scenesscenic properties in a film. There are many intentional things they do during those films, for example the rule of thirds is used a lot to draw the viewers attention to the character's face and pay attention to the emotions on their face. There was one part in the movie where it was used, it was when the Captain was talking to the doctor after finding out that he was working with those rebels. When the captain confronted him, he was in the top right third of the frame. This was a great way for the film to capture the anger and malice expressed on the captain's face. In the same scene there was one of the best moments in the film where the use of lightning was the best way to light the Captain's face, half of his face was lit and the other half wasn't. He felt like the lighted part of his face was what everyone sees on the surface and the dark part was everything beneath the surface. How he feels inside because of what the doctor did. The use of color in the film was amazing – finding the right color for the situation and bringing viewers deeper into the story and its world. There were three moments in the film where the Captain kills people and the shot is in a blue tone. In my excerpt the Captain kills the doctor and this helps reinforce the feeling of sadness he evokes because he is a kind character who only tries to help others. It's also raining during the ride in the scene, which just adds to the mix. The film also uses a variety of special effects for all the monsters and creatures in Ophelia's magical world. The fairy is one of the first to be introduced. The social effects seemed very advanced and well done, another film that also has great special effects is Paddington, they both share this. The rest that Pan's Labyrinth has gotten from critics has been mostly positive, Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 95%. Based on reviews from 37 critics, it received a score of 98/100 on Metacritic. Mark Kermode, in The Observer, also labeled Pan's Labyrinth as the best film of 2006, describing it as "an epic and poetic vision in which the grim reality of war is matched and mirrored by a descent into an underground world populated by monsters terrifyingly beautiful." .In the film there were many motifs such as the clock, the faun, the labyrinth, the chalk. When we are first introduced to Captain Vidal, we see him look at his watch and then grumpily mutter that she and Ofelia are 15 minutes late. This moment captured his character perfectly throughout the entire film. The Captain likes things to be exact and in order. He also wants everything to be under his control, my way mentality or not. He also wants everything to work out in his time and the way he exactly stated it should be done. The watch also symbolizes the attachment to his pride passed on to him by his father who hit him on a rock before dying fighting in the army. The name of the film, Pan's Labyrinth, refers to the Greek mythological god Pan. In Greek mythology Pan is the god of nature, shepherds and flocks. However, the film describes the Roman mythological version called Faun. Pan's Labyrinth is the one in which the main protagonist, Ophelia, gets lost. Although Mercedes warns her not to enter the maze, she does and dies in the process. In addition to that, the faun here does not seem to retain his human half like in works of mythology and is all in all a monstrous goat form, which symbolizes the entire monster tale of the entire film. The labyrinth itself is symbolic in the film. It showed Ophelia's desire to escape her current life and reality. He doesn't want to accept the Captain as his father. Ophelia doesn't like hers..