"Pan's Labyrinth"

2. “Pan’s Labyrinth:” The Importance of Storytelling for all Humanity…

I found this film to be quite disturbing, but extremely powerful for several reasons: (I) Graphic violence reminiscent of ‘The Ogre’ to emphasize the dehumanization and atrocious reality of war on humanity.

(II) Fantasy of fairies and magic connect to Grimm’s Fairytales, teach moral lesson also.

(III) Dante’s ‘Inferno,’ fiction is used to illustrate a truth.

(IV) Like ‘Don Quixote’ “Pan’s Labyrinth” also illustrates the dangers of fiction – with a twist.

(I) In Tournier’s ‘The Ogre,’ we were engulfed in the world of the disillusioned, ostracized and myopic vision of Abel Tiffauges. The graphic recollection of the guillotine, burning of children, countless beheadings and defecation make the novel one of disgusting descriptions that paints vivid images in the imagination of the reader. In ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ we physically see the gory reality of Civil-War Spain’s war torture, family life and vicious atrocities. The graphic nature of each of these works is a reflection of the dehumanizing historical events of Nazi Germany & the Holocaust, as well as the Spanish Civil-War, which killed more than 300,000 people. War, violence, political and religious purges are rampant in the history of civilization – but these things are also a rejection of human nature. Man – created society, religion and discrimination not by nature; by killing other people we are rejecting the altruistic, co-dependency that is innate to humans. The injustice that humanity has wrought upon itself need to be illustrated in such a shocking manner to help the public understand the futility of war, murder and discrimination – the heart-wrenching tragedy and violent atrocities that have been both the catalyst and the byproduct of rifts in humanity and culture. Man created society, but man comes from nature – society, culture and war counteract the natural order and rhythm of humanity.

(II) Storytelling is central to every culture – morals, lessons and expectations are passed down through generations through stories. Children grow up on these stories, and in listening they learn, imitate and enjoy the stories of their culture. ‘Grimm’s Fairytales’ were written in Germany to help provide a sense of “national identity” – but these fairytales have probably weighed more heavily an influence on American culture and children stories. Fairies, magic, princes and princesses are the basis of these tales which provide some sort of lesson – although the Americanized versions are much happier than the original tales. In ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ young Ofelia encounters a magical fairy that leads her to a “faun” in the woods – the woods are a typical setting in Grimm’s Fairytales, usually where the children get into some sort of trouble. Ofelia’s “magic book” gives her a series of obstacles that she must perform in order to become a princess – there is always some sort of obstacle to overcome for the children in ‘Grimm’s Fairytales,” with the promise of a reward at the end. Ofelia encounters trouble when she does not listen to the faun’s instructions and eats the fruit (almost getting killed) – this is reminiscent of the story in Genesis that illustrates the Fall of Eden, when Eve eats the forbidden fruit in the garden. Here, a lesson is learned: Listen to your elders, do not disobey or bad things will happen. The film includes many magical elements including: the piece of chalk that draws doors to escape through, the vegetable that tried to become human, the labyrinth, etc. The protagonist, Ofelia, faces many obstacles and challenges that lead her to a “happily-ever-after-ending,” (sort of) and her destiny is fulfilled. There are many lessons learned,

(III) Fairytales, myths and books like Dante’s ‘Inferno’ use fictitious stories to illustrate truth. In the ‘Inferno,’ Dante’s journey through hell with Virgil is not a literal journey, instead it depicts man’s struggles and moral dilemmas that are daily occurrences in our collective “journey through life” to achieve salvation. In the same way, “Pan’s Labyrinth” is a suspenseful, exciting ride through Ofelia’s adventures in the labyrinth and her family life that revolves around the turmoil of the Spanish-Civil-War. Ofelia is faced with so much tragedy as a child; her father is a symbol of violence and war, her loving, sickly mother dies in childbirth and her mentor, Mercedes, is in constant danger because of her political alliance with her father’s “enemy.” Ofelia is a child, but she deals with adult situations that threaten to dissolve her imagination and happiness – even though she is a child, Ofelia is able to rise above the frightening authority of her father in recognition of what is truth and virtue. Many young children would simply obey their fathers out of fear, especially Ofelia’s father who only values the life of his son, but instead she bravely risks her life to defend the future of her brother, moral virtue and truth of humanity in her “fairytale adventures.” Ofelia ends up dying as a martyr for her cause, but her death leads to the death of her evil father and the salvation of her newborn brother and Mercedes – she plants the seeds for peace in the aftermath of war.

(IV) Don Quixote lived his life according to the fictitious knights and tales of chivalry that he read about – Ofelia lived her life according to the fantasy-world of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ and the prospect of becoming a princess. In both cases, I whole-heartedly believe that the protagonists became immersed in their fantasy worlds because the reality of society was unbearable and atrociously adverse to virtue. Thinking about Ofelia, it breaks my heart, reminding me of some of the stories my mother told me about her childhood with an alcoholic mother. She too would make up fairytale stories and adventures to indulge in, pretending these tales were reality, in an attempt to compensate for the scary truth of growing up amidst an alcoholic mother’s rage, torment and unpredictability. Ofelia was escaping from the horror of her violent father, who made it very clear that he was not concerned about the welfare of his wife or daughter – only that of his son. He also tortured his prisoners of war, brutally killed many civilians including the doctor and seemed to completely lack any sort of “human-emotion/mortality” as he survived being stabbed in the heart and quickly stitched up his slashed face. Ofelia’s father was more like a war, killing machine than a man – she stood no more a chance at survival under his command than any of his servants in the house. This helplessness increased tenfold upon the death of her mother and capture of Mercedes – without the outlet of Ofelia’s fantasy world she would have succumbed to the terror of her father. Although America’s Disney fairytales originated from ‘Grimm’s,’ they are much happier and do not hurt children unlike many of the original versions – in ‘Pan’s labyrinth,’ Ofelia dies in order to become a princess seated next to her dead mother, the queen. Although this ending seems terribly morbid and tragic in comparison with Disney’s fairytales, it reflects the harsh reality and relentless atrocity of war. The fantasy world that Don Quixote lives in also leads to his death, but his reality is much less dismal than Ofelia’s. This emphasizes the notion that the violence and atrocities of death that come from war are the antithesis of life, truth and virtue; Ofelia’s death was necessary for the future morality, truth and life of her newborn brother, freedom of Mercedes and end of the violent war through the death of her father. If Ofelia had not poisoned her father and taken her baby brother to the woods, her father probably would not have shot her that night, but the war would have raged on, her brother would be a carbon copy of her evil father and the atrocities would continue through the next generation.