My analysis:
Having watched half the movie when I was younger I was not looking forward to watching it during the session as I remembered a lot of its bloody moments which I didn't enjoy watching. However, watching the whole thing with the knowledge of when to look away, and being less affected now by the sight of blood I found it to be a very good and interesting movie.
It's a fantasy movie heavily grounded in a real world scenario e.g. post Spanish civil war (1944). Therefore it gave its audience a recognisable starting point that allowed them to believe in the world, despite the fantasy elements that appear throughout.
It's a fantasy movie heavily grounded in a real world scenario e.g. post Spanish civil war (1944). Therefore it gave its audience a recognisable starting point that allowed them to believe in the world, despite the fantasy elements that appear throughout.
The story itself follows a little girl named Ofelia who loves fairy tales. She moves into a forest house with her mother who is pregnant with the baby of the cruel captain who is hunting rebels who are hiding in the area. As the movie progresses however, the girl finds a labyrinth next to the house which houses a faun (see below) which tells her that she is in fact the lost Princess Moanna and that if she completes three tasks she will be able to return to her kingdom alongside her real father.
This was an interesting film as many of the members of my group analylised it in different ways. Personally I felt the fantasy world may have been the girl's imagination and like most children a means of escapism. This would make sense during a time of war as she would most likely want to try and forget about as much of it as possible. However, due to this time of war her imagination may well have been corrupted and therefore not a traditional child's fantasy world as seen in her books. That's why the fantasy world may be creepy and bloody at times.
The escapism may also come from the fact that the girl does not want to live with the captain and would prefer to go back to the city. Therefore being offered the role of a princess and the opportunity to live in a palace with her natural family forever is something she desires (similar to most children today who wish to be princesses). This escapism continues when (spoilers ahead) the girl dies at the end and goes to her kingdom e.g. heaven and a fairy tale ending despite the fact that the girl died in our world. Her escapism is even more obvious when you realise all the fantasy stuff happens when she is on her own which is underlined at the end when the the captain sees her talking to herself and although she believes she is talking to the faun he is not visible to the captain.
She is also told constantly not to read fairy tales and therefore her belief in them only grows stronger.
After watching the movie we talked about it and fantasy in general. You can read my notes below.
Interested by the ideas of the movie and the subject of fantasy in general I decided to ask if the same/similar story had been told with a soldier in the main role instead of a child. For example, suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and therefore stepping into fantasy to escape reality?
I asked this because I have always had an idea for a game, even before watching Pan's Labyrinth in which an injured solider in hospital during World War 2 suffers with PTSD and keeps waking up in a fantasy world where aliens or robots try to wipe out the human resistance (a metaphor for the Germans invading Europe). The main protagonist (the solider) is meant to be the chosen one who will lead the humans to victory. However, when the soldier tells this to his doctor/psychiatrist he tells him to deliberately hinder the resistance every time he enters the fantasy, thus breaking his connection to the illusions as he doesn't believe in them. The solider on the other hand sees them as very real and believes that if he were to hinder them he would feel like a traitor. Therefore, in this game the player would need to decide if the fantasy was real or not as well as the best ways of healing the soldier's mental health.
Harvard Referencing:
She is also told constantly not to read fairy tales and therefore her belief in them only grows stronger.
Group discussion on Fantasy:
After watching the movie we talked about it and fantasy in general. You can read my notes below.
- Be aware of the world outside your game world. What makes it believable for the player? e.g. Is it historically accurate or does it take elements from other genres?
- Is the fantasy in the movie actually the fantasy world or is it the war torn world? This is something viewers could debate when watching the movie.
Interested by the ideas of the movie and the subject of fantasy in general I decided to ask if the same/similar story had been told with a soldier in the main role instead of a child. For example, suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and therefore stepping into fantasy to escape reality?
I asked this because I have always had an idea for a game, even before watching Pan's Labyrinth in which an injured solider in hospital during World War 2 suffers with PTSD and keeps waking up in a fantasy world where aliens or robots try to wipe out the human resistance (a metaphor for the Germans invading Europe). The main protagonist (the solider) is meant to be the chosen one who will lead the humans to victory. However, when the soldier tells this to his doctor/psychiatrist he tells him to deliberately hinder the resistance every time he enters the fantasy, thus breaking his connection to the illusions as he doesn't believe in them. The solider on the other hand sees them as very real and believes that if he were to hinder them he would feel like a traitor. Therefore, in this game the player would need to decide if the fantasy was real or not as well as the best ways of healing the soldier's mental health.
Harvard Referencing:
- Viewfromacouch. (2010) Faun from 'Pan's Labyrinth' [Online image]. Available at: http://viewfromacouch.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/13-pans-labyrinth-my-mother-told-me-to-be-wary-of-fauns/ (Accessed: 4/6/2013).
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