The Art of Loneliness and Escapism: A Pan's Labyrinth Film Analysis.

Whenever I feel sad or lonely, I always watch a movie. I think it is my coping mechanism to escape reality. It feels like I'm being transported to another world or into the universe of the film that I am watching. And sometimes, after the film, I like to imagine that I'm still in the movie and I don't want to go back to the actual world. I think that is one of the most powerful thing that films can give to an audience. It gives them a sense of escape. 

When you talked about Fairy Tales, the first things or names that will come in to your mind are Snow White, Cinderella and every Disney movie Princesses ever. It is because of the convention that Walt Disney has set for us, the audience especially for kids. However things are different when it comes to Guillermo Del Toro, a Mexican director. 

One of his famous movie is Pan’s Labyrinth or "El Laberinto del Fauno." The story is about a young girl named Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) who is carrying a child. Ofelia, met Faun (Doug Jones), a magical creature who appears at the time of the arrival of Ofelia to the post of officer Vidal (Sergi Lopez) and told her that she is a promised Princess in a magical kingdom. The movie has two plots which correlates to each other. The first plot is about the magical journey of Ofelia and the war of Captain Vidal against the Spaniards.

Guillermo Del Toro together with Faun
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1.The Art of Imagination and Parallelism

I think that the beauty of the film is everything that is happening around them are complicated. The civil war, Captain Vidal's authoritarianism, Ofelia's mom who is carrying a child, and Mercedes' and Dr. Ferreiro's endeavor inside the post. However despite of that, the movie did not solely focused on their perspectives. The movie mainly focuses on Ofelia, who is just a kid. And Ofelia's perspectives shows us the uncertainty and how hard it is to live in the world she is living in. In that moment of uncertainty and struggle, the sense of escapism comes in. As we can see, Ofelia is the only child in the movie. She has no one to talk to, she only have her mom who is  not healthy and struggling with her child. Mercedes, is too busy doing her own thing. The only thing that Ofelia have is her own books and her own imagination. That's when Faun and the magical world of Ofelia appeared.

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Imagination plays a big role in the mind of a child. It is in imagination that somehow they became the superhero they aspire to be. Before we discuss how Ofelia uses her imagination to escape the reality, I think we should understand what is the importance of an imagination. According to a study from About My Brain Institute, "Imagination pervades our existence, it influences everything we do, think about and create" However in the character of Ofelia, that is not really the case. It is vice-versa. Ofelia uses the reality in order to influence her imagination. She uses everything she is currently experiencing in the reality to think and create another world where in she can get the reality she wants. And I do think that is one of the reason why Ofelia's character is very important. It is in her way to manipulate her imagination that makes her powerful. As I said earlier, she is the only kid in the post and yet she still manages to survive everything that is happening around her. Where in fact when we looked at Mercedes, Dr. Ferreiro and Carmen's character, they can't even control things from the reality and they can't even imagine that things will go on their way. 

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In the story, Faun gave Ofelia three tasks that she needed to accomplish in order to make sure that her essence is intact and that she have not become a mortal. The first task is that Ofelia should put three magic stones in the toad's mouth to get rid of the toad and retrieve the golden key from its belly. The second one is that she has to go to a sumptuous feast where in she will meet the Pale-man and she is not allowed to eat anything or she will face a great consequences. She also need to retrieve the key in just fifteen minutes and before the last grain of sand falls from the hourglass. The third and final task is she needs to sacrifice his baby brother so Faun can re-open the gate of her promised kingdom and gain immortality. 

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Through those tasks, the concept of parallelism comes in. As said earlier, what makes Ofelia's character powerful and unique is that she uses reality to influence her imagination. If we will pay attention to Ofelia, she blames her baby brother for the suffering of her mom. She thinks that her mom is suffering because there is a baby inside her womb and she wants to help her mom. And somehow the first task correlates or paralleled her desire to get that baby out from her mother's womb just like the task that she needs to get rid of the toad who lives inside the dead tree. The toad may symbolized the baby and the tree may symbolized the ovary. And if you can notice, the tree looks like an ovary. 

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Ofelia doesn't want to call Vidal as his father because Ofelia's true father was a tailor. Ofelia also hates her life at the post and hates Captain Vidal too. The second task somehow paralleled her desire to defeat Captain Vidal due to the fact that Captain Vidal plays a big role on why she is suffering. If we look closely, the sumptuous feast of Pale-man and the feast of Captain Vidal has a connection. Captain Vidal and Pale-man are sitting at the same position. In my interpretation, Pale-man and Captain Vidal is the same. It is just in Ofelia's imaginary world, she wants to defeat Captain Vidal and Vidal is in the form of Pale-man. And in this task the concept of time has also been involved. I do think it is because time is really important for Captain Vidal and he always keep his stopwatch beside him.

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Lastly, in the third task the baby needs to be sacrificed in order for the portal to re-open. However, Ofelia refused and in exchange, her life was taken away by Vidal. I do think that there is a connection to Ofelia's refusal to Captain Vidal's words to Dr. Ferreiro: "If you have to choose, save the baby." Just like Captain Vidal, Ofelia chooses to save the baby than gaining immortality and the right to be the Princess of her promised kingdom. 

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Through the connections from the reality and Ofelia's imagination, we can clearly see the desires she have as a child. The desire to make her mom well again, the desire to defeat and get rid of Captain Vidal. And of course the innocence of a child that she knows what's right from what's wrong and she will not sacrifice the baby for her own sake. 

2. The Art of Effective Visual Work

The other reason why Ofelia's character is very effective is that because Ivana Baquero carries her role like she is really experiencing the problem in real life. She knows how to manipulate the frame and to burst emotions that she wants the audiences to feel. Other than that, her character is very relatable because we all have a problems that we wanted to escape. We sometimes feel lonely. Through the great uses of lines and shapes and color of Guillermo Navarro (Director of Photography), Guillermo Del Toro delivers the message he wants to relay. 

If we look closely to the lines and shapes that where used in the film, we can clearly see lots of straight lines and square shapes when the scene is from the reality. When it comes to visuals of the film, straight lines and square shapes suggests that the world from the reality may be too dull, direct and boring. And it really shows. Carmen and Dr. Ferreiro's life is too boring. They're lives is in the hands of Captain Vidal. And Captain Vidal's character is too direct because he doesn't want to waste time. He is too direct to the point where in if he wants someone to speak, they will speak. When he wants someone to die, they will die. It also shows that Captain Vidal has the power because those straight lines from square shapes direct the viewer's eyes to look at him. To focus on his character. 

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While when in the scene of imaginary world, most of the shapes are circle and curved lines. This suggests that the world of Ofelia is endless because imaginations are endless. 

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The other things that we can visually notice is the use of color. The movie mainly uses color orange and blue tone. In a film, orange color may suggest energy and warmth while the color blue may suggest fulfillment, peace, calmness and depression. In the film color orange tone can be seen when the scene is from the reality. And if Captain Vidal is included in the scene (but not all the time). The color blue is used when the scenes are mostly from the imagination of Ofelia.  

There is a particular scene from the movie which separates the reality from the imagination with the used of color. 

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This scene from the beginning of the film uses the color orange. Ofelia sees that Mercedes and Dr. Ferreiro are talking about helping the men in the woods. Dr. Ferreiro gives Mercedes a box which contains antibiotics. At the next scene after Ofelia closes the door, the color shifted to blue. 

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After closing the door, one of the fairies appeared and the magical journey of Ofelia started. 

Other than that, as said earlier, I think that Pale-man and Captain Vidal is the same and the use of color can show that. 

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Before Ofelia opens the door to the realm of Pale-man, the color that has been used is blue. After she opens it, the use of color orange dominates the frame (as scene above the picture)

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Like said above, the use of color orange exists in the world of reality and if Captain Vidal is included in the scene. However, Pale-man is a product of the imaginary world of Ofelia. But color blue hasn't been used in the scene. It is still orange. Also suggesting that Captain Vidal and Pale-man is the same.

3. The Art of Power 

We all know the patriarchal problems that exists in the world. Just like every Disney fairy tales out there, men are shown as somehow powerful and women or the Disney Princesses needs to be saved by those men who are the Prince, just like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty who needs a true loves kiss in order to wake up from a curse. It shows how powerful men is. That's why there are lots of feminists nowadays who fights for equal rights between men and women and that's the biggest relevance of this film to the actual things that are happening in the society. The movie Pan's Labyrinth also shows that. It shows power through Captain Vidal's character but somehow doesn't follow the convention that Disney has set. 

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The movie shows the power of men through Captain Vidal. All throughout the movie, everyone is looking at Captain Vidal like a God. Everyone is looking up to him.

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Even when he was stabbed by Carmen, he still manages to stay alive and stitched the wounds he gained. Even in the scene where the sleeping pills has been putted in his drink, he still manages to run and chase Ofelia. It shows his power and portrays how people at the past looks at a man and shows that man will not be easily defeated. 

However as said before, the movie doesn't follow the convention that Disney has set. Women of this film are also powerful. Mercedes, Carmen and Ofelia's characters are brave. In this film analysis, we've already proved why Ofelia's character is powerful. But now, I want to focus on Mercedes' character.  From the beginning of the film, Mercedes's life revolves inside the post of Captain Vidal. She is one of the servant of Vidal and she needs to follow every order of Vidal or her life will be at stake. But despite of that, the movie still shows that Carmen is powerful and that Captain Vidal somehow looks up to her. 

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Carmen portrays how women are powerful. She shows the audiences that real fairy tales doesn't require a girl chasing a man for the betterment of her life. She shows the audiences the true definition of power. She is not scared to take risk. She has the courage to stand up from the oppression of men. Even though she thinks that she is a coward, people who will be watching this film will look at her as somehow powerful than Vidal. She is not a Princess, but rather a warrior that Guillermo Del Toro wants her to be. 

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This film analysis covers how Pan's Labyrinth uses art to achieve its main goal and message that it wants to portray. But despite of all the art that has been mentioned, "The Art Of Imagination and Parallelism," "The Art of Effective Visual Work," and "The Art Of Power." For me the main reason why this film is a masterpiece is because it uses The Art of Loneliness and Escapism. When an innocent child experiences a problem that is bigger than her/his world one of his/her resort will be his/her own parents. In Ofelia's case, she doesn't have a father anymore and her mom is having a hard time carrying her brother. But she remains powerful. She uses the sense of loneliness and turns it into a key to escape the world she is living in. Her loneliness turns her to a Princess. Her loneliness gives her friends. Her loneliness... somehow makes her life wonderful despite the fact that everything that is happening around her feels like a nightmare. Before Ofelia dies, her final imagination appears. She met her father and she finally became a Princess she was promised to be. And right before her final breath, she smiled. She smiled because she finally acquired the reality she wanted. She is now free. Free from the harshness and brutality of the reality. She is now a princess. 

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And that for me is the greatest thing that the movie has shown us. That we may be lonely, but we can also choose not to be. We just have to know where to look.

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With that, I will give Pan's Labyrinth a solid 4.5/5.