Pan's Labyrinth - Parallels between Worlds

Subversion of fairytales is undeniably present in Pan's Labyrinth.

• "Everything in Pan's Labyrinth is metaphorically political" - Michael Atkinson
• "A hidden feat... visions of bloodletting in one world are reflected in the other" - Laura Hubner
• "Reality is the true realm of evil" - Michael Atkinson
• "Fairytales, fear of 'otherness', rites of passage and liminal places of reality.. are interwoven [with reality]" - Laura Hubner
• "I think I have a right to preserve our heritage of imagination" - Guillermo del Toro

The real world needs imagination to survive, whereas fantasy needs imagination to exist.

Techniques showing parallel:

• Lighting - Indicates mood. Most fantasy scenes take place at night or in the dark. We associate these dark fairytales with Ofelia: our innocent and courageous protagonist. We learn to trust the dark.
• Character symbols - Vidal = Greedy Frog, Pale Man and Faun. The Greedy frog and Pale Man are essentially different aspects of the same thing: the need to consume all the hope and future out of Spanish society to gain power (Greedy Frog eats all the bugs whilst the Pale Man consumes all the children, Nazi shoe allusion also relates to Franco perhaps exterminating what Spain could have grown up to be. Mercedes = older Ofelia. She is able to do what Ofelia cannot due to her age and hardening to reality. Mercedes cannot enter the fairy world, she used to believe in fairies and magic, but now she doesn't. Her adult loss of innocence has toughened her.
• Set dressing/mise en scene. - Again, the Pale Man's lair is a direct parallel to Vidal's dinner party. From the positioning of the camera (sweeping from right to left across the table) to the fire blazing behind the characters. Each is positioned at the head of the table. Acts as a link between Pale Man and Vidal.
  
• Editing - Montages and match-on action link these two worlds together. The side swiping between worlds gives a viewer the impression that the worlds coexist as a reflection of each other. But the question is, which is more realistic? The one where "those dragons can be defeated" (C K Chesterton) or where the only escape is death? Is the world really so horrible? Del Toro offers us an alternative with his cross cutting between scenes of horrific murder (bludgeoning a farmer and his son with a bottle) and ones of peaceful femininity (Ofelia and Mercedes with lullaby).
  
• Composition of shot is also very important. We find the symmetry of shots in the rebel's camp are reflected in many associated with Ofelia, the Labyrinth and in the resolution at her reentry to the Fantasy World. Sweeping above the Labyrinth (the camera is constantly moving throughout shots) a stone carving of the faun sits atop the entrance, awaiting Ofelia's return "to the portal". This particular shot is repeated in various stages, the only difference being the state of the moon from waxing to full. This is our only real indicator of time.

Symbols of importance:

• Moon
• Circles
• Doors
• Shoes
• Watch (links to moon)
• Horns/Faun