Important Text Information

Plays
Children of the Poor:

• Brechtian play
• Written by Mervyn Thompson based on book by John A. Lee
• Set in Dunedin
• Strong presentation of messages
• Addresses the - corruption and hypocrisy of the Church, value of money, treatment and condemnation of the poor, objectification of women
• Character foils: the Porcello children are all very different
• Repetition of words and lines, narration, multiple characters, song. A collage of different events, times and perspectives to offer a rounded insight.
• Irony of this 'rounded insight' is that it's sneakily all pointing towards the same attitude. Rather than sympathy to characters, we have sympathy toward the idea.
• Become active observers in the play

Antigone - Sophocles

• Written in Greece in 44_ BC
• Classic Grecian tragedy. But is it that of Antigone or Creon?
• Women are sympathised with here and act in the way that is 'right' by the gods
• Law of nature and the gods wins out over the arrogant laws of man
• Presence of a chorus narrates
• Opposites used (attitude, character foils, role of the young man and the young woman reversed)
• Knitting symbol of Eurydice - the docile matriarch, she stabs herself with her knitting needles. The life-string is spun out only to be cut short by Fate.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

• British realism, almost Stanislavsky
  
• Satirical and witty
• Presents paradoxes and hypocrisies of societal life. Mocks the things that are important in society and passes the play off as a "celebration of the trivialities of life" since the things we hold in such high esteem really don't mean much at all.
• Deception and deceit are made ironic in puns such as Ernest never being earnest seeing as he doesn't exist.
• Typical comedy, young couples, old woman. A conflict between tradition and progress are presented.
• Disguise and concealment of self is also made apparant
• Nature of marriage as either "business" or "pleasure". Algernon is cynical till he meets Cecily whereas Jack is the true romantic.
  
• Inventiveness versus hypocrisy is explored in the play. Algernon is the real reflection of Wilde in wit, attitude and his joy for turning life into a harmless art. Jack however, recreates himself to enjoy two forms of life in themselves. His hypocritical attitude to Algernon's "bunburying" is notable.
• Dramatic irony keeps us actively involved in the play, our knowledge of the deception makes us look on with entertainment how the other characters react to such lies.

Othello - Shakespeare

• There's lots already here on this but...
• Elizabethan Theatre form
• Law of nature and God versus man. Law of nature always wins. Shown through contrast of setting, demise of a "black Moor", then seen to be only a slave.
• Black/white, heaven/hell, animal imagery all point out Othello's difference and enhance his insecurities
• Dramatic irony in Iago's soliloquy: we are able to get a look into the twisted mind of Iago. We are much more involved in the story as it unfolds before our eyes. We know what will happen and yet we are powerless to stop it. The tragedy is in our inaction as well as Othello's susceptibility to Iago and his jealousy/insecurity/overzealous emotion/too-easily won trust
• Retelling events rather than acting them out: due to simple staging
• Tragedy befalls a character due to his hamartia, through a delineation of self, becoming an anti-thesis, final act of "losing it", then recovering standing to some degree in our eyes
• Othello is a balance of super ego and ego. His strong emotions combined with a love of the law don't end well where Desdemona is concerned.

Twelfth Night - Shakespeare

• Elizabethan theatre form
• Dedicated to the 12th Night celebration: everything is turned upside down, there is a Master of Misrule, lots of dressing out of station and all sorts of crazy things happen
• Music imagery used to be the food of love. Puns and double imagery is used to emphasise the fact that Viola/Sebastian are twins.
• Actually is NOT a feminist text. Viola must dress as a man to achieve anything (even if she did have the guts to do it no one else knows she's a man!), she is not satisfied until she is married to the Duke (depends on male for happiness), context of everything proper and good being turned upside-down (Olivia is mistress of her house, Viola is the protagonist)
• Dramatic irony again involves the audience actively
• Love is not always bliss: it is pain and Shakespeare knows this. Despite it being a comedy, the characters all experience rejection and unrequited love. The happy twist is that the truth comes out and they all live happily ever after. But the lies and secrecy are what keep them apart. Shakespeare is promoting honesty.
• The folly of ambition: Malvlio anyone??
  

Books and Poems:

Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

• 5 Narrators - Post-structuralist and gives men no voice
• Often said to be a "re-read of Heart of Darkness" (Pamela Demory)
• Promotes a stream-of-consciousness within the characters. We are given characters whose thoughts we see unedited. The events are then a perspective of reality. The collage of characters gives us an illusion that we see the whole reality, but really we see the individual truths and perspectives of Western society (innocence = Ruth May, materialism = Rachel, discovery and artistic wonderment = Adah, liberation and independence = Orleanna, religious rediscovery and compassion = Leah)
• Nathan Price is not given a voice. He is the truth that the women give him.
• Pastiche of styles from Heart of Darkness (Framed narrative, black/white imagery, Congo, colonialism) and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (POV of those being colonised, manipulation of language)
• Intertextuality of poetry
• Bird and red imagery. The idea that "hope is a thing with feathers" (from Emily Dickinson too)
• Extremities of religion do not lead to salvation but rather condemnation.
• There is no such thing as an uncivilised culture. But rather that there are different kinds of civilisation and culture.
• Liberation and discovery come through rebellion
• Empowerment of women

Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

• Structuralist
• Framed narrative (Marlow on Thames telling story of Kurtz and his journey down the Congo to drinking buddies, whilst the narrator also makes occasional comment on Marlow. Second-perspective narration of two to three different stories. A story within a story within a story)
• The darkness of an uncivilised area can corrupt and destroy a man's integrity and sense of self.
• Order cannot be created amongst disorder without a sacrifice.
• Women are not given a voice here but rather are seen as "out of touch with the truth"
• Nature vs civilisation. We must accept the natural law, we cannot bend it or shape it. But rather it shapes us and who we are
  
• Contrast of setting. Thames versus the Congo. Linked by the river.
• Kurtz is seen to represent the greedy and power-hungry capitalist society that wished expand and exploit. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is around about the time of the publicity of Karl Marx's ideas.
• Joseph Conrad is seen to have made Marlow his fictional alter-ego. He comes up in other works of Conrad's.

'Lady Lazarus' and 'Daddy' by Sylvia Plath.

• Confessional poetry. The love of personal pronouns and reinvention of self to catharsise all negative and yukky emotions.
  
• Empowering women
• Criticising society's workings to the highest degree. This is in terms of society's treatment of women, the individual and its function in the world as a control of ideas and views on reality
• Written at the time Freud's ideas on psycho-sexuality were coming into fashion.
• Pours out an emotional autobiography through persona. The persona is NOT Plath but is rather a persona with the "control and manipulate[d] experiences" of Plath to add potency to her emotions and - in the nature of true confessional poetry - honestly bare her soul.
• Imagery and symbols: holocaust, nursery rhyme, fairytale, body, entertainment imagery, phoenix allusion.
  
• The "manic purging of the soul".

Films


Pan's Labyrinth:

• Post-modernist Gothic fairytale, magical realism
• Questions the truths of our world and the accepted view within a society.
• Idea that "rebellion and disobedience are necessary" to self-discovery (del Toro). Shown by going against normal 'rules' of lighting, with a surrealist take to reality via colour filter. Rebellious acts, guided to sympathise with rebels (symmetry, aesthetically pleasing cinematography)
• Sacrifice is necessary to achieve success. Shown through the acts of sacrifice, abandonment of modern day fairytale for the risky and darker side of folklore.
• Imagination and reality need to be intertwined in order to survive the evils presented in either. The parallels between the real and fantasy world show this.
• This is an escapist film. The fairytale allusions, lullaby being connecting Ofelia to the alternate world, moon symbolism, doors motifs.

Children of Men - Alfonso Cuaron:

• Dystopia that deals with social and political issues. A parable.
• Hope in humanity is found in new life. God rays on Theo and baby almost always cast with back-lighting or light on face.
• Biblical allusions to the story of Jesus' birth (but also if you look closely to the story of Noah). Animals in almost every shot, Kee's pregnancy joke about being a virgin, water, a boat being the hope for "Tomorrow".
• Oranges allusion to The Godfather series. Their presence foreshadows tragic events (to be played out almost immediately after the orange makes it into the shot)
• Womb envy: a neo-Freudian concept by Karen Horney that suggests that because men need to carry on their legacy and preserve their presence in the future but can't reproduce like women, they have the need to distinguish themselves in other ways. Some involve technical progress, the gaining of power, oppression of women, a male heir etc etc. However, in Children of Men, women can't reproduce, so men feel no need to compete with women for 'immortality'. A regression of technology has taken place. See this in lack of new cars, futuristic technology, no 'new' songs, they're all nostalgia ones. Only way they have progressed is in violence (releasing frustrations, part of the "id" taking over).

Memento - Christopher Nolan:

• Post-structuralist and Post-modern
• We see the film played out in reverse sequence
• Like the story of Sisyphus. He was forever condemned by the gods to the pointless and arduous task of rolling a massive rock up a mountain, but before he reached the top, it rolled down and he'd have to start again. This was his punishment for all eternity. Like Leonard is condemned to have to start a new memory and before he can retain it, it slips away and he has to work back from the start again.
• Main colour - blue. Black and white in present, and colour in reverse sequence. Shows the difference between memory and real event. Problem for Leonard is that the real event never becomes memory, so the black and white is reversed to, to the real event. He can "change the colour of a car" with his memory of events.
• Self-deception, the creation and construction of one's world is key to this film. The question is, how much of this world can we trust? We learn that not every truth is THE truth. It is merely an interpretation.
• Parallel between Sammy Jankis and Leonard Shelby. Shown through motif of bars and framing.
• Redemption is found in violence here. Revenge.

V for Vendetta - James McTeigue:

• A fictional lie is created to discern a societal truth (both within the film, and the film itself)
• Political allegory - dystopic to a point
• Disguise keeps us from seeing the man, but rather seeing the idea (this and previous points can all be backed up with quotes)
• Colours of red in mise en scene, blood and costume are all rich and unrealistic in comparison to the other dull colours in the film (note Evey never wears any bright colours save in the brief flashforward where she is tending to her scarlet carson roses). Highlights the glory in violence and bloodletting. It's cathartic and the slow motion spurts of blood artistically flying helter skelter provide us with a release for our inner darkness that thirsts after the blood of the evil.
• Television motif and the media have control of everything. Adds impersonality to the government. We hate it because we do not know it. The people are given personality and we see them all without the obstruction of another screen. It's ironic then that the man who represents all these people with faces, hides his. We "know nothing about [him]" and yet we trust him more than the face of Adam Sutler's on a television screen. It all depends on how much we see of them and their actions. This obstruction of face is able to show us that it is the battle of ideas rather than people. Gives more power to this film.
• Triumphant music is associated with attack. One man's "terrorist" is another man's freedom fighter I guess.
• Unveiling of victims at the end are all the united and rebelling victims of an oppressive and totalitarian government.
• Allusions to Guy Fawkes and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Funny how the main character Viola has her name begin with a "V" as well. Ironic yes?

Into the Wild - Sean Penn

• Drama and adventure film. Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless.
• Freedom of nature vs constriction of man. Wild untamed beauty in preference to the harsh materialism of "this sick society". Is in contention with the materialistic function of humanity
• Huge wide shots of nature take centre stage whilst McCandless is usually positioned to the extreme left or right of a shot. He is secondary, taking refuge in the wild.
• Framed by nature. It is powerful enough to engulf him. Yet it is the cityscape that finds itself framed by car windows, mountains and hills.
  
• Friendly people are in the country. Sean Penn makes sure that nobody particularly nice is living in the city here. It enhances both McCandless' view of the country and stays true to the idea that "happiness is only real when shared".
• The organic guitar music is always in conjunction with movement in the country. Feeling of freedom and untamed wonder.
• Human relationships are essential as it is natural. The materialism that sometimes show us that aren't. We all need love. This is what underpins the whole tale from start to finish and we can trace it back from the lack of love Chris feels to the cooling relationship of Rainey and Jan. After a while, the broken heartedness of his parents brings them closer. This is reflected in the hippie's new-found love (helped along in both instances by either McCandless' presence or absence). McCandless rejects it all (Tracy and Ron). But then right at the last instant sees that love of nature cannot overcome the need for the love of fellow mankind.
• All you need is love :)
  

Exam Advice

When writing an essay:

• Read all your questions first, pick the ones that suit your material the best and circle them. If you do this first, the questions will have time to subconsciously ruminate and develop in your head whilst you do other things
• Next, pick the text question you are MOST comfortable with. Do a quick plan of ideas and paragraphs
• Planning is an essential part of the essay writing process.Make sure you get down all the important stuff and constantly refer back to it, remember this is all the good juicy info that will give your essay direction.
• Make sure you answer the question. Planning out a thesis statement really helps this

Thesis statement: is a short answer to the question/topic that outlines how you're approaching the question, the extent you agree with it and why.

• Eg: Films are primarily concerned with the issues of everyday people. To what extent do you agree with this statement? (2008 NCEA 3, film):

The creative direction of a film is not simply to tell a story, but primarily to address the issues made known in the world of the audience. Directors aim to create a world within a film that reflects our own as the morals presented are to teach the audience about how they themselves live. Filmic techniques and auteur style of the director determines how these issues are shown.
Now it's time to write your essay!

Introduction:

• should include your thesis statement, the author and name of the text (Film texts, novels, plays are all underlined. Poems and short stories are in 'single stroke speech marks').
• Author's name is not underlined. DO NOT refer to your author by their FIRST NAME at any point in your essay. You do not know them personally. LAST NAMES are good though.
  
• This is also a good place to define tricky terms in the question.
• How you are approaching your question
• Refer to the purpose of the text or genre itself. Eg: the purpose of confessional poetry is to have a cathartic experience of reinvention. The author purges themselves of negative emotions with the powerful and permeating "I".
  

Body:

• is in support of your thesis statement,
  
• in all paragraphs make sure you are developing your answer to the question,
  
• always summarise your info at the end of each paragraph with relation to the statement.
  
• Back up your argument with evidence (quotes, character action, dialogue, techniques, symbols, imagery etc).
  
• Refer to the purpose of the text itself and what it wants to teach the audience.
  
• 3-4 body paragraphs is standard.
  
• DO NOT go heavily into plot summaries. Chances are your marker has already read the text (assume they have) and so go more into how the ideas brought up in the plot are presented.

Conclusion:

• Is NOT a restatement of your introduction.
  
• It includes your thesis statement
  
• the discoveries that you've made in your body paragraphs that further support thesis.
• Ideas and opinions are summarised here.
  
• Again, make sure you are answering the question again.
  
• End with a nice punchy sentence.

Tips for excellence:

• Refer to outside text information (quotes from experts, historical or contextual evidence around the time it was written, something about the author that relates to the writing of the piece)
• Offer insight to the ideas (be sophisticated in your presentation eg: "the idea of rebellion" vs "the idea that rebellion is necessary to experiencing a full and complete discovery of one's independence")
• Refer to the text you're writing about as evidence towards your general answer to the question. The order of priorities follows: answer to question - genre of text assumption - text itself to back that assumption up - techniques that show this assumption about the text and genre is true.
• Have at least four quotes in your paragraphs. Quote-weaving is essential to achieving a higher mark and also very easy. Eg "the quote: "I saw a fairy" shows Ofelia has a vivid imagination" vs "Ofelia's imagination often manipulates the Fascist reality of Pan's Labyrinth [this blog doesn't let me use the underline tool!] and her own perception of the world. Her mind transforms a large and rather ugly-looking bug to think she just "saw a fairy""
• Always think "why". If you make a claim PROVE IT. Don't have too many ideas, but focus on the most important ones and develop them.
• Use the lingo. Technique terms are great: "hamartia" (great word! Word to describe the tragic flaw in a hero), "dramatic irony", "chiaroscuro", "set dressing", "shot composition", "allusion", "metaphorical catharsis", "character foil", "foreshadowing" etc. Shows you know what you're talking about
• Avoid simplistic and vague statements
• Be original. You have three hours dedicated to your own thought and discovery. Relish the idea that someone finally gets to read your uninterrupted thoughts and insight! There are no wrong answers to these texts, so long as you answer the question and back up your opinion.

Go out and good luck! You'll do so great :)

Othello Essay: Othello's Hamartia

This was gotten from the website: http://www.freeessays.cc/db/49/toi85.shtml

The Hamartias of Othello In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the hero, Othello, is plagued by his many hamartias. Termed by Aristotle around 330 B.C., hamartia is a tragic hero’s “error or transgression or his flaw or weakness of character.” (p.1296) Othello’s hamartias include jealousy, a blind, unrealistic love for Desdemona, trusting others too easily, and his unrealized ability to deceive himself. These flaws, along with the help of Iago, cause Othello to loose everything he has including his life.

At first look at Othello, he shows no signs of jealousy and even entrusts his wife to Iago saying, “To his conveyance I assign my wife.” (1.3.286) Othello also the great self control that is expected from someone who has been a warrior since he was seven years old as mentioned by, “for since these arms of mind has seven years pith … they have used their dearest action in the tented field.”(1.3.83-85) Iago begins to break down this self-control by talking of jealousy: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on." (3.3.178-179) Although the play shows no indication of physical aggression by Othello, one can assume from the following speech there is some physical confrontation between Othello, and Iago: "Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore! Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof, Or, by the worth of mine external soul, Thou hadst been better have been born a dog Than answer my waked wrath!" (3.3.375-379) Others also notice Othello’s jealous loss of self-control. In Act III Scene V Othello goes do Desdemona to demand she show him a handkerchief he gave to her. When she cannot produce the handkerchief Othello gets furious and storms out of the room. After his exit, Emilia says, “Is not this man jealous?” Othello, being a military man, sees himself as a man who judges by the fact. He believes only what he sees, or what his most trusted ensign, Iago, reports to him. Having Iago report the goings on between Desdemona and Cassio makes it even easier for Iago to poison Othello’s mind with thoughts of jealousy. Even though Iago hinted to Othello about Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello still thought himself a man who was not to be self-deceived: "I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove; And on the proof, there is no more but this – Away at once with love or jealousy." (3.3.204-206) This is, of course, ironic because as Othello later finds out, it is not easy to make a choice between love and jealousy. Othello being the kind of leader who judges by facts tells Iago to “Give me the ocular proof,” (3.3.376) of his wife’s infidelity.

Othello has another Hamartia in that he has a blind, unrealistic love for his wife, Desdemona. He is a man who loved excessively but “loved not wisely …” (5.2.554). Throughout the play Othello professes his love to Desdemona. One such event is when Othello says, “O my soul’s joy! / If after every tempest come such calms.” (2.1.177-178) This passage shows that Othello is pleased and calmed by his wife and his love for his wife. Just a few lines later Othello exults, “If it were now to die, / ‘Twere now to be most happy …” (2.1.182-183). Then again in Act III Scene III, obviously the most important scene in the play, Othello lets Desdemona know that “I will deny thee nothing.” (3.3.91) By this Othello is letting Desdemona know that there is nothing he wouldn’t do for her. Being such a becalmed man due to his marriage to Desdemona, Othello, in the garden of the citadel, yells to Desdemona from a distance: "Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, Chaos is come again. "(3.3.98-100) This passage gives some foreshadowing because chaos does come again into Othello’s life. At the end of the play when Othello does kill Desdemona, and he learns the truth about her, he says, “I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, / Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” (5.2.369-370) He shows everyone that he truly did love his wife even in death.

The last, but not the least important, hamartia that Othello has is trusting others too easily, and not being able to trust the right person. Othello has a terrible time trying to choose whether to believe Iago and his wife, Desdemona. Othello needs to trust his wife even to the point that he cries out, “If she be false, O, the heaven mocks itself! / I’ll not believe ‘t”(3.3.278-279) Othello has a hard time trusting anyone other than military men because he knows “little of this great world…more than pertains to feats of broils and battle.” (1.3.88-89) The one thing that seems certain to him is Iago’s friendship: “O brave Iago, honest and just.” (5.1.32) In the end, Othello trusts Iago, his ensign, who has been with him in war which is a bad decision because later he finds out that everything he thought true was just a lot of lies put together by Iago.

Hamartias, flaws of the tragic hero, are an essential part of tragedies. Othello, plagued by hamartias, is doomed from the beginning of the play. His flaws of self-deception, blind love, jealousy, and trusting others too easily are what eventually kill him and his wife. Even though these flaws were brought to life with the aide of Iago, it truly is Othello who is at fault for loosing everything he had even his life.

Pan's Labyrinth Essay - Excellence

To what extent is the use of fantasy crucial to the success of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Thesis Statement: the fantastical world is crucial to opening up a new angle in which to see the real world, heightening the controlling and truly evil aspects of fascism and human desire for power without losing focus. It also succeeds in allowing us to explore our imagination with freedom not readily available in the typical cinematic experience.

Fantasy in Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, morphs between eerie fairytale interpretations and a horrific reality to effectively create a film that expresses convincingly the value of imagination when faced with Ofelia’s sadistic adversaries, and that “we live in a moment where choice and disobedience are necessary” in order to survive and defend our own individuality as Del Toro decidedly . That the fantastical world opens up a new angle in which to see the real world, heightening the controlling and truly evil aspects of fascism and human desire for power. The correlation between Ofelia’s desire to rebel against the dictatorship of Vidal (and the faun) suggests a human desire to strive for independence and individuality. The imagination is one of the most unique tools utilised to achieve a better reality in both Pan’s Labyrinth and in part, the world around us. In what could be seen as a noted the director’s specific style, Pan’s Labyrinth convincingly portrays these ideas and messages with constant reference to gothic fairy tale allusions, motifs and techniques such as a combination of colour, lighting and transitional links to establish a seductively foreboding tone that both warns us as an audience and draws us further into the twisted depths of Pan’s Labyrinth. Guillermo Del Toro establishes a piece of cinematic art that traces horror right back to the essentials of our childhoods and human tradition; fantasy and fairytale. Fantasy explores our imagination within the film with freedom not readily available in the typical cinematic experience.

The presence of fantasy is apparent in Pan’s Labyrinth from beginning to end. Del Toro utilises fantastical elements -commonly seen in traditional folklore- in the real world. This merges both worlds and causes them to remain inseparable throughout the film. The transformation of real creatures into fairies, and the noting of time in both create a bridge between the worlds that reflects the freedom of Ofelia’s underworld in comparison to the vulnerability she experiences in reality. The insects’ transformation to the three fairies of the underworld act as a links between fantasy and reality, indicating that the insects are fairies in disguise, waiting for the right person to awaken their true identity. This happens to be Ofelia as she exclaims that she “just saw a fairy”. Further along, the same insect is shown transforming into the fairy from Ofelia’s book, thus transfusing the novelist quality of the fantastical and creating it literally. This happens once Ofelia has entered the farmhouse; Vidal’s lair. In such a hostile setting there is a need for an escape from the brutality that resides there. This need for imagination heightens the danger of the real world. The bugs are to the audience’s eye sickening to look at, but Ofelia turns to hideousness with the potential to be imagined away rather than the hideousness of Vidal that cannot be obliterated. She reverts back to her imagination in order to escape the horror that she feels is to come, foreshadowed by shaking Vidal’s hand. He tells her “it’s the other hand” as she has shaken with her left hand, the secret signal rebels used during the Civil War. Vidal’s emotionless nature is further seen through the verbal motif of clocks ticking. Del Toro constantly refers to time in the fantastical and real worlds. The moon is a heightened symbol of time running out in fantasy, its natural marking of the passage of time is indicative of the good earthy feel to the underworld. It is right. It contrasts hugely to the efficiency of Vidal’s regime, everything serves a purpose and is done to exact specifications. Keeping to Del Toro’s emphasis and auteristic symbolism, Vidal’s pocket watch is indicative of this. The noting of time in two different ways suggests the coming of death for Ofelia and even the fascist regime. Vidal’s insistence that his son “know the time of his father’s death” is again remaining consistent with the fairytale element of time signalling the beginning and ending of all things and both worlds take advantage of this. Various close ups of the moon’s constant presence and the references to Vidal’s watch and being punctual are reference to the transference of time in the real world to Ofelia’s imagination telling her the same thing in a different form. All leads up to her climactic death. Even the narrator in the opening sequence says that Princess Moanna’s (Ofelia) father would wait for her “until the world stopped turning”. As her blood falls into the labyrinth, a reflection of the moon is seen in the water, separated by part of the stone carving, showing her separation from life and the real world. But the new ripples forming as a result of her blood sacrifice could be seen as a new circle of life being made available to her in the underworld. The moon is also commonly seen as a symbol of womanhood, appropriate in Pan’s Labyrinth as it keeps consistent with the fairytale female character’s journey from child to adult. However, the male dominance of Vidal’s steely watch triumphs over this as Ofelia’s life is cut short by him before the moon has passed its cycle. The real world and fantasy world still reside in a patriarchal system, right down to the difference of Del Toro’s portrayal of time. This merging of symbols in both worlds suggests that one cannot exist without the other; Del Toro has created a stylistic bond between them and viewers distinguish the difference mainly in plot and physical setting as opposed to technique. An inspiration for Guillermo Del Toro was the symbolist artist movement of the 1800s, taking the artistic licence of Felicien Rops and reflects the same dark elegance in his caricatures of the Pale Man and the Greedy Frog. His stylistic telling of Ofelia’s underworld is surrealist. Neither the fictional nor the real world in Pan’s Labyrinth could be seen as a realistically portrayed plot. This brings up the idea that our imagination simply translates the realities we live into surreal symbols reflecting not only events but emotion and connotations. Del Toro introduces and resolves Pan’s Labyrinth in fantasy, hitting home the importance of fantasy. The content of the fantasy world allows Del Toro to make a political comment that through Ofelia – a child with an active imagination – hits us at the core of our own upbringing; through fairytale conventions and the magical solidity of tales centuries old.

Del Toro’s fantasy world further enhances the vivid brutality of Vidal’s fascist regime through the use of shadowing the fantastical to the real. Throughout Pan’s Labyrinth, Del Toro purposefully creates Ofelia’s world to be a stylistic reflection of the fascist regime. There are many symbols and repeated shots that indicate this. One such technique used by Guillermo throughout Pan’s Labyrinth to enhance the mythical telling of the story is in the use of threes. In fairytales generally, a rule of three is used; three tasks, three fairies, three doors. Del Toro uses this to his advantage creating for Ofelia as many threes as possible in the real and fantastical world. Three heroines are created, each representing a stereotypical image of the woman; Carmen as the meek wife, Ofelia as the child and Mercedes as the shrew. It’s an interesting thought that the women in this film are all under the power and control of Vidal: the open symbol of fascism. It suggests that women are creative and weak, subject to the efficiency and rigidity of fascism, and that “the real world isn’t like [Ofelia’s] fairytales”. Mercedes however triumphs over this, slicing Vidal’s shoulders and mouth declaring that Vidal “isn’t the first pig [she’s] gutted”. Del Toro forms Mercedes to be an openly rebellious individual, in comparison to Ofelia’s closet rebellion and Carmen’s apathetic nature. They also represent the three degrees of reaction to fascism that we should expect to feel and see. This could also be seen as an interpretation of what lies behind the three doors in the Pale Man’s lair. She chooses the door that the fairies do not point to. She is refusing to conform and therefore picks the door that sets her future for rebellion. Furthermore, the rule of three is further shown as three fairies assist the faun in the underworld (also called the Pan in the westernised translation, however Del Toro thought that ‘Pan’ was a name with too strong a history) to help Ofelia complete her quest. There are three tasks Ofelia must complete “before the moon is full”, shown to her in a blank book; three representative villains in the fantastical world. All three tasks are overcome by Ofelia in a symbolic quashing of fascism on a scale she can battle out. She is, in her way a younger version of Mercedes just forming her own ability to snatch out at injustice and fight bravely against the metaphorical Vidal. She is fighting the fascist regime in the fantastical world as she could not fight it in reality. However, Ofelia is killed by Vidal and she does not live to see the fascist regime overcome by the rebels. Although she dies, it is only in the real world. She is resurrected in the underworld to remain forever in the paradise she dreams so passionately about. We are encouraged to think about why she had to be sacrificed. No other outcome would have affected us. Bittersweet films always linger in our minds far longer than happy endings do. Her innocent sacrifice also makes us loathe the sadistic man and the regime he represents who could kill a child. This rule of threes further emphasises the presence of fantasy in the vicinity of the Labyrinth. The “rule of three” fairytale structure helps keep the structure within Pan’s Labyrinth that syncs perfectly with the affect of the fascist regime in Spain at the time. Ofelia’s rebellion against Vidal and fascism is also clearly seen in the caricatures that Del Toro creates in the fantasy world. These are foes which Ofelia can overcome in stages. It is interesting to note that the more fantastical villains Ofelia overcomes the weaker Vidal’s hold over his territory becomes. The toad that resides in the fig tree “consuming it with his greed” shows the simple and unruly need to consume anything and everything around it. The toad consumes the bugs that make the fig tree fertile as Vidal consumes the natural harmony that should reside around him. He uproots the land that is not his (it could be seen as the sacred land of the Labyrinth) and plants his own –as Sergei Lopez calls his character – “deranged and psychopathic” self into the land around him, poisoning it with his fascist ideals and choking Ofelia’s freedom. The claustrophobic feel to the camera shots within Vidal’s house is indicative of this in opposition to the wide shots in open spaces with symmetry and clarity in the forest surrounding Vidal’s farmhouse. Ofelia overcomes the toad though and declares that she is “not afraid of [him]”. We can see the Pale Man’s consumption of innocents similarly to Vidal’s consumption of Ofelia’s and Carmen’s lives. The orchestration of the music accompanying the Pale Man in his lair is similar to that of Vidal’s; unsettling and suspenseful. We know that something is about to go wrong. The composition of the table in the Pale Man’s lair, a table laden with all sorts of tempting fruits while the Pale Man sits dormant at the head is then cross cut with Vidal in a similar position in his own house. The parallel between reality and fantasy is undeniable. Ofelia though, escapes again and Vidal is unable to harm her. Finally, the dictatorial aspects of the Pan faun are also able to be seen as Vidal-like characteristics. The faun is uncompromising and the dark lighting the constantly surrounds him highlights a mystery and fear of the unknown in which he resides. But Ofelia rebels against him and refuses to sacrifice her brother. The faun is not seen in the resolution when a point of view shot from Vidal looks at Ofelia; the faun is missing. Transference has taken place where it could be said that Vidal has become the faun in his anger. His weaponry (gun, knife; killing tools) can be seen as indicative of this as well as the sole point of view shot from Vidal. This time the Pan is too strong for her, and he leaves her fate to the real world; to Vidal. His cold and heartless extinguishment of Ofelia is the final show of fascist prowess. But it is not prowess, it is cowardice and shows fascism to be an idea without morals or principles. Del Toro makes the fantastical villains vital to Ofelia’s rebellion. She cannot physically harm or rid herself of Vidal in the real world, so she attempts to obliterate him in a medium that she can control; her imagination. Without this, Ofelia would have been set an impossible task and we would not believe Del Toro. The fantasy creates a distortion of reality that symbolises the oppressive and truly evil aspects of fascism and advises us to rebel in any way we can. Guillermo Del Toro uses characters and visual and verbal links in order to educate his audience about his specific attitudes towards fascism and on a more general scale, to humanity’s desire for power and control over the circumstances we live in. Through this we forget to live right, and instead live in greed and heartlessness. Del Toro aims to drive that out of our system in a way that connects with the essence of our childhood; fairytales.

Guillermo del Toro also explores the idea that fantasy and imagination is crucial to the expression of rebellion. The characters that Del Toro has cast in a sympathetic light all rebel against the fascist regime that takes place in the real world. To simply obey and apathetically do as the fascists dictate is said to be “something only people like you can do Captain”, only fascists who live to serve one ruler and ignore the core of humanity; individuality and independence of thought. Both events and uses of sound can affirm the idea that Del Toro wishes to see this. The artistic inspiration Del Toro draws his cinematography from were rebels in their time, bending away from the norm of artistic works and relying heavily on symbolism and warped realities as opposed to realism and beauty. Del Toro also drew out the beauty that exists through and between the darkness. His opposite use of lighting shows a rebellion to other generic film styles concerning lighting. Throughout the film, notably during Ofelia’s first encounter with the faun, the natural world is cast in low key lighting and blue filter. In a general sense, films tend to use blue filters and darkness to represent fear and evil. Ofelia however, sees these warped and abnormal creatures as beautiful. We are taught to ignore the general rules that we subconsciously associate with good and evil for the sake of rebellion and the unexpected. Darkness here is a reference to the moon’s cycle and the depth and mystery that can be so alluring about the darkness. We are first introduced to the faun in darkness and shadow. The blue filter casts out most of the background behind him and exaggerates the mystery about Pan. He claims to be “the mountain, the forest and the earth”, and that he is Ofelia’s “most humble servant”. At first we distrust him for this, but as we gradually adjust to the portrayal of light and dark as Vidal – the epitome of evil, is cast in the light (combined with high angle shots and a noticeable lack of two shots) we see the faun as Ofelia does, as he visits her room, still in darkness he is a welcome sight for Ofelia who has been locked away by Vidal. This showing of light plays with our expectations, rebels against the classic film making habits that we see generally and emphasises the beauty that resides in the dark earthy places in the world. Ofelia is often cast in darkness, with backlighting to indicate who our allegiance as viewers lies with. We associate her rightfully with the free-roaming darkness.

Ofelia neglects the real world as she rebels against her mother’s wishes (and does not attend the banquet), Vidal’s regime (escaping with Mercedes) and eventually refuses to sacrifice her brother for her own gains. Guillermo del Toro also uses the ethereal lullaby in both diagetic and non-diagetic instances in order to assist this showing of fantastical rebellion in all its mythical magnificence. Its adjustment from a delicate strings arrangement to the rich and suspenseful viola signals the transition from reality to fantasy. Mercedes introduces the theme as an old folktale that she has “forgotten the words” to. The ancient lullaby is as the soul of the ancient Princess Moanna’s, stretching out beyond fascism and man. It gives strength to the character and, as what del Toro refers to as a younger version of Mercedes, she begins to refuse to conform as her mother did. This lullaby also serves to empower us. Its original purpose (songs that sung us to sleep in the time of our childhood) serves as a reminder of our own childhood when anything was possible, as our imagination was not tamped down by the propriety of adulthood and sensibility. As Carmen points out, we are “too old for [fairy stories]”. Pan’s Labyrinth however, rejects this thought and sees Ofelia triumphant in the end inside her underworld of fantasy. The lullaby is played in all its grandeur rising above the painfully sharp strings that ring out in the approach of Ofelia’s death. Ofelia has overcome death as she overcame the fascist will of Vidal to dictate wherever and whomever he chose. Ofelia proves to the audience that there is beauty in rebellion and the mystery that lies within the incomprehensible depths of our imaginations can serve to overcome our mental battles, helping us to rebel outside ourselves. Ofelia’s age and inexperience does not hinder her bravery and trust in the shadows and ancient moss-covered magic around her, rather her youth allows her to rebel against the warnings of her mother and fulfil del Toro’s image of the necessity to disobey and follow one’s own moral compass rather than the cold and efficient watch of Vidal.

The fantastical mirror image of the real world in Pan’s Labyrinth is crucial to understanding the essence of the human imagination as it inspires rebellion and suggests to the viewer that the imagination is necessary to escape the horrors around us. Del Toro further uses the imagination to symbolically assure his audience of the brutality of fascism. Although not all his viewers have been exposed to fascism, we are educated through allusion and symbolism in the fantastical world to loathe the fascism Vidal represents. Ofelia’s fantastical world leaves so much to the audience’s imagination (such as whether or not the underworld is in fact real) within Pan’s Labyrinth, that the exploration of it becomes a surrealist window that allows the audience to delve into the perverse nature Del Toro makes fascism out to be. He shows it to be suppressive and almost non-human in its antagonistic representation through the character Vidal. His symbolising fascism and real events in Ofelia’s world inspires a link between both fantasy and reality that makes them unable to be separated without hindering the film’s true auteristic quality that Guillermo del Toro succeeds in using to make Pan’s Labyrinth a truly unique and affecting piece of work. The logic and necessity for the fantastical world enables Ofelia to defeat Vidal and fascism in a believable way. We would not believe Ofelia capable of truly succeeding over Vidal in reality, until she has done it in the realms of her imagination. The fantasy world allows us to explore the aspect of rebellion and time as well as the reflection and hints of it in reality. Her sacrifice for her brother, who “has caused [her] so much pain and humiliation” is rebellion against the faun and emphasises del Toro’s wish to educate us about the value of morality in the face of obeying “for obedience’s sake” and risking the loss of what we hold dear. He tells his audience about the rewards for assertions of individuality. Guillermo uses stylistic techniques and plays with our expectations concerning the portrayal of light, composition, camera angles as well as characters and sounds to make his point. Pan’s Labyrinth is a chilling story about the fight for freedom and the risks that must be taken in order to achieve it. It’s an affecting story that calls into question the very nature of our role in the face of emotionless greed. Guillermo del Toro brings us back to the core of fairytale essentials to hit home the importance of an imagination, making itself available only to “those who know where to look”.

Pan's Labyrinth - Other general things

Exposition: Raspy breath is heard even before the opening camera sequence. Reverse blood running back into nose when we do see Ofelia. Lullaby is heard throughout this entire sequence, important. We enter the world through Ofelia's eye. Eye imagery is also a recurring theme throughout Pan's Labyrinth. In this scene we see the death of Ofelia. However, we do not know who she is or how she got killed. We are then linked into her "memory" of escaping the Labyrinth. This sets us up to believe the faun later when he claims she is "the Princess Moanna". Del Toro actually intended to show that the fantasy world wasn't just Ofelia's imagination. He showed it in three things:

• The chalk's ability to "create your own door"
• The fig tree blossoming again
• The birth mark on Ofelia's back

These things are consistent in both worlds. They are not reflections, but the direct result of one world impacting on another. This is important to del Toro's message that it is adults who have lost their sense of imagination (Vidal's inability to see the faun in the labyrinth) but that doesn't mean that the products of imagination aren't real. On the contrary.

Objects in the real world are paralleled in the fantasy world: Ofelia's and Mercedes' keys, the knife. All make the same metallic ring when touched. It can show both its lethal potential and also its fantastical seduction.

Rule of thirds: Guillermo del Toro is constantly referring back to this rule of thirds business. Three doors, three tasks, three archetypal women, three large conflicts, three stones, three thrones the list goes on. This is reflective again of the Gothic fairytale aspect of Pan's Labyrinth. It all links together through fairytales. We are given three chances, three choices. All of it points back to whether or not the choice will be the right one or the wrong one. There is a sense of destiny around the number three. Used in the Bible, in fairytales and now in del Toro's work.

There is a shoe fetish in this film. "Look at your shoes", "you'll ruin your shoes", Vidal shines his shoes, Ofelia gets given new shoes, Nazi black shoe allusion, Ofelia gets given Dorothy shoes in the resolution. This film dedicates so many shots to shoes, feet. The journey we lead, and where our feet take us: towards discovery or towards treachery. Sometimes both.

There is a link between Ofelia's bedtime story of the rose "that would make anyone who touched it immortal" and Ofelia's own journey. It's linked by the bug that rests on the rose at the top of the mountain, then flying across the Labyrinth to the window outside Ofelia and Carmen's bedroom. We know now that it is she who will become immortal. But not because she can conquer death and live forever, but it is because "in pain...we find the meaning of life".

God shots on Ofelia: the moon is watching her. Remember that it "was the moon that bore [her]" and now she is constantly being watched over. Whether sleeping or waking, the call home to greater things away from the bloodshed and disharmony of the real world is so strong it becomes a symbolic POV shot of its own accord. Particularly when Ofelia first enters the Labyrinth, and finally when she leaves it, going back through the portal.

There is a sacrifice demanded in all tasks. No success without blood sacrifice or death. The bug sacrifices itself so Ofelia may complete her task, the fairies die distracting the Pale Man from Ofelia's escape and finally, Ofelia herself must pay for the life of her brother in sacrifice when she refuses to give him over. Vidal however lives only for himself, demanding the blood of others and never himself. We have no remorse for him when his life comes to an unceremonious end, one that means his son "will never even know [his] name".

Death in Pan's Labyrinth is a release and it is relief from all the horrible stuff of reality.

There needs to be brutality for a magical escape to present itself. When we are desperate only then could we possibly accept the existence of fantasy without question. We are sick of the world at hand, now any change is better. This is the conclusion Ofelia makes once she "want[s] to leave this place".

An innocent child must banish the darkness of the adult world. This is in fairytales and in Pan's Labyrinth.

"phantasmagorical cinema" gives a blend of innocence and brutality. It counteracts the fascism (no choice) with the individual innocent who chooses heroic rebellion.

Balances political tensions with fantasy/reality.

Good website: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/49337 <-- gives loads of insight and links across del Toro's inspiration and previous films.

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
  

Pan's Labyrinth - Main Ideas + Supporting Evidence

Main Ideas:

Man's greatest desire is for power.

• Farmhouse setting juxtaposed with the wilderness
• Wide shots of Vidal distance us from him, especially in the forest
• Low angle shots of the men (both rebels and Vidal)
• Vidal's costume, alluding to him as a Hitler-like figure
  

• "the world is a cruel place" - Carmen
• "He's not my father!" - Ofelia
• "The thing that slumbers there, it is not human" - Faun
• "She's just a woman" - Vidal
• "You've found my weakness: Pride" - Vidal
• "Mistaken belief that we are all equal" - Vidal
• "In Franco's Spain!" - Garces
• "This is the only decent way to die" - Vidal
• "To show his son how a man dies with honour" - Guest.

Rebellion and Disobedience are often necessary for discovery:

• The Woodlands. Straying off the path (Ofelia at beginning, Goya influence of symmetry)
• Rugged costumes in natural colours are what we want, not cold gray blue uniforms
• Ofelia/del Toro rebellion of light and setting (trust dark, woodlands again)
• Labyrinth - despite Mercedes warning that she "better not go in there", Ofelia travels through the Labyrinth, a place where (as del Toro describes) is "essentially a place of transit" where one goes through obstacles to discover how to get to the middle and come out with a better understanding of oneself. It is a journey of discovery that ends in the middle: where you are supposed to be.
• Ofelia's acts of disobedience (straying from the path, disobeying the faun - eating the grapes, refusing to give up her brother, going into the Labyrinth). All these are choices she makes. These choices lead to consequences that shape her. In the end she makes the ultimate discovery: herself, dressed in golds and reds (red shoes, Dorothy allusion) in her Kingdom; the final place of fantasy.
• Shoes imagery. There are so many shoe shots. Think about where those shoes go. Into the fig tree, mud, off the path, in the labyrinth, everywhere she shouldn't go. Her shoes always get muddy (again rebelling from the typical Hollywood image of a girly heroine) until she discovers her real place on the royal throne of the Underground Realm. Only then are her shoes clean and pretty.
  

• "You'll see that life isn't like one of your fairytales" - Carmen
• "Create your own door" - Faun
• "You'll ruin your shoes" - Carmen
• "Better not go in there" - Mercedes
• "You disobeyed me!" - Faun
• "You could have just obeyed me" - Vidal
  
• "To obey, for the sake of obeying... Only people like you can do that Captain Vidal" - Dr. Ferreiro

The challenges that life presents require faith and imagination to overcome them.

• Vidal's symbolic manifestation in the three fantastical villains (he is too evil for just one, he needs to be the Greedy Frog, the Pale Man and the Faun. These creatures also aid del Toro's political parable)
• Parallels between fantasy and reality. To overcome the evil of the real world, Ofelia must escape to a world where she is in control.
• Lullaby throughout fantasy pieces
• Mercedes/Ofelia parallels. Mercedes deals with the gritty reality whilst Ofelia pursues the unknown realm of the imagination
• Doors symbol. Sign of escape for Ofelia. Going through doors represents a new reality being discovered, leaving the other world behind.

• "Are you a fairy?" - Ofelia
• "This is the Book of Crossroads" - Faun, "there's nothing there" - Ofelia
• You'll see that life isn't like your fairytales" - Carmen
• "You'll look like a princess" - Carmen
• "It is in pain that we find the meaning of life" - Chaplain (reading eulogy)