To be successful, a visual or oral text must have lovable characters. 1400 words – getting a little
lengthy
For their to be Yin their must be Yang. For their to be light their must be dark. For their to be love
their must be hate. Guillemero Del Toro beautifully contrasts hate and love to show that to be a
memorable film their must be characters to hate so that the loveable characters that you associate
with are highlighted. Ofelia the protagonist in Pan’s Labyrinth is contrasted with hateable
characters of her mother, Vidal and The Pale Man, to make her more loving and as a result the
audience relates with her making the text more successful as it is memorable. Interesting
comments to start with – well done
“Like mother, like daughter.” Del Toro uses this idea that if Ofelia followed in her mother’s
footsteps then she too would end up with the same fate of her mother; death of her soul. In the
introduction of the film a two-shot first introduces Ofelia and her mother together. However the
audience cannot see the relationship clearly because of casting the two look very different. The
fairytale world has already been established a prominent part of the film with a previous fairy tale
voice over so when Carmen questions Ofelia’s fantasy books she instantaneously vomits. This is a
foreshadow to the audience that Carmen’s disregard of the fantastical world results in her own
death consequently showing the power that Ofelia will gain by believing in this fantasy world. The
contrast between Carmen and Ofelia is continually shown in the introduction. When Carmen meets
Vidal she does not want to be in a wheel chair as she feels that she can walk. With an over the
shoulder shot Vidal appears dominating over Carmen and she meekly obeys. This is in contrast to
her daughter, instead of putting down her precious books she offers her wrong hand. This is shown
in a two-shot, both are strong characters in their own right. This scene is similar to handshaking in
David Copperfield where Copperfield illustrates his stubbornness. Carmen has given up all moral
integrity by marrying Vidal, she now makes no self made decisions. As an audience we don’t like
this, we feel everyone should have the right to make their own decisions. Del Toro positions the
whole film about decisions, the audience even has to choose their interpretation of the ending, so
for a character to relinquish her rights to make her own decisions we automatically don't like her.
As Ofelia disobeys this path Del Toro shows a story of a “girl who gives birth to herself as she
wants to be.” This uses Ofelia’s choice as a springboard into the broader implications of how one
might question, criticise and rebel against restraints and expectations. Society is constantly
restricting the audience, so for a child to rebel against her hateable Mum and social expectations
we respect her more. As a result she is a more loveable character, and one that is more
memorable making the film more successful as a whole. Strong integration of technique and
purpose here
Vidal is the epitome of evil. Del Toro wanted to access the true horror that traditionally lurks
beneath the magic of a fairytale to reveal the darker parts of the human psyche, incarnated here by
Vidal.  This is introduced early on in the film as in broad daylight Vidal ruthlessly stabs a son in
the face with a broken glass bottle, a close-up of his face showing a lack of emotion. He then
continues to kill the father, for being upset about the murder of his son. Vidal clearly has father-son
relationship issues as he meticulously tries to fix his father’s watch who dies courageously in battle.
This creates his desire for his child to be identical to him as what has made his ‘great’ was
following in his father’s footsteps. He risks the safety of Carmen to bring her to the mill as a “son
should be born with his father.” And when the life of his child is in question he informs the doctor
that “if you have to choose… save the boy. That boy will bear my name and my father’s name.”
Vidal is a perfect example of the Cronus complex, with his desire for his child to be exactly like him.
Del Toro was inspired by artist Francisco de Gaya who was inspired by the Greek myths of
Cronus. With Ofelia now his step-daughter she is also meant to conform to the fascist regime that
he would die for. Vidal’s belief that Ofelia’s only good use was for her to be a wife and bear
children like her mother is driven by this complex, and as an audience we are already positioned to
hate all that Vidal does and thinks so we see this desire as a negative one. Without this negative
character of Vidal and the result of following the path drawn for you we would not realise how
important it is for Ofelia to break against this mould. A major theme of this film is the power of
rebellion and the liberation that it gives. We see from Vidal the limitations following your parents
footsteps has, as he is the most hated character, so as a result everyone loves Ofelia more and
inspires to be like her. This is a factor in a successful text. If the audience can dream to be like the
protagonist, then the whole film is going to have a more profound effect and be more memorable.
You have developed a strong argument here
There are two equally as important worlds in Pans Labyrinth; fantasy and reality. Through Carmen
and Vidal we can see the horror of the real world contrasting to the good of Ofelia, but for Ofelia to
be the righteous Queen we must believe that she is also this in the fantasy world. To truly see how
good she is, we must also understand that the fantasy world can have horrors, not like the fairy
tales that our society is used to from Disney.  This is expertly created through the scene with the
Pale Man. He is the parallel character of Vidal, the true world haunting the fantasy world. The Pale
Man contrasts with Ofelia on the ability to be able to see. Like Vidal, this monster lacks the ability
to see as his eyes literally sit on a platter in front of him.  This gruesome scene is inspired by the
horrors of the statue of Saint Lucy with her eyes on a platter and blood pouring out of her sockets.
Mies-En-Scene also establishes this character as a dark monster with architect on the walls of him
devouring children and a pile of shows that automatically reminds the audience of the horrors of
the holocaust. It is easy to think that all characters in fairy tales are good, since as children fairy
tales were to sooth us before we went to bed. But by having the Pale Man consuming children we
realise that this is the opposite. The Pale Man is the representation of all our nightmares, the
thoughts that happen in the darkest of nights.  But yet Ofelia beats him by believing in the
fantasy world, proving that her essence is completely good, deserving of the underground realm.
We all face the horror of Pale Man in our dreams and have the desire to be able to beat our fears
like Ofelia did. This is what makes the film so successful, a child succeeds in what we all have
ambitions to do. In a society where everyone is growing up quicker, chucking out our fairytales
earlier because they are too childish, del Toro is showing the value of youth and how it combats
the worst of our nightmares. We are inspired by the film that fantasy is not something of our past
but instead something that can be useful now as Ofelia uses it to conquer her reality. This is
important for a director who is the master of creating fantasy for an adult audience.  Without the
horror of the Pale Man we would not understand the preciousness of Ofelia because of her belief in
fantasy which make the horror-fantasy genre of this film much more successful.
In conclusion, for Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillemero del Toro to be so successful Ofelia the
protagonist had to be completely loved. This is so the audience understands what Ofelia shows
that fantasy is the answer. This was created by the contrast of the haunting characters Carmen,
Vidal and the Pale Man to the loving Ofelia, which was emphasised strongly by cinematography
and mise-en-scene. The ideas that for there to be good there must be evil is prevalent in this film
as to have a loveable character you must also have to hate.
This is a well-structured piece – you know a complex film – and you have a strong argument and
evidence integrated well.
ET5