Pan's Labyrinth: Magical Realism

Hunter Bardin

ENGL 280

Professor Wisniewski

November 14, 2020

    Fairy tales are often seen as something only for children to enjoy. With the history of Disney making films with bright colors and characters it is hard to not categorize as fairy tales as anything but childish. However, fairy tales can be made for an older audience in mind and still capture the same fantastical feeling. An example of this would be Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro. The film takes both the magical fanaticism of fairy tales and combines it with the gritty realism of the post Spanish Civil War era of Spain.

     Set in 1944 Francoist, Spain Pan's Labyrinth follows the journey of the young girl Ofelia as she tries to make her way back to the underworld while living in a military encampment in the woods. Ofelia's fantastical trials are intercut with the gritty realistic perils of war. You see things like guerrilla battles, capture, and torture. This helps to bring the segments of fantasy back down to the ground as the audience is made to know that this isn't your stereotypical fairy tale land of happiness and glee. However, this grittiness helps make Ofelia's journey even more important as it is the catalyst to her wanting to escape to the underworld. The treatment she gets from her stepfather and dealing with her sick mother helps to urge her to complete her trials to the end. If this were made for children and the grit removed then her motivations would seem less impactful than they do in the film. 

    This theme of escapism helps drive the point of the fantasy and magical aspects even more. We see at the end of the film that the captain is unable to see the faun and Mercedes finding Ofelia's body at the end. The film is showing that this could have all just have been in Ofelia's imagination. She never actually met the faun or the fairies and she was just making them up to help her get out of the bad place that she was in throughout the film. Escapism is something that many people feel throughout their lives. It can be considered a good thing once in a while, but too much of it can lead to negative outcomes. While active imaginations are encouraged in children, as one gets older it becomes more and more important to stay grounded according to societal standards. This makes the theme of escapism more impactful to adults and it wouldn't make as much sense to children if that were the target demographic. You can argue whether Ofelia's escapism is what caused her life to be ended earlier or if it made her life actually enjoyable and to her, worth it. 

    Pan's Labyrinth is a great example of a fairy tale made for an adult audience. Instead of using it's fantasy elements "just because" it uses it to push its more adult themes. The impact of these themes would also be lost without the realism behind them. There is no need to escape when things aren't going wrong. 

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