Pan's Labyrinth: time and legacy

 Kaitlyn Woodard

Professor Matt Wisniewski

English 280

September 18, 2020

       Guillermo del toro throughout the film, Pan's labyrinth, plays with the idea of time. From the first instance of the reversed scene that kicks off the movie to the use of clocks within the story.

       The first instance, the reversal of time on Ofelia's dying body, breaks up the fairytale format and incentivizes the viewer to pay closer attention. From the start we begin to raise questions and can develop our own understanding of the situation. With life being brought into her though to me it implies a sort of energy, that the story lies in what happens before this moment. That we will be focusing on the before instead of the ending of the film which can be viewed as tragic, bittersweet, and/or joyful. 

       Then there are the clocks in the film. Specifically though I would like to focus on Fidel's pocket watch. This timepiece in my opinion is the center of Fidel's perception of glory and with the idea of leaving behind a legacy. The first time we see the pocket watch is when Ofelia and her mother are arriving and the captain comments on how they are around 15 minutes late. This is the first kickoff with the display of Fidel's obsession with time and in turn how it affects his legacy. Another stand out scene is when Fidal talks with and then murders the old hunter alongside his son. At the end of the scene though Fidal digs deep in to the man's bag finding two rabbits, everyone becomes silent but Fidal's response is to not waste his time again. Essentially stating it was his men's fault that the two we're dead, that by not properly searching them and calling him out to see some "rebels" they had wasted his time and we're the reason why the other men did not have any time left. We also learn in a later scene that the pocket watch he has worked on was actually his father's and it had stopped ticking when he had his final battle, when he had Fidal to carry on his legacy. Though in this same dinner party Fidal lies about never having the watch showing how this idea of legacy has taken a toll on him, not excusing his actions, but still the connection does exist. In fact when Ofelia's mother, Carmen, is doing well and the baby is not seemingly in danger we don't see much of the small clock due to the fact that his legacy appears to be set in stone. This is also supported by the scene where they charge in to attack the rebel base, Fidal is unafraid of harm coming to him due to the fact that dying as a hero could give him the respect his father had and he has someone to leave his legacy to, his son. Along with the clock Fidal's obsession with insisting the child is a boy has a lot to do with legacy because it is only a male heir that could continue the families legacy in regards to war and being strong military leaders.

       Guillermo del toro uses the idea of time to his advantage within the film. By subverting the beginning of a fairytale by reversing the ending he starts the viewer's questioning and draws our attention brilliantly. Also through the use of clocks, specifically Fidal's pocket watch, we are able to attach a physical object to Fidal's obsession of legacy and the effects that time has on it.

       

Comments

  1. Hunter BardinNovember 15, 2020 at 7:17 PM

    The pocket watch caught my attention right when it first appeared in the film. When you see Fidal with it and before he mentions that they are late you can already tell that he is a punctual person. It shows more how he likes to have control of everything even time itself.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blackkklansman: Ironically a Comedy

  Chloe Kowalyk Professor Wisniewski Intro to Film 18/11/2020 Blackkklansman, directed by Spike Lee, is a fantastic film. I especially liked how Lee integrated aspects of real protests and fights for civil rights into the film. The clip of the protestors who were run over by a car at the end brought tears to my eyes. I also felt that the clip, in the beginning, was extremely effective. It depicted a crane shot from Gone With the Wind where Scarlett O’Hara is walking through a scene of dead Confederate soldiers. I had to watch this movie for one of my AP English classes in high school, so I jumped up when immediately recognized where it was from. Along with Gone With the Wind, Lee also includes scenes from Birth, which heavily romanticized the Ku Klux Klan. Both films embedded in Blackkklansman are racist and exemplify what Ron and Flip were investigating.  Another aspect of the film I really liked is that it was presented as a comedy. Something as touchy as the Holocaust, the ...
Read more

Female Troubles: No Subject Too Sensitive

Viewing Female Troubles directed by John Waters felt like an ongoing manic episode, though I enjoyed that about it honestly, it didn’t hold back on it’s content. I can understand how some might not have been comfortable making through this, it’s not common to find in our media to be unfiltered in it’s dark and raunchy comedy. Some jokes would be distasteful or needed to be worded better to be more acceptable now, though I saw reason as to why the humor was taken to such crude and extra lengths to make fun of certain subjects or groups.  Any subject that was brought into this movie had to be made fun of, it had to be turned ridiculous.  If you heard anyone say a quote from this film in any serious context it would be viewed with concern. Though that’s part of the weird enjoyment you can get out of this, if you know this isn’t going to be serious, it’s labelled as a comedy for a reason. Not all of it is tasteful or going to be for everyone, but it doesn’t try to be, it’s not t...
Read more

Female Trouble: Trouble with a capital "T" that rhymes with "P" that stands for Pool

               Female Trouble (1974) is one of several films directed by John Waters and starring Divine that depict violence and sex so candidly that this is the first NC-17 rated film I’ve had the pleasure(?) of seeing. This was also one of the hardest films to watch as I was cringing through most of it and looking away at other times. Reasons for this being that I found the cinematography just as abhorrent as the grotesque visuals that I did see clearly. But to his credit, if I’m cringing at the sight of horrible people doing horrible things to other people then I guess John Water’s point has been made. And he gets this across while on a shoestring budget and the power of Divine and much like Natural Born Killers describes the rise to fame of criminals to celebrity status. I however don’t think Dawn Davenport (Divine) was as big of a star as she claims to be. Does she really get to be such a big celebrity that the whole nation goes bonkers...
Read more