Pan's Labyrinth Part 2

 Clocks play a huge role in Pan's Labyrinth. Captain Vidal's father broke his watch at his time of death. He did this so that when it was given to his son, he would always know when his father dies and be reminded of him. When Vidal himself dies, he starts to tell Mercedes this tale but she denies him. She says that his son will never even know his name, thus disrupting his narrative and denying his patriarchal nature. 

Another character who wears a watch is the doctor. Not only does he have a pocket watch, he also dresses in a waistcoat and at times reminds me of the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (a movie that Tim Burton redid). 

Tim Burton is actually one of my favorite directors and I think I've watched a majority of his films. The fact that I had never heard of him doing a Hansel and Gretel remake was interesting to me. Tim Burton certainly has his own style. Gothic swirly trees, characters who are definitely made in a certain similar style, Tim Burton films are decidedly whimsical. 

German expression consists of a "preoccupation with notions of dream and reality, madness and sanity, and blindness and vision which all seem to be subsumed into a concept of ineluctable destiny for both the individual and the society” Roberts (2008, p. 8). A lot (if not almost all) of Tim Burton films are influenced by this expression. Guillermo del Toro’s, Pan's Labyrinth is as well. Both directors mix dreams and reality and make you question what is real and what is not.


Sources

https://medium.com/@DaniaAtHome/the-influence-of-german-expressionist-cinema-on-the-films-of-tim-burton-7e660e36f583

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