Pan's Labyrinth Reflection

So we finally presented our analysis and thoughts on del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. It much more nerve wracking then I thought it was going to be. How Professor Hatfield does it everyday I will never know. But on to my reflection. Well for our presentation we gathered at Marianne's apartment Verteran's Day since with the six schedules it was crazy trying to get together on a normal day. Thankfully everyone was so awesome in my group that they went for the idea. We watched the movie, three of us it being the first time. It was an eye opener! After watching we all talked about the major themes or parts that stuck in our minds. We knew that we wanted to split the class up since it is pretty daunting to speak up in a class of 30 so we thought people would be more comfy in small groups. (citation-the "Spritited Away" group- we followed your amazing idea!hope it was okay.) So each of us chose a topic/theme/part of the movie that we wanted to research more in detail to present and discuss with our classmates.

For my topic I chose the Child vs. Adults aspects of the movie. As seen in Pan's, the heroine is a child and the majority of of the adults that surrround her are evil or just plain mean. If Vidal was my step-father I would run away the moment he crushed my hand. It was this aspect of the movie that really intrigued me. I like how del Toro was able to show Ofelia on her quest and parallel it with the history of the revolution in Spain. There was also something to be said of her mother. Her mother was very selfish in my opinion. Yes she was pregnant and married, but to take her daughter into a war zone?! It seemed at times that Pan could be trusted more than the adults in Ofelia's world could.

Another adult that I had trouble trusting was Mercedes. Some will say that she helps Ofelia so much and saves the baby, but at the same time she is helping the revolutionaries. I torn on how I should feel about her. The fact that she kept tucking that knife in her dress sort of irked me. I was afraid she was going to fall and stab herself, but it was awesome to watch her cut Vidal. He was a gruesome character. I loved that he finally lost in the end. For ordering his wife around and how mean he was to Ofelia, he deserved to be killed. His machismo attitude and the constant watch checking was clearly a sign that he was not to be trusted. Why Ofelia's mother married him I do not understand.

Del Toro definitely succeded in making the child the main protagonist and heroine. I 'm still trying to figure out why she had to die at the end. I liked her and that fact that she kept believeing in fairy tales after many people told her not to. Although some say its a contradiction to have a child in an adult fairy tale, it would not have made sense. Any adult would not believed the faun and travel on the quest. That it why kids are so awesome. Kids are not as tainted as adults are. They have no fear and I truly believe sometime they are smarter than some adults.

P.S. Sorry for the length Professor, I just kept typing.