Pan's Labyrinth Notes...

Here are the notes i made after listening to Guillermo Del Toro's commentary on the film. There's some informaion that ay not be that relevant, but i've indicated the important information with an exclamatio mark. Also, there are some names that i need to check out because i couldn't quite hear what Del Toro was saying, so i'll post them up later if i can work out who he is talking about.

NOTES:

! - Jorge Luis Borges wrote a book about the Labyrinth which Del Toro references in his commentary.
- War and destruction being used in contrast to the fairytale narrative. Juxtaposition of violence and fantasy/magic.
- It's a sister film to the Devil's Backbone, also directed by Del Toro.
! - Influences include:
- Hans Christian Anderson (Little Match Girl).
- The Wizard of Oz (Which he references at the end of the film.)
- Alice in Wonderland (Which he references with the green version of Alice's dress.)
- Oscar Wilde
- A warm colour pallette in the fairytale world sompared to the cold colour pallette of the real world.
! - Straight lines used in the real world; round lines used in the fantasy world and when the girl is important to the storyline.
- Wipes resemble the turning of pages.
! - Celtic art (North Spain origin).
- Ambiguity in the fairies and the faun (are the good or are they bad?).
! - A faun in Classical mythology is a creature that is neutral, that represents nature. Only in America is the movie called Pan's Labyrnth. It was the Faun's Labyrinth in Spanish. The faun is meant to be a orce of creation and destruction.
! - Pink Floyd, The Wall inspired the scene with the blood in the book, it's an echo to the prologue of Is There Anybody Out There (in terms of sound).
! - Alfonso - The Little Princess, one of Del Toro's favourite films/stories as a child.
- Every other scene you get a magical or reality scene like a checker board effect.
! - It is a Romantic movie, full of a spirit of hope and dispair at the same time.
! - St. lucy statue similar to the ogre at the dining table. The ogre at the dining table replicates the stature of the Fascist at the dining table.
! - The monster is an ogre, a classical element in a fairytale. It has a lot of food in front of it but only eats innocents (in this case children).
! - The 3 doors is another fairytale element. she disobeys the fairies and opens the 1st door, similar to the Labyrinth film.
! - Goya (etchings and black paintings) Saturn devouring his son, the scene with the eyes in the Ogre's hands is a reference to this painting.
! - Artist Influences:
- Arthur Rackham
- Edmund Dulac
- ? (There was one more he mentioned but i couldn't hear him)
These were golden age fairytale illustrators.
! - Painterly Influences (Symbolist painters):
- Arnold Bocklin
- Arnold Schwang? (Again i misheard this name so i'm not sure that's right).
- Feliciene Rops (I misheard this name but i think this is the correct person).
These artists were all part of the Symbolism era, the gothic side to Romanticism i believe.
! - Intersect with Romantic Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood painters.
- Crossroads of each character in terms of choices.
- The Labyrinth can be seen as a metaphor of the twists and turns of life with an inevitable centre.
- Many of the real-life characters are representatives of common fairytale characters.
! - Immortality and Spirituality as well as Religion were often brought up.
- The tree resembles the Fallopian tube.
! - The Sands of Fairytales? (I read this was an important book in an interview with Del Toro).
! - The soundtrack is structured around a lullaby and can be classed as Contemporary Classical music.