Pan's Labyrinth

While watching the film I notice that the main characters see them selves differently. Ofelia as the type of heroine that needs to save her family, but keeps failing. While Captain Vindal sees him self as a symbol of a perfect Spain. What else that makes the Captain interesting is how he also sees himself, he is self aware of what he is doing and even though he sees this as a good thing, deep down the Captain knows that he is a monster.
Also the fighting between the military and the resistance represent the classic battle between the rich and the poor
We could look more into the condition of Spain after the Civil War

Alice Images

Maybe for one slide we can go through and compare the Alice illustrations with frames from the film. Here are some which look at lot like Pans Labryinth:


When Ofelia is wearing the 'Alice' dress:

When Ofelia is in the tunnel under the tree:

Ofelia going through the wall with the chalk, is a lot like going through the looking glass:

The Sands of Fairy Tales

I know you said about this in your notes, but I've found a quote bu Del Toro saying:

But, the one book that I would say was a huge influence on making the movie is a book called The Sands of Fairy Tales which is a recent catalog of all the primordial streaks of storytelling in fairy tale lore.

BUT - I also found a page saying that 'Sands' is a typo, and the book he meant was 'Science'.

The Science of Fairy Tales
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Fairy-Tales-Inquiry-Mythology/dp/1409954951

The whole book seems to be available here:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sft/index.htm

We can have a look through it, find the parts which relate to the film and then maybe put some quotes alongside some screenshots from the film, which could work. 

Alice in Wonderland

I'm going to have a look at the similarities and influences of Alice in Wonderland with Pans Labryinth. There seem to be quite a few, so this could be one of our main themes.

Lewis Carroll's story was based around a 'young female protagonist who enters an underground fantasy world in search of escape from the tensions of her home',

"The little girl descending holes (following creatures) is a deliberate reminder of Alice..., and of other girls in fantasy realms, such as Lucy in Narnia."

"The book presented to Ofelia by the fawn has blank pages until she looks at it in the enchanted space of the bathroom. The image of the girl in the book is clearly Alice crawling into the rabbit hole."

As Ofelia approaches the first task, she is dressed as Alice – as originally illustrated by Sir John Tenniel
(You mentioned this earlier Ethan)

On her hands and knees beneath the tree Ofelia/Alice feels oversized. The frog creature is like any number of creatures encountered by Alice in Wonderland.

Guillermo del Toro has cited Arthur Rackham’s later illustrations of Alice in Wonderland as an influence on the look of the film.

The faun judges Ofelia harshly, then fades away in the darkness like the Cheshire Cat in Alice.  

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.

'Freestyle' Symposium... Topic - Pan's Labrynth...

So Sam and i were discussing earlier what our topic should be and we've cme up with Pan's Labrynth. If you haven't seen it, i'm pretty sure there's a copy in the library. Anyway, there is a lot that be written about this film and it relates back to our last symposium in terms of fairytales and folklore...

need help

i need to know what books we used for the romanticsim presentation?
if anyone has it please put the list in the comments
thank you