Pan's Labyrinth: Representations in Pale Man & Hunting Scene

Pan's Labyrinth: Representations in the Pale Man & the Hunting Scene

Task:

- Watch key scenes from Pan's Labyrinth and pick two scenes and analyse them as in much depth with micro-elements discussing the type of representation (politcal? religious? critique on fascism? gender? social?)

Scene 1: Pale Man

Representation - critique on fascism:
- The Pale Man is conveyed as a fascist like leader (Vidal) as the Pale Man is a symbol for brutal oppression in Ofelia's world as he is an obstacle preventing Ofelia from completing her task which juxtaposes with Vidal oppressing the people in Spain (such as Mercedes) under the fascist regime and prevents them from showing an outward display of their belief against fascism.
- The duality of the two worlds allows Del Toro to criticise society by showing the evil nature of these characters; the pale man's frightening appearance mirrors Vidal's personality. They also both kill innocent people and are both blinded by the amount of harm they cause; the Pale Man literally blind & Vidal figuratively blind.
- The Pale Man & Captain Vidal are both shown as indifferent to hurting anyone, including children, which emphasises that no one is safe from these regimes.
- The Pale Man sitting at the head of the table echos back to Vidal sitting at the head of the table; the evil characters have the power in a patriarchal society.

Cinematography:

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- The camera moves away from Ofelia as she enters the Pale Man's lair; conveys how Ofelia is insignificant and is swallowed by the massive surroundings. (1)
- Close-ups of Ofelia and Pale Man. The close-up of Ofelia presents a facial expression of fear which conveys the horror that victims of a patriarchal society go through and the close-up of the Pale Man inflicts fear on the audience. (2)
- Lighting represents the difference between fantasy & reality. Ofelia's room is darkly lit whereas the Pale Man's lair has brighter lighting. This conveys that Ofelia's reality is miserable and despite the danger she faces in her fantasy, she feels more comfortable as there is a bit of light remaining. (3)
- The overall lighting, including the background behind the Pale Man, is very dark which represents the dark atmosphere during this scene.

Editing:
- Continuous cuts to build tension, the continuous nature represents how the Pale Man's torture of innocent children has continued over time which presents a critique of fascism as this juxtaposes to fascist Spain and how their cruelty over others is continuous.

Mise-en-scene:

- The appearance of the pale man: nails stained with blood & the eyes in hand present a threatening image to the audience and the blood represents danger will occur in this scene.
- The pile of shoes in the room represent the Pale Man's evil intentions as this depicts that he has killed children before; this is also emphasised by the paintings of him eating children which represents the Pale Man as malevolent and violent.
- The paleness of the Pale Man represents the colour of the leader of the Church, the Pope; Del Toro uses this to represent that the Church are guilty and as impure as the fascists - the Pale Man has this banquet but still eats the innocent, the Catholic Church have the wealth but still threaten people in Spain with threats & violence.
- The red & purple colour scheme of the food represents blood, foreshadows the danger that the food will cause.

Sound:

- The non-diegetic music represents Ofelia's fear of the unknown that she is about to face.

- Very few spoken lines which allows tension to be built naturally; tension is also represented through the ticking of the sandglass which adds suspense to the film as it presents the urgency of the mission.

Scene 2: Hunting Scene

Political Representation:

- Political representation of fascism, critique of unnecessary brutality of the fascist regime

- Presents power of Fascism: Vidal is powerful and is willing to prove a point to the officials to not waste his time without checking people properly before accusing them of being on the opposition
- Conveys the brutality of the fascist regime as they are willing to hurt anyone in order to enforce fascism on the inhabitants of Spain.
- The scene where Vidal attacks the first of the hunters represents the brutality of the fascists as the constant hitting shows that the fascists show no respect or mercy to the people of Spain. 

Cinematography:

- Vidal is presented at a low angle which represents that he is more powerful than the hunters as this presents him as threatening and controlling.
- Nighttime setting & dark lighting is used: the lighting represents the cold nature of the fascists and mirrors the dark actions they commit; such as killing the hunters.

Editing:
- Also a continuous shot to represent how this a regular occurrence in Fascist Spain.

Mise-en-scene:
- Props: guns, represent the violent nature of the fascists.
- Clothes represent the difference of affluence between the fascists and the hunters. The fascists uniform, in particularly Vidal's, is in perfect condition which depicts the fascists wealth that they have earned during their regime and their need for perfection in all scenarios. The clothes of the hunters are bland in comparison to the fascists as they are wearing normal clothes which conveys the juxtaposition of the people in Spain trying to survive by just getting on with life and the fascists obsession with uniformity and control over Spain. The uniform also infers how the fascists are affluent and they like to show their wealth outwardly as they are proud of the 'achievements' that the fascist movement has brought them.

Sound:
- The diegetic sound of the hunters crying in pain as they are beaten/watching the other hunter getting killed represents their inferiority in the political system as they have no means to defend themselves against the regime without getting into even more trouble. The diegetic sound also represents the fear of fascism in Spain which conveys that the fascist leaders imposed fear on their subjects to get them to oblige to their rules.
- Gun shot emphasises the brutal nature of the fascists and depicts that they value violence and murder over trying to sort a situation out by talking.
- Non diegetic music starts playing during the attack, represents the tense nature of the situation which also reflects the tense relationship between the fascists and rebels.