Pan's Labyrinth: Context

Pan's Labyrinth Context

Why are films made:
- Political reasons
- Inform people of events occurring in the world
- To make money
- To earn awards

How are different types of films made:
- Hollywood studios: aiming for commercial audience
- Independent studios: less restrictions/more control

Films & their contexts:
- Films are depictions of people/places/events, reflect values & culture of society that produces them. - All circumstances that a film was produced in & shape its reception are a film's context
- A study of context looks at when/where/how/why film is set where it is (time/place/circumstances)
- Study of context focuses more on appropriate context of when films were made, as opposed to set (Pan's Labyrinth is a reflection of 2005 society)

There are different kinds of context that need to be considered when studying & analysing films:

Social:

- A look at the relevant society's dominant attitudes & beliefs including debates about ethnicity & gender where relevant

Cultural: - two kinds of cultural context

1) One is general & includes sense of what fashions were significant at the time of the film's production. This general cultural context is less important than any particular cultural context that has directly influenced by the film's look and style.

2) The latter might include a studio style or an art movement, like expressionism or surrealism.

Political:

- An exploration of impact of contemporary political climate on themes of films, their representations & production process itself

Institutional Contexts (including production):

- Who made the films, what institutional frameworks are they working within?

- What funding was available to filmmakers & how did all of this impact the restrictions placed on the filmmakers.

Research facts on Guillermo Del Toro & Pan's Labyrinth

3 key biographical facts about Del Toro (especially with relevance to PL):

- Raised in a strict Catholic household which led to him rebelling against Catholicism

- Del Toro began experimenting with his father's camera from the age of 8 and he made 10 short films before his first feature

3 key facts about his career as a filmmaker:

- Del Toro views the horror genre as inherently political, 'much like far tales, there are two facets (sides) of horror. One is pro-institution, which is the most reprehensible type of fairy tale: Don't wonder into the woods, and always obey your parents. The other type of fairy tale is completely anarchic and antiestablishment'.

- Two of Del Toro's films (The Devil's Backbone & Pan's Labyrinth) are set in Spain in the context of the Spanish Civil War under the authoritarian rule of Francisco Franco. These films share similar settings, protagonists and themes with the 1973 Spanish film 'The Spirit of the Beehive'.

3 key facts about the production & reception of Pan's Labyrinth:

- Received universal critical acclaim

Del Toro was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1964

He works as a director, scriptwriter, producer & author & has credits on a number of Spanish language & Hollywood films:

 - Spanish: Cronos, The Devil's Backdone

 - English: Mimic, Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, The Shape of Water, the Hobbit (Screenplay credit)

Prior to working as a director, he studied scriptwriting & special effects & formed his own SFX company (Necropia) and production company (The Tequila Gang)

Del Toro has been described as an auteur director (a director who strongly exerts personal influence on films they make & whose films tend to feature recurring trademarks)

His films feature recurring visual/thematic trademarks, some of which are informed by his own upbringing & experiences.

- Violence/children/family/horror/solitary hero + heroine & 'permeability of the membrane between reality & fantasy' are all recurring features in his films

- Del Toro prefers prosthetics & make-up to CGI and tries to use practical effects wherever possible in his films

- Catholicism and religious imagery frequently appears in his films, inspired by his own Catholic upbringing which he has described as traumatic

Pan's Labyrinth produced for budget of $13.5m, produced by Del Toro's own production company The Tequila Gang

Debuted at Cannes Film Festival in May 2006 to great critical acclaim + received wider release later that year, accumulating $83.2m at worldwide box office -> highest grossing Spanish language film released in the US

In total, Pan's Labyrinth was nominated for 76 major film awards, winning 3 Oscars + 9 Mexican Ariels & 7 Spanish Goya Awards

Despite its success, the production of Pan's Labyrinth was troubled; financing for film fell through several times & film rejected by every single major/independent producer/distributor in the US.

By producing Pan's Labyrinth independently & outside of modern Hollywood studio system, Del Toro able to exert personal control over Pan's Labyrinth

Allowed him to make a film that's deeply personal to him, reflects his political/religious views which he may have not been able to include if PL was produced by a Hollywood studio.

Fascism: political ideology characterised by a single party system led by a dictator, that promotes aggressive nationalism & forcefully surprises opposition.

Social/political: Spanish Civil War

- Spain under Fascist rule following Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), fought between Republicans & Nationalists.

- Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco who ruled over Spain as a dictator following the Civil war until he died in 1975

- Upon his rise to power, Franco implemented policies that were responsible for repression & death of as many as 400k political oppressors & dissenters.

- Following conclusion of Civil War there was continuing conflict between Franco's forces & guerrilla forces who fought against dictatorship

- Pan's Labyrinth's setting in Northern Spain (Galicia) is significant as not only was it Franco's birthplace, it was here that the first Spanish guerrilla movement established in 1942, making the film's Spanish Civil War themes even clearer

Social/political: Ofelia confronts the giant toad
- Frog is essentially killing the tree, represents Fascists destroying Spanish structure -> Fascists killing from inside (centre of power), frog killing from inside tree
- Toad feeding off the bugs -> shows bugs weakness, compares to Fascists feeding off the weaker people
- Shows the monsters = in both fantasy and reality
- Fascism painted as absurdity, presented in extreme way

- 'Pan's Labyrinth uses fantasy & supernatural to confront the malevolence & violence of the real world' (Spain under franco, taken from podcast on Pan'sLabyrinth.com)

- Fascism in PL: represented as violent, oppressive & repressive
- Seen when Vidal brutally/remorselessly kills farmers & in callous/uncaring way Vidal/other generals/priest talk about revolutionaries & handing out rations to local citizens
- During banquet, Vidal says wants son born in 'a new, clean Spain' -> Fascist idea
- Clear in this scene, Del Toro sees link between Fascism/Catholic Church as priest shown as uncaring as the fascists towards the guerrillas/local citizens living off rations -> suggests both are as abusive/oppressive as each other.

- In comparison, guerrillas presented as resourceful, determined & more democratic than Vidal/Fascists. Tells us film in message/values is anti-fascist & can be described as libertarian in messages/values

- Further references to fascism in dialogue b/ween Doctor Ferreiro/Vidal after Ferreiro euthanises revolutionary Vidal has tortured
- 'to obey, just like that, for obedience's sake...without questioning. That's something only people like you do'
- Reveals more about film (and Del Toro's) negative views on fascism -> how it demands unquestioning obedience & oppresses people. Extended further to Del Toro's personal views on religion + religion requires unquestioned obedience from its followers.

- Furthermore, fantasy elements of PL can be interpreted in multiple ways
- One interpretation is Ofelia imagines faun/other fantasy elements as way of coping with horrors of war + oppression of fascism (whether these elements are real/part of Ofelia's imagination is intentionally left ambiguous)
- Impact of fascism evident in fantasy elements (toad destroying tree = clear allegory for who France regime sucking life out of Spain)

- Ultimately political/social contexts of PL are reflection of Del Toro's personal negative views on political/religious institutions & authoritarianism
- 'I hate structure. I'm completely anti-structural in terms of believing in institutions. I hate them. I hate any institutionalised social, religious or economic holding' (Del Toro)

Summary:

What ways has my understanding of PL and it's meanings developed?
- My understanding has been developed by looking into the context of Del Toro's life and how his upbringing influenced themes that occurred in Pan's Labyrinth as I had only previously researched context about the film's setting.
- My understanding regarding different kinds of contexts has also developed as I have become more familiar with analysing different kinds of contexts through the analysis of Pan's Labyrinth

Has personal appreciation of PL changed following lesson? (do you think better than before?)
- I believe my personal appreciation has changed and I find it better than before as the extra background information allows new meanings of different scenes to develop which makes them more effective.

Context Summary:
Social/cultural/political contexts (either current or historical)
- Social factors surrounding a film's production (e.g. debates about ethnicity/gender)
- Cultural factors surrounding film's production (e.g. significant film/artistic movement)
- Political factors surrounding film's production (e.g. imposition of restrictions on freedom of expression or major movement for political change)

Institutional (including production) contexts:
- Relevant institutional aspects of a film's production
- Key features of the production process including financial and technological opportunities and constraints.

Summary questions in regards to context:
• What does the film suggest about attitudes to gender or ethnicity within that society at that time?
• Is the film challenging or reinforcing hegemonic attitudes to particular social groups or concepts?
• Were the filmmakers restricted by any contextual factors?
• What major political movements were taking place at the time of production and how have these shaped the film text?
• Does the film engage with politics directly or is it in the subtext?
• Is the film typical of films from its country of origin in that time?
• What creative or artistic trends were occurring at the time of the film’s production & have these influenced the film in any way?
• How was the film funded and what impact has that had on how it was made?
• What studio produced and made the film and how has this shaped the films content?
• What technologies were available at the time of the film's production and what impact does this have on the finished film?