Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 Spanish fantasy drama film directed by Guillermo del Toro. It follows Ofelia, a young girl living in fascist Spain who discovers an ancient labyrinth that holds magical powers. The film explores themes of choice, disobedience, and immortality through Ofelia's journey in both the real world of fascist oppression and her fantastical adventures. Del Toro drew inspiration from his own childhood dreams and previous films to craft the dark fantasy elements and parallel Ofelia's story with the historical backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Production involved collaborators from Mexico, Spain, and the US with a budget of $19 million that resulted in the highest grossing Spanish film in the US at

1. Film Theory. Pan’s
Labyrinth
ROB RYAN

2. Pan’s Labyrinth 2006
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Guillermo del Toro
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón
Guillermo del Toro
Bertha Navarro
Frida Torresblanco
Cinematographer: Guillermo Navarro
Composer: Javier Navarrete
Budget: $19 Million
Box Office: $88 Million
Distributor: Warner Bros (Spain)
Picturehouse (US)

3. Themes
One of the central themes of the film is choice. This comes into play in a few examples. One of them being
Ofelia’s choice to be disobedient and go against her mother’s and step father's orders and also by choosing to
believe what she wants to believe instead of being ordered what to believe in. She is constantly going against
her mother to a point where she expresses disappointment in her daughter’s actions and she has to tell her that
her fantasy’s are not real. Trying to bring her into the adult world that she has conformed to. Choice and
disobedience also plays a central part in the B plot with the rebellion who are fighting against the fascists. They
are disobeying against a higher power because they feel it’s the right thing to do, not because they want to
because they don’t have a choice and much like Ofelia, they don’t want to follow orders. The same thing applies
to the general Vidal who explains in the dinner scene that he is here by choice because he wants to deal with
the rebellion who are threatening his position and kill anyone who does not agree with his ideology. Another
theme is immortality. In the real world Vidal wants Ofelia’s mother to bear a boy so his name will be passed on
through his children and their children and in the fantasy world Ofelia (Princess Moanna) is immortal. There is
also a lot of juxtaposition present throughout when the two worlds collide. Ofelia’s mother is dying because the
baby inside her is killing her, and in one of her quests, Ofelia has to go inside a dying tree because a giant toad
is sucking all of the life out of it. Almost similar to what is happening with Carmen (Ofelia’s mother) The dinner
table sequence with the Pale man even parallel's the dinner scene with Vidal. Both scenes are shot in the same
lighting and colour palate and the Pale man is sat in the same place where Vidal was. Almost symbolising them
being the same person.

4. Director.
 Del Toro is a Mexican director who is known for dark fantasy horror films and
has moved to mainstream cinema in films such as Blade 2, Pacific Rim, and
Hellboy. His films Pan’s Labyrinth especially have recurring themes of
authoritarian villains such as Nazis. He has a distinct visual style such as
green colour palate's that also came into play in his latest film such as The
Shape of Water. The idea for this film came as a child Del Toro was a lucid
dreamer in which he can control his dreams and a lot of his dreams where
controlled by a Faun, a mythological half human half goat creature which
appears in ancient roman mythology. This was used as inspiration for how
Ofelia is guided into the fantasy world that she supposedly imagines in her
head. Fan theory’s have suggested that The Devil’s Backbone a film that Del
Toro made years prior which was also about the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to
39 is a continuation of Carlos and Jamie (the protagonists of the film) because
both actors play soldiers of Pan’s Labyrinth who get killed highlighting the
theme of war being tragic.

5. Historical context
 Spanish Civil war 1936-39 which lead to a transition from democracy to
fascism. To Spanish viewers they will have a deeper connection with the
content and the things presented in the film because after the war Spain
became a isolationist culture, there was widespread poverty and severe
food shortages and rationing and people where imprisoned without trial. In
the 21st century Spain had become a more patriarchal society where
traditional roles for men providing for the family and the women working
from home. This was prevalent until 2004 where the first female Spanish
PM was elected and she created the first female majority cabinet and in
2007 Spain passed gender equality act.

6. Production facts.
 Produced by five production companies both from Mexico, Spain and the US both
collaborating to make the film so the film has a fairly big budget and make the
production values higher. The film was distributed by Warner Bros in Spain and
Picturehouse in the US which was a company owned by Warner Bros dedicating to
distributing indie art-house and foreign films. The company has faced financial
troubles in 2008 forcing them in producing a film once every year or two. They
haven’t made a film since 2015 Since its release in 2006 Pan’s Labyrinth became
the highest grossing Spanish film in the US since 1993. Doug Jones who plays The
Faun and the Pale man was the only American on set and spent 5 hours in the
makeup room to get into shape for the faun and the pale man.

7. Yonic/Fallopian Symbolism
 There is a lot of Fallopian symbolism present in Pan’s Labyrinth. This is meant to a
representation of femininity and reproductive power and feminine empowerment. For
example the dying tree with the giant toad symbolism Ofelia’s mother dying from her new
born baby. The opening of the tree even symbolizes a vigina. The corridor leading up to the
Pale man dinner table set even looks like the insides of someone’s body. The head for the
faun almost looks like a Fallopian tube which is a organ in the female body which enable the
passage of egg cells from the ovaries to the uterus. The back story to Princess Moanna feels
symbolic to a child leaving a mothers womb into a harsh world. Because she was disobedient
she ran away to the real world but died when she reached the surface due to the world being
a horrid and evil place. Symbolic to Ofelia’s brother being born to a country at war with itself
and a fascist farther.