1. Pan’s Labyrinth and the Power of Imagination
Investigating theme in motion picture storytelling
Perhaps more than any other filmmaker we’ve investigated in class — at least, since George
Melies took us to the moon in 1902 — Guillermo del Toro’s main aim in filmmaking is to
construct elaborate, textured fantasy worlds and bring them to the screen. His work, while often
larger than life, always feels hand-crafted and personal, perhaps never more so than in Pan’s
Labyrinth, his Oscar-winning fairy tale set during the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.
It’s important to note that del Toro is not just interested in creating beautiful images for the sake
of pleasing his audience, though. He despises what he refers to as “eye candy,” stylization for
the sake of stylization, and instead refers to his films as exercises in “eye protein.” The image
must perpetually reinforce his thematic ideas and aims in order to justify its inclusion. In other
words, we aren’t meant simply to look at his movies and say, “Wow, that looks nice,” but rather
say, “Wow, that tells me so much about this character and her struggle.”
Keeping this in mind, what do you believe to be the primary theme of Pan’s Labyrinth? Del Toro
intends for the movie to be more than an on-screen depiction of fantastic elements, so what
does the movie mean? What is it saying about human beings (in particular, the character of
Ofelia)? Use specific examples from the movie to support your claim.
I believe Pan’s Labyrinth main theme, of what could be many, is the ancient battle of good
versus evil. Pan’s Labyrinth personifies this with the main characters, Ofelia and her tyrannical
step father, Captain Vidal respectively.
Ofelia, being the runaway princess of the King of the Underworld, leaves the human world a
mess with her departure. The religious undertones here are obvious to me. I believe Ofelia
personifies Jesus and her stepfather, The Captain represents evil incarnate. Ofelia ends up
making the ultimate sacrifice, saving her little brother over saving herself and in turn taking on
all the sins of the war, much like Jesus upon his cross. The second task of acquiring the golden
dagger, Faun needs the dagger in conjunction with a drop of blood from someone with
innocence to open the Labyrinth. This compares to the spear that killed Jesus. There is no more
innocent blood than that of Jesus’s.
The Captain represents evil, the villainous deeds against the very people he claimed to be
protecting is comparative to the actions of Lucifer rebelling against God. I assume since he is a
military man he took some type of oath swearing to protect the people, an oath forsaken, much
as Lucifer refusing to kneel before man.
Faun and The Pale Man can be compared to the Adam and Eve story. Faun indirectly tempts
Ofelia by telling her not to eat anything on The Pale Man’s table. So in that aspect he is like the
Serpent, knowing Ofelia, who is a hungry child, will of course eat something. The Pale Man
strangely represents God, The Pale Man who like God is the ultimate judge and jury quietly
sitting behind his bench or throne of unquestionable power and judgement. Unlike God however
if someone eats the forbidden food you don’t get exiled from paradise like Adam and Eve did,
you get eaten by the monster itself.

2. The fairies who introduce Ofelia to Faun and the Labyrinth I feel can represent Ofelia’s
Guardian Angels. The fairies help guide Ofelia and they also watch over and protect her from
harm. They sacrifice themselves to protect Ofelia against The Pale Man, borrowing again from
the biblical idea of Angels as protectors of the innocent. .
In summary, I believe the primary theme of Pan’s Labyrinth is good vs evil with a lot of biblical
symbolism. All of the main characters seem to draw Divine inspiration, and lead us on a journey
that is spiritual in nature, the finding of your true self.