The horror in this film is not in the supernatural, but rather in the reality. Ofelia withdraws from the horrors of war with her numerous visits to her magical underground world. Although it is a fantasy film, it is thoroughly fixed in the reality of warfare and death. The movie, on the one hand, has creatures such as fauns and fairies, while on the other hand it creates an inhumane sadist in the form of Captain Vidal. The film portrays the gore of reality very effectively, such as in the scene where Captain Vidal brutally smashes in the face of an innocent man and kills his father.
Pan's Labyrinth touches on the classic fairy tale, as the genre of fairy tales was originally heavily intertwined with fear and the occurrence of terrible events. The tales of the Brothers Grimm, for example, deal with things such as cannibalism and incest. Over the years, however, we have separated he darkness from magic and fairy tales - but it does exist, lurking under the surface.
(watch from 1:20 until the end)
Discussion Question: Do you see Pan's Labyrinth as more of a fairytale or a horror film? Why?
I see Pan's Labyrinth as more of a horror film simply because I feel like the disturbing and dark nature of reality really shined. The Captain pumped fear into all his scenes with his cruel ways. For example, the scene where he kills the innocent boy with a beer bottle was particularly horrific to watch. The war theme seemed very central to me, and the message that reality is dark and unforgiving. So, in my opinion, it is a horror film on the realities of war, and the fantasy part was, as you said, simply a little girl trying to escape from a messed up reality.
ReplyDeleteI think the "fairy tale" aspect is analogous to a warped version of the movie (aka Ofelia's fantasies), but as was stated before, the horror elements represent the gruesome realities of the movie.
ReplyDeleteI viewed this film as more of a dark fairytale. It is not necessarily scary, the killings more so catch you off guard than scare you. The creatures themselves make it more a fairytale; a Fuan, fairies, and a giant toad, are classic fairytale characters, who would fear a goat man?
ReplyDeleteI think the movie can be categorized as horror due to the due to the dark nature of the film. It has too many realistic elements incorporated into the film for it to be a fairytale.
ReplyDeletePan's Labyrinth seems more like a fantasy movie. In Freud's essay about the uncanny, he wrote something along the lines of fairytale type stories not being uncanny due to the setting they're placed in, where fantastical events are expected. The film sets up the fantasy aspect early on in the film with the story of the princess of the underworld and how early the fairy reveals its true form. What's also similar to many fantasy "hero" stories are the three tasks Ophelia has to do before she can be a princess.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be more of a horror film for me with so much realistic details depict into the plot. It's just like one can just see the fantasy characters as part of human life since there was overlap.of the realistic characters to the fantasy ones.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Pan's Labyrinth is a dark fairytale because of its horrifying elements but it also contains many elements of fantasy. It's main horrifying element is that it has many human-like resemblances of monsters which can catch the audience off guard.
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems to be a combination of both. In the horror aspect, it contained realistic features war, death, and a cruel captain. On the other hand is fantasy, that was incorporated, I think, by Ofelia as stated previously due to her horrible reality and was trying to find a way to cope with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteI would classify it as horror. Fantasy films do not come off as scary since we know it is fantasy. This film does have aspects that are fantasy but it is the "normal" parts that add horror and make the film creepy.
ReplyDeleteI would classify this film as a fantasy rather than horror, because the mystical elements are more prominent than its frightening images. Not all fairy tales have to look aesthetically pleasing; they can still have a dark nature to them.
ReplyDeleteI think Pan's Labyrinth can be viewed as more of a horror film since the setting of the real world is Spain after the civil war and the fantasy element can be explained as Ofelia's dreams and passion for fairytales.
ReplyDeleteI think it is more horror than fantasy, since there is so much violence due to the aspects of war and death. The captain also adds to the horror in this film because of his villainous character. I think the fantasy elements are there to alleviate the horror a little bit, but not enough to classify this film as more of a fantasy film.
ReplyDeleteI think its a horror film because it had many dark moments and not as quite as many fantasy moments. The darkness overpowered the fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI see the movie as a horror film because there doesn't have to be a supernatural element for it to be horrifying. The horror of it is because so much of it is realistic or closely resembles realism. For those parts that do not quite seem realistic it can be explained away as not of the actual world but one of Ofelia's making. That is why I would have to classify it horror.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
DeletePan's Labyrinth, is a fairy tale gone wrong. It flashes back and forth from the real cruel world to the fairy tale land that is either in a child's mind (her escape) or something supernatural is occurring. I believe it is both, a horrific fairy tale; they blend together. Like Wizard of Oz the girl creates a parallel's universe or fair-tale land creating both a horror film and fairy-tale.
ReplyDeletePan's Labyrinth should be classified as a horror film because the plot revolves around the gruesome realities of war more than Ofelia's quest to become a princess. This quest is her effort to escape reality and in the end she is successful, but at the cost of her life, and separation from her brother. These dark plot twists make the film more of a horror film than a fairy tale.
ReplyDeleteI would classify this film as a dark fantasy(fairy tale) film; Combining elements of fantasy and horror. There are many elements of a fairy tale, where the main character Ofelia has to complete a certain a mount of tasks in order to reach a "happy ending". Along the journey there are gruesome scenes of murder and horror which make the whole thing quite dark.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Pan's Labyrinth seems to be neither exactly a horror or fantasy film but rather, a hybrid of these two genres. As Rebekah put it, it's like "a fairy tale gone wrong." While fairies and fauns exist in the film, thereby giving it a somewhat "fantastic" essence, it is worth noting that these are not necessarily elements of the main plot. Rather, they are the effect of the alternate reality Ofelia has conjured (primarily in her mind) so as to escape her actuality reality (of the on-going war and Captain Vidal.) It is the latter where the film derives its horror. Likewise, the presence of both of these genres (or rather, characteristics of such) makes the horror perhaps even more terrifying than it would be otherwise due to the juxtaposition of such.
ReplyDeleteI would say Pan's Labyrinth should be classified as dark fairy tale. The supernatural scene throughout the movie is the fairy tale land that Ofelia is eager to enter. The horror elements in this movie are caused by the reality instead of supernatural power. In other words, the disturbing parts of the film are the dark and revengeful thought that humans have. The supernatural force in this film did not threaten humans like how supernatural forces in many other films are.
ReplyDeleteI would also categorize the film as horror because even though the fantasy imagary is something that should be familiar to us, it has been twisted into a dark, horrifying, and uncanny parody of what we expect it to be, especially when it is paired with the gruesome realities of war.
ReplyDeleteI see this film as a fantasy film, primarily because Ophelia's is on a quest. Although this movie is uncanny, the way the story is set up is unlike many other horror films we have seen in this class. Ophelia is presented with a challenge. Rather than Ophelia's challenge being solely about a battle or feud with a villain, she must complete her own set of challenges.
ReplyDeleteI see Pan's Labyrinth as a fairy tale story. There are elements of horror, but I think they are undermined by the fantastical aspects of the film. Although there is gore, death, and cruelty on Vidal's part there is a an undeniable escape into Ophelia's world. Whenever we follow Ophelia's perspective, all of the other conflicts in the film seem to dissipate when we are presented with this strange world underlying our own.
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