Guillermo del Toro uses visual storytelling, character traits, and comparison through editing to convey the essential themes of Romance and fairytales. He then uses these strategies to mix fantasy and reality, and increase the sense of danger for Ofelia and the viewer. In the classic Romance narrative, the hero acts as a metaphor for the divine, and the villain acts as a metaphor for the devil. Ofelia in Pan’s Labyrinth is the hero that is a associated with nature, and therefore the divine. Ofelia is presented wearing earthy tones, surrounded by natural light and often leaving man-made locations for the forest. This is Del Toro’s subtle strategies of showing her as divine and opposite to the Captain, whom he has shave frequently, wear gloves,
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The hero’s quest is a search for self-fulfillment that takes the hero away from the problems of reality. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the fantasy begins as an escape for Ofelia. The fairies and the faun are friendly and helpful, and there is little danger in her journey. But in her “real” life, Ofelia is threatened by the captain and her mother’s pregnancy complications. When she wants to escape the reality of her mother’s pain in pregnancy, she leaves to consult the book which is associated with her fantasy adventure. At this point in the story the phase of the “perilous journey” becomes more dangerous, and fantasy and reality begin to blur as the book refers to Ofelia’s mother’s pregnancy complications. Here, Del Toro builds on the concept of the Romance by intertwining reality and fantasy, increasing the danger for Ofelia and making it more difficult for her to escape reality. He especially makes this clear in his parallelling of the Captain’s and Ofelia’s stories, by moving from each of their stories to the other repeatedly and indicating that they are happening simultaneously. These parallels are evident in the similar times of day that both characters have scenes in, and the transitions from one to the other by ‘flowing’ instead of abrupt
The hero’s quest is a search for self-fulfillment that takes the hero away from the problems of reality. In Pan’s Labyrinth, the fantasy begins as an escape for Ofelia. The fairies and the faun are friendly and helpful, and there is little danger in her journey. But in her “real” life, Ofelia is threatened by the captain and her mother’s pregnancy complications. When she wants to escape the reality of her mother’s pain in pregnancy, she leaves to consult the book which is associated with her fantasy adventure. At this point in the story the phase of the “perilous journey” becomes more dangerous, and fantasy and reality begin to blur as the book refers to Ofelia’s mother’s pregnancy complications. Here, Del Toro builds on the concept of the Romance by intertwining reality and fantasy, increasing the danger for Ofelia and making it more difficult for her to escape reality. He especially makes this clear in his parallelling of the Captain’s and Ofelia’s stories, by moving from each of their stories to the other repeatedly and indicating that they are happening simultaneously. These parallels are evident in the similar times of day that both characters have scenes in, and the transitions from one to the other by ‘flowing’ instead of abrupt