Post 34

Macro Elements of Film Form

Pan's Labyrinth

Representation:

what social groups are represented:

The groups represented in Pan's Labyrinth are mainly people who have been affected by World war 2 in Spain. It focuses on both adults and children, but also the upper class and the lower class that are serving the upper class. Towards the end of the film, the representation also focuses on the opposing side of the war.

How effective is their representation and why are they represented in this way:

The youth group is represented by a child actress who plays Ofelia, she is shown to be a quiet and sensible child but she also has a wild imagination that can get her into trouble, because the way she acts is similar to how other children behaves it is an effective performance.

The adults are represented by adult actors, mainly through the three main characters, Vidal, Mercedes and Carmen. It is an effective performance because they are shown dealing with scenarios that are mainly dealt with by an adult.

 

We know the characters are in the middle of world war 2 in Spain because Vidal, one of the main characters, is represented as an officer in one of the armies that are fighting in the war. We know that it is set in Spain because all of the dialogue in the movie is spoken in Spanish. This is effective because it is a more realistic representation of the film to the audience.


Genre


What is the genre of the film:


The genre of Pan's Labyrinth is mainly fantasy, however it has elements of war and drama.


How is this clear?:


Guillermo Del Toro makes the fantasy genre clear by including a lot of mythical creatures like the faun, the fairies and the pale man. He also implies magic was used, for example a mandrake was used (to help Ofelia's mother) which is a human shaped root that was commonly used in medicine and rituals.
Del Toro also adds elements of war by including army uniforms in the costume for most of the men in the film. He also includes dialogue into the script where the war is mentioned frequently.
Drama is added through very emotional and dramatic scenes played by the actors, for example, when Ofelia escaped with her brother.


Narrative


What type of narrative does the film have:


Pan's Labyrinth has a linear narrative because there are no flashbacks and the film goes from one scene to the next without any interruptions.


How effective is this?


This type of narrative is quite effective to the audience because it makes them feel like they're experiencing the events with the main character because the events all happen  in order. It's also easy to understand and it avoids creating confusion because it doesn't flashback to other scenes that have happened previously.


Audience


who is the target audience?


The target audience of Pan's Labyrinth is mainly young teens to adults. there are some scenes that may be scary to a younger audience so the film has been given an age certificate of 15 and over.


What sort of engagement would you expect the target audience to have compared to other spectators?


The target audience would still be quite young so they would relate to the main character, Ofelia, because she is young and slightly rebellious. They would also relate to her because her parents can be quite controlling.
An older audience may relate to Carmen or Mercedes because, like Carmen they might have felt like they should marry because they need support for their family, or, like Mercedes, they may be feeling trapped in their environment or trying to hide something to do with family.
Other spectators, under 12 years old for example, may not experience the same connection because they may not have gotten to the point in life where they encountered certain events, like a family member dying or having a step-parent.
The elderly may not have the same connection as well because the story follows quite a mythological storyline and they may have stopped believing in such things.