Narrative Analysis of Pan’s Labyrinth
Context is:
- The environment in which the film is set
- The environment in which the film was produced
- The environment in which the film is seen
The context may be social, political, historical, philosophical or a combination of more than one of these. These contexts are extremely important in order to fully understand a film, since they give the viewers background knowledge on what is happening or going to happen in the film based on what they already know historically.
Context in Pan’s Labyrinth:
Philosophical Context: In the Pale man scene there are links to biblical tales.This is apparent when Ofelia must retrieve a dagger from the lair of the Pale man, a child-eating monster who sits at the head of a large feast. In order to accomplish this task Ofelia must obtain the dagger and not eat anything. However, she ignores the fan’s instructions and gives into temptation when she eats some grapes. As a result the pale man hunts her and attempts to kill her.This is a reference to when Adam and Eve also didn’t follow orders and gave into temptations when they ate an apple. This caused them to be cast out of the Garden Of Eden.
Historical Context: Pan’s labyrinth is set in Spain in 1944, five years after the end of the Spanish Civil War. In the real world side of this movie, the post war effects on Spain are shown in depth through the fight between the fascists and the rebbels.
