Pan's Labyrinth essay

At the very start of the “Pale Man” scene Ofelia is told to draw a door from a large book resembling that of a fairy-tale book, this links back to the fairy-tale “Alice in Wonderland” and as Ofelia descends into the fantasy world there is an obvious connection with this and how Alice must explore Wonderland. As we see her from within the doorway during a long zoom shot we are reminded how small Ofelia is as she is only a child is and exploring an unknown place, we also get a good look at her surroundings; the red and white checked flooring could use one again link back to “Alice in Wonderland” as before Alice enters the door, however I also see this a game, like chess, between the Evil or blood thirsty, as represented by red, and the innocent, as represented by white. This game would then resemble the fight between Ofelia and Captain Vidal or even more, the fight between Fascist Spain and the innocent lives who were affected by it, since this film was set in 1944 when World War II was happening. The walls are also painted red messily and seem to be distorted in a way which to me makes them look almost like flesh or a body which could represent how the “Pale man” is a killer and feeds on the flesh and blood of the innocent, this then means that he would represent both Captain Vidal and Fascist Spain.

A few seconds later there is a mid-shot of Ofelia sitting in the doorway, this mid-shot shows the contrasting colour schemes that are used in representing the fantasy world and the real world. Here the real world has a cold blue colour scheme contrasting the warm orange colour scheme of the fantasy world, and although these colour schemes remain the same most of the time, there are times where the cold colour scheme is used in the fantasy world, for example when she meets the Faun. This also links to the reappearing theme of disobeying as despite how the fantasy world is shown as warm and comforting by its warm colour tones it disobeys what we expect by turning out to be just as brutal as the real world is portrayed, for example the Pale Man. The camera then tilts down to reveal a sand timer, and thus portraying the theme of time also shown by Captain Vidal’s obsession with his pocket watch. Seconds later we see a mid-shot of Ofelia standing in front of the Pale man who is sitting at head of the table, this once again shows how he represents Captain Vidal as before this we also see Captain Vidal at the head of the table surrounded by plenty of food like the Pale man is. This would also show his status of wealth and how the fascists unfairly treated the common people as this would have been a time of rationing food, yet they ignored this. Seconds after we see an over the shoulder shot of Ofelia looking at the eyes on the plate, the image of eyes is used throughout the film to represent how you can see what is going on during the time of fascist but you can’t talk about what’s happening, the fact that the Pale Man or the representation of Captain Vidal has the eyes in front of him implies that he is in control of what you can or can’t see. We then get shown murals of the Pale Man killing innocent children as the camera pans the ceiling to emphasise how fascism had no issues with killing and destroying innocent lives; even children’s. after this we see a pile of children’s shoes, this not only emphasises how many lives the Pale Man has took, but also represents the lives that were took in Auschwitz as many Jewish children died there to the hands of fascism.

The theme of disobeying appears again when Ofelia is directed to one of the doors by a fairy but chooses to use the key in another. This imagery of a key and lock and closed doors are also used throughout the film to represent how secrets of fascist Spain are locked away, never to be spoken of. After this, when Ofelia turns back towards the table, she once again disobeys the fairies by taking the food she was told not to. As she does this we get a close-up of the grapes she eats, personally I think grapes were specifically used because of they’re purple and red hues as if implying this is a feast of blood. We then see a close-up of the Pale Man with his eyes in, this immediately creates fear as the mise-en-scene, sound, implies the danger as the violins become much more intense and high pitched, making them sound like screaming, this also shows how Ofelia fears that he might see her, as she fears captain Vidal will as well. Later when we see the Pale Man run we also notice how he has no genitalia, this might imply Vidal has no manhood if he doesn’t have a son.

Another scene of importance is the final scene as many themes are used within this scene. At the beginning of this scene we see a mid-shot Ofelia talking to the Faun who tries to convince her to cut the child to become a princess, despite this she doesn’t do so, this conveys the theme of disobeying and the contrast between her and the Spanish Fascists as she stood to save the next generation, thus representing the rebels, whilst the Fascists were brutal and had no issue with killing the innocent, later shown by a two person mid-shot of Captain Vidal pulling a gun on Ofelia. When Vidal walks away he runs into the rebels, shown with a wide shot with them surrounding him, this implies how he has no escape and gives the audience a sense of impending doom, however instead of trying he asks them to tell his son what time he died, this once again conveys the theme of time. I believe that Vidal is obsessed with time to represent how it was believed that Mussolini did, however it could also represent the past, the present, and the future due to his obsession of the past, or more-so the time his father died, and how the rebels tried to save the future generations to try and stop Fascist Spain.

Seconds after this the camera zooms in to a close-up of Ofelia’s hand and the blood dropping from it, this is to emphasise that the blood of the innocent has been spared. Whilst this is happening other mise-en-scene is also included, such as the diegetic sound of Mercedes humming a lullaby to Ofelia, this is bittersweet as the audience is reminded how she is only a child and that Mercedes is trying to comfort her by pretending she is only going to sleep, making the rebels therefore seem more caring. 

As the camera pans around Ofelia’s body we see how the warm tones begin to wash over the cold ones of the real world as she enters the fantasy world. These warm tones are supposed the comfort us as they do to Ofelia as we feel she is home and happy, even emphasised with a close-up of her red shoes to represent Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and her wish to be home, however this is very bittersweet as seconds later we see close-up of her smiling before dying, and those warm tones return to cold once again. This then conveys how living in Spain during this Fascist time was so painful for Ofelia that she had to make up an entire fantasy world to try and cope with it.

Trainspotting essay

In the scene “The Worst Toilet in Scotland” drug addiction is depicted in two different ways; how the outsider sees it and how the drug-user sees it. As soon as Mark walks through the door into the pub the mise-en-scene changes drastically, the music dies down and the diegetic sound of speaking is distorted, there is also the use of a series of point of view close ups of the others in the pub who are watching him which creates an intrusive sensation for the audience. This made me feel extremely uncomfortable as not does it feel like you are being looked through as you are put in the place of Mark, but you can’t even find comfort in a soundtrack as there is none, even the speech is slurred which creates a warped image that leaves the audience unable to comprehend and thus makes them feel alienated and out of place.

 After this Mark then rushes to the find the toilet, during this rush we see a zoom in dolly shot of a lady behind a pay centre looking confused and concerned, this shot however emphasises the metal barrier in front of her, symbolising that this represents a barrier between the normal public and Mark since he is a drug-user. During this rush sequence we also get long shot of the hallway where the hallway looks dragged out and far away, this conveys how much of struggle Mark is going through as despite his running he seems to be getting no closer. During this shot we also see the lights above him flicker on and off repeatedly, to me this represents that Mark seems to be teetering on the edge of hope and a normal life as he is trying to get over his drug habit. After Mark walks through the door we see a low angle shot of him hesitating for a moment at the sight of the toilets. The mise-en-scene of this shot includes low-key lighting to emphasise how dark and dank the place is, you also see excrement on the floor, I believe this is symbolism for the way drug-users treat their body; ruining it by constantly putting waste into it. Even after seeing this Mark walks into the stalls portraying this extent of what he will go through in the aftermath of drugs just to get another hit.

A few shots later we see Mark rummaging around in the toilet looking for the drugs he lost in there, this once again proves how far he will go for drugs. Whilst searching for them we see him slowly sink into the toilet, this is a more literal approach on how Mark is flushing his life down the drain by sacrificing everything just to get high, this also breaks the realistic feel of this scene and shows the audience what it feels like to need drugs and how Mark feels instead of what is actually happening. Once inside of the toilet we get non-diegetic sound in the form of music again, we are also shown what Mark see and interprets drugs to be as we are transported to a large bed of crystal blue water which makes doing drugs seem beautiful and serene, and overall a pleasant experience. However, within the water we see a mid-shot where Mark notices a mine before swimming off, this could symbolise that Mark sees and notices the dangers hidden within the joy he gets from drugs, but ignores it as he did to the mine. We then get a long shot that shows Mark swimming but focuses on the drugs as they are shown as glowing white, this conveys how important they are as they are portrayed as the treasure within the sea. After this we get a low-angle shot of mark swimming upward towards the light above, this portrays his new hope for himself as he now believes he can achieve quitting drugs. When we see a wide shot of him coming out of the toilet he holds up the drugs first conveying his success in retrieving them and their importance as they are shown before him, this emphasises that although we, the outsider, see the effects of drugs in the form of a disgusting toilet, Mark, the drug-user, sees them as a type of treasure.

In the scene where Renton goes to a nightclub in hopes to find a girl to bring home, youth and gender stereotypes are both broken and reinforced at the same time. At the very start of the scene there is a wide shot of several teens hooking up, this conveys how youth culture is more focused on a reckless night hooking up with someone instead of being involved in a relationship, therefore are also conveying that because of this they are irresponsible and careless with their actions. After this shot there is a mid-shot of Mark standing between two guns printed on a Travis Bickle poster; to me this symbolises that Mark is teetering between life and death due to his unhealthy drug and, like Travis Bickle, is almost irrelevant in society but feels like he is up against the whole of Scotland who keeps telling him to “choose life”.

The next shot is a long shot of Spud and Tommy taking about Spuds lack of sex life due to his girlfriend saying she didn’t want their relationship to based off a physical basis, however it is revealed a few shots later in a parallel edit that their two girlfriends are talking about the same topic and Spud’s girlfriend says how “watching him suffer is just too much fun”. This breaks the stereotype of that time that the girl was not in control of the relationship as it seems that she is the more dominant character out her and Spud. Seconds later the parallel edit is used again after Lizzy states that Tommy forgot her birthday and that he was useless, as we see Tommy repeat the same sentence. This portrays both the stereotype that men are usually forgetful about details of their relationship and that young adults are careless in their relationships, which is then reinforced with how Tommy chooses the Iggy Pop ticket over her, conveying that the youth care more for themselves than anyone else. After this we then get a high-angle shot of the two guys who answer “football” when asked what they’re talking about, second after we get a low-angle shot of the girls who answer “shopping” when the guys repeat the question. Despite these answers being very stereotypical masculine and feminine hobbies, the camera shots emphasise that the girls still have the power in the relationships.

After this sequence the camera shows Mark again before he walks into the centre of the dancefloor, the Hollywood style camera then turns into a handheld camera as this creates a feeling that the audience is the club with Mark as we also feel as if we are being pushed around also. Soon after we get a mid-shot of Diane through the point of view of mark. The camera focus on her and blurs everyone around her which shows her as an individual and of significance as she is Mark’s only focus. The shot goes back to a close-up of Mark where the camera circles his face, this gives the audience a better view of his taken-back reaction to Diane. The camera then turns to a tracking shot in a circular motion of Diane walking through the club, before a shot reverse shot from the close-up Mark back to another Circular close-up of him watching Diane. The camera then shows a mid-shot of Diane downing the two drinks a guy brought in hopes of talking to her, this breaks age stereotypes as this shows that despite her being only fourteen she isn’t uncomfortable at all unlike other young teens who would feel and act out of place, this also portrays Diane as a character who does this often.