Obedience and Tragedy

        

        Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth lives up to it's rated R assignment while tackling themes like obedience and how we cope with tragedy. The general storyline is reminiscent of a typical children's movie, with a child protagonist, Ofelia, who faces a powerful force in the form of the Faun, who pressures her to do tasks. That is about where the similarities stop though, with the high level or gore, terrifying monsters, and historical context making it relatable and interesting for adults.

       Captain Vidal is the callous leader of the Spaniards and he represents someone of status like the Faun and people have to decide whether or not to obey them. Regardless of age, people usually conform to the orders of people in power, as we see with soldiers obeying to Vidal and Ofelia with the Faun. This is of course also true in real life, as shown through things like the Milgram Experiment, where people continue to electrocute others because a scientist continues to tell them to. Guillermo del Toro shows how everyone needs to resist obedience through Ofelia, Mercedes, and the doctor. Ofelia throughout the film has followed the Faun's orders until she is asked to give him her baby brother, Mercedes rebels and injures Captain Vidal, and the doctor agrees to end the suffering of the captive, knowing he himself would also be killed by the captain. These are examples of doing what is right despite the potential consequences of going against those in power.

        In literature, its common for the conclusion of a character's arc to support the beliefs of the writer and the point they are trying to make. For example, the good guys win against the bad guys because the good guys being rewarded demonstrates to the audience how they should act too. However, del Toro does not follow this in Pan's Labyrinth by maintaining a realistic and tragic events in the film. Many innocent people die, including Ofelia at the end when she was faced with the choice of giving up her little brother, choosing not to before being shot by Vidal. Tragic events like these are here to show that even when people do the right thing, they unfortunately may not be rewarded for it because the real world does not work like that. There is an argument for the ending actually being happy, with Ofelia reuniting with her mother and father, but it can be countered with the possibility of the magical elements of the film not being real. This interpretation can show how we rationalize terrible things happening by saying things like "they are in a better place now" or making up scenarios to lighten the load, although we don't know how true it may be.