Pan's Labyrinth- Patriarchal Society

1334 Words6 Pages
“The setting of a film is central to how viewers respond to it.” Guillermo Del Torro’s film Pan’s Labyrinth, set post Spanish Civil War where Franco’s fascist regime is busy rooting out the remaining pockets of rebels and destroying them, features a 12 year old girl, Ofelia, who creates her own fantasy as a response to the harrowing narrative occurring around her. Del Torro’s signature ability to position the viewer directly within this nightmarish regime, simultaneously communicates the oppression experienced under an extreme patriarchal society. The setting of this film is central to how we respond to it as Del Torro allows the viewer to be placed within this time and place so we are able to experience this type of society alongside the characters. Del Torro illustrates that in Franco’s fascist regime the expectation of complete obedience determines how women are positioned under this societal framework. To recreate an accurate setting for this period in history Del Torro presents Franco through the character of Captain Vidal, a vile and vicious man who as a viewer we are compelled to despise. Compliance is an aspect of Captain Vidal’s regime that demands attention from the opening of the film when a panning down of the camera to an empty chair introduces Ofelia’s mother Carmen, to Vidal’s control. Although this chair is the symbol of submission it simultaneously serves as a promise of safety for herself, her daughter and her unborn son. Carmen, adamant that for this promise to be fulfilled, demands Ofelia addresses Vidal as her father justifying the act through the dialogue “it’s only a word.” Carmen’s indoctrination of her daughter into accepting the limits of her position in Patriarchy represents how women are given the job of socializing women, their own daughters, into the mentality of compliance. The symbol of the chair is reintroduced with Carmen’s
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