Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is a Spanish film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film is set in Spain during the Fascist Civil War and is about a mythical world of long-forgotten ruins of a stone labyrinth in our main character's new home. The story is that Ofelia, the main protagonist, is a reincarnated princess from the underworld. This princess had dreamed of being part of the human world, containing blue skies, gentle breezes and sunshine. One day, the princess escaped, traveling to this world of promise, but once in this new land, she finds herself suffering from cold, illness, and pain. Her memory was erased and she no longer knew who she was or where she came from. She ends up dying and returns to the underworld through Ofelia's body. A mysterious mythical faun guides Ofelia on her quests to complete three tasks to return her to her rightful place of so long ago, where her father, the king, awaits her return. Some argue that Ofelia possesses feminist qualities with her responsible and sometimes rebellious attitude, while others will say that she is deceived by the Faun on her journey to this underground kingdom. I think she does indeed make these decisions on her own and embodies the qualities of a true feminist character. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIn the article “Menstruation as a Heroine's Journey in Pan's Labyrinth”, by Richard Lindsay, he refers to the imagery of a uterus, blood, and ovaries which symbolize the female transition to adulthood as a seemingly immediate transformation from child to adult. Laura Hubner describes a similar explanation of transition phases in her article "Pan's Labyrinth, Fear and the Fairy Tale", where she recognizes Ofelia as a young heroine stuck in a liminal space and "capable of overturning the mythologies of femininity and biology. » (Hubner 45). Ofelia's character is almost immediately shown to be prone to curiosity and adventure upon her arrival at her newly appointed father-in-law's outpost, as well as her new home. She shows these qualities by dropping her books and running after a praying mantis, which leads her to the maze. Already showing signs of disobedience since her mother had asked her to greet Captain Vidal as the "father" of which she does not do so. It's a small detail, but just five minutes into the film, the audience learns as much about his rebellious personality. Additionally, on the caravan's way home, her mother Carmen tells her that she is "getting a little old to fill her head with such nonsense" (Pan's Labyrinth, 2006) when she sees that Ofelia is holding books about fairy tales. Later that night, the praying mantis returns and wakes Ofelia to reveal her true fairy form. The fairy guides her again towards the labyrinth where she meets the faun. The faun tells her that she is a princess who belongs to the underworld and that she must complete three tasks before the moon is full. The full moon can be seen as a representation of the beginning of a menstrual cycle where one's innocence will then be lost and transform into a woman. This can be seen as the first example of del Toro's symbolism, as well as the faun's horns matching those of the ovaries. Blood and female reproductive organs are constantly, yet subtly, used throughout the film to depict the transition that Ofelia faces as she becomes a woman alongside her quest into the underworld. This imagery accompaniesalso the introduction of the character of the Faun, as he seems very creepy and vague with his description of who exactly he is and why he is so seemingly forward in his personal desire for her to be the princess. Which then leads some people to believe that Ofelia is being manipulated by the faun instead of making decisions for herself. Despite the faun's unsavory attitude, she accepts the quest to complete the three tasks and takes from him the "Book of Crossroads", the first tool of her journey into the underworld realm. “Heroes' journeys are often coming-of-age stories…where the threshold between childhood and adulthood is not so easily divided” (Lindsay 35). However, Ofelia seems to have a pretty clear idea about when the crossover will begin, as all she needs to do is follow the book's instructions and become a princess. In a sense, the crossover is her rite of passage as she becomes an adult by completing the tasks and coming of age. This also represents the natural transition from childhood to adulthood from the female perspective, as this crossover can be linked to the onset of menstruation. The next day, Ofelia talks to Mercedes (the captain's servant and Ofelia's mother figure during the film) about what happened the night before. She tells Mercedes about the fairies she encountered as well as the faun, which Mercedes informs Ofelia that her mother once told her to be wary of fauns. This is another contribution to skepticism about the faun's intentions and gives the audience further reason to think she is being deceived. Ofelia then goes into the woods reading the book the Faun gave her, seeing what her first task will be. He tells her the story of a dying fig tree that will come back to life if she kills the toad inside by giving it three magic stones. The toad will then die and she will be able to retrieve a golden key from its stomach. More symbolism is used in this scene as Ofelia has to undress, as going into the tree would definitely ruin her beautiful dress that her mother made for her. In many ways this can be seen as a power move, in that she is throwing away material to then take action on this deliberately dirty journey. The dress being a symbol of childhood and she makes a conscious decision to leave it behind and carry out her task, resembling adulthood. Later that night, after completing her first task, Ofelia is in the bathtub, getting rid of the grime that has accumulated on her. quest. She is greeted again by a fairy, she informs her that she has recovered the golden key and that she wishes to return to the labyrinth. Always fearless and true to his belief in a more wonderful world. The real world can be very mundane, and with the promise of a better life, what child wouldn't want to aspire to something greater? Laura Hubner addresses the theme of “gothic elements,” explaining that “the faun's ambiguous and deceptive characteristics…and it is never really clear whether the choices he makes are morally right” (Hubner 55). Hubner quotes Lisa Hopkins: “Gothic tends to create polarities: extreme good versus extreme evil…”. This once again generates more skepticism about the Faun's intentions, Ofelia being good and the Faun being evil. The Faun then gives Ofelia a stick of chalk for her next task and promises to stroll through "the seven circular gardens of his palace", to which Ofelia responds by wondering how she can trust what he says as being true. She does not carry out the task the next day and is then visited by the faun in her room. He questions her negligence and she tells him that his mother is sick. The faun then gives him a mandrake root to put under his mother's bed in a bowl ofmilk, and gives him two drops of blood every morning, further symbolizing the blood linked to life. This makes him trust the faun a little more as the cure begins to work. The Faun gives her his three fairies to help her with the next task and tells her to avoid eating anything in the room when she arrives at the location of her task. Using the chalk she was given, she draws a door on the wall to enter this alternate world and begin the next step in her quest. The door being more of a symbolism of his transition. Ofelia arrives in the room where she must open a lock and obtain her next quest item. He is shown a pale monstrous man sitting at the table in front of the fruit feast as well as paintings on the wall of the monster feeding on babies. This frightens him as Ofelia becomes out of breath and turns away. The fairies fly to the wall with three small doors and ask her to open the middle door with her golden key. However, she makes the decision to disobey and unlocks another door. She retrieves a dagger from the door, what the other doors contain remains unknown and comes back to her making her own decisions and moving the plot forward. She disobeys again when she reaches for a grape on the table and the fairies try to stop her from eating the fruit. She then consumes the grape, waking the monster. The monster then horribly bites the heads of two of the fairies and chases Ofelia out of this demonic room. This scene depicts the multi-faceted complexity of Ofelia's character. Throughout the film, insubordination has been his greatest strength and weakness. A true feminist character makes her own decisions that will sometimes benefit her, like being able to get the dagger, but sometimes she will have to deal with the consequences, like losing her fairy friends. Ofelia's determination to think critically for herself, even if the consequences are negative, illustrates a feminist narrative that makes her character more complex. Her disobedience to the Faun also shows that she is not just a supporting character, but an individual who controls her own destiny. Ofelia's next encounter with the Faun does not go so well as she confesses her act of disobedience and he responds that she will never return to her rightful place in the underworld realm. “Your spirit will remain among humans forever, you will grow old like them, you will die like them” (Pan's Labyrinth 2006). Now faced with the consequences of her actions, she is lost, just like a young adult in our society. She checks the mandrake root that helps her mother, and the captain catches her doing it. He acts with rage and screams, waking Carmen, Ofelia shouts at her mother asking her to "leave this place" and her mother responds "you are getting old, soon you will see that life is not like your fairy tales" (The Pan's Labyrinth 2006). Telling her that the world is dark and cruel and that she should accept it as it is and get over it. This is just one more storyline trying to suppress Ofelia's hopes and dreams. Carmen then throws the mandrake root into the fire. The root screams and Carmen feels sharp pain and begins to give birth, she then dies after giving birth, more symbolism of life and death, transition between worlds. While all this was happening, Mercedes was helping her brother, a rebel. and enemy of Captain Vidal. She had stolen medical kits from the outpost's warehouse to give to her brother. When Mercedes is discovered, the captain ties her up in the storeroom, preparing to torture her. He insists that all his guards let him do this task, sneering, "For God's sake, she's just a woman" (Pan's Labyrinth 2006). Subtly, Mercedes..