Being a
woman entails having within one’s body a secret labyrinth of power and mystery.
Pans
Labyrinth a mystical but dangerous fairy tale involving frightening creatures,
hatred families and an unforgettable war, as we follow the life of a young
girl, one who seems smart and brave faces many situations throughout her
journey; from moving home, meeting her new father and being believed to be the
Princess of a magical underworld hidden
by secrecy.
This film
can portray women to be weak and vulnerable; we see this from the very
beginning as the captain commands Mercedes to get the luggage; she does not
seem to hesitate as she immediately retrieves them. Throughout the film the
captain continuously demands Mercedes to complete tasks in which he is capable
to do himself, she completes each one with no questions; this makes the
audience believe that she is weak and is unable to stand up for herself.
However we see her helping the opposing citizens from smuggling them medicine
to planning their next move, this represents a very empowering, strong and
smart woman in which she is able to continue her movements with no insight or
hint that she is portraying the captain. He is very much clueless because this
behaviour is unexpected from a stereotypical woman as they are simply not
viewed as smart enough to undergo such secrecy. And even though he questions
her about another key in which she is truly hiding he doesn’t uncover the truth
because she is good at deceiving her enemy with sweet and believable words of
truth and kindness.
On the other
hand the captain’s wife is repeatedly seen as a weak and worthless character,
the audience is able to see this as the captain insists she uses a wheelchair
against her own will and as the sight of blood is seen several times the
audiences hears these words ‘Save the child not my wife’ spoken by the captain,
this presents how he doesn’t really care for the wellbeing of her. The fact he
believes his child will be male suggests that woman are unwanted and less
important to men; because when having a child you should appreciate and love them
no matter what gender.
Ofelia presents
the different aspects of weak and strong women, as she battles a toad she uses
her knowledge to enable her to complete the task – to feed the toad three
stones; presenting women in a positive way, whereas when facing the unusual,
alien like creature she goes against the specific information given to her – do
not eat any food. But she is overcome by the sight of the appetising feast and
can’t help herself; this action almost ends up in disaster as she just manages
to the defeat and escapes the dreadful monster; this represents how women do
not listen and create their own actions which suggest they need the guidance
from men. As Mercedes is captured we get the enigma that she is going to be beaten by emotion and pressure from the captain but instead her inner strength is shown as she uses her kitchen knife to stab him and retreat to safety. Ofelia also uses her strength and knowledge to trick the captain as she uses a sleeping medicine in his drink, he becomes unstable and unable to catch her; as she takes her brother with her she reaches the faun where he tells her to sacrifice her brother’s innocence in order to become Princess... But Ofelia doesn’t want to lose her brother and so uses her strong will to stand her ground and fight back, until she is shot by her so called ‘father’. However her strength is accepted by the full moon and the underworld which shows women to be powerful and unbeatable.
Over all
this mystical fairy tale can be seen to represent women in both positive and
negative ways but can be received differently depending on the viewer’s own
opinions towards women.
