Del Toro's Archetypal Features on Names

This intense film, Pan’s Labyrinth, including the combination of fantasy, history, and horror mixed them up with dizzying brio, is a searing cinematic experience created by Guillermo Del Toro. Del Toro had set up the goal of displaying many meanings behind the picture with his visionary of “…manifesto, a tour de force of cautionary zeal, humanism and magic.” (Hornaday, Washington Post). However, in my own eyes, I believe that the confirmation of the evidences behind the symbolisms and depictions in the movie can be only approved by the director’s voice. In Del Toro’s interview, he mentioned about the origins of the name that applied to the disobedience of each character, per se.

To start, let's look at our protagonist's name - Ofelia. Ophelia is a Shakespearean character associated with madness and delirium. In Hamlet, Ophelia was overcame by the trauma of circumstances and went beyond her control. Perhaps she had what we might call a sane response to an insane situation - she lost the touch with an unbearable reality just like a little innocent girl (Julian Walker). Ofelia was faced with the dangers in the war-torn little town and according to her response; she entered the fantasy world to escape her reality. To me, the only way an innocent girl who knows no of violence can show the disobedience to the society is escaping the society itself.

According to New York Times, Del Toro incorporated lot of archetypes in his films which are greatly proportional. Look at our antagonist, Captain Vidal – He carried so much of sadistic features with dark tone of color. He murdered people; he annihilated the souls of innocent farmers in isolated towns of Spain, and yet he praised the new life of his own son. That carried the oxymoronic message of Del Toro’s name choices for which Vidal means “life-giving”.

Last confirmation of my analysis goes to Mercedes, Vidal’s housekeeper. Like I stated above, Del Toro’s characters served the purpose to show the disobedience to the society, and Mercedes, next to Ofelia, showed the most prominent action of disobedience. In the movie, rebellious Mercedes helped the struggling guerillas in the mountains for which she showed the mercy to poverty-stricken villagers. According to the history of origins, Mercedes is given by the name of mercy that derived from Virgin Mary in the Bible. My belief of the reason why Del Toro chose the name, Mercedes, is that he wanted to provide the analogy between Jesus and Mary, and Ofelia and Mercedes. Mary and Mercedes offered a huge love of being a mother to their non-biological kid. Del Toro resonated the oscillations of characters with the irresistible inevitability of a timeless myth that offered us with infinite symbols.

The result of the labyrinthine interplay is an eerily instructive, and it deepens our emotional understanding of fascism through the eyes of Del Toro’s definition of rigid ideology's dire consequences. It leaves you feeling exhilarated at the rejuvenating power a well-told story, no matter its subject, can have. “If you like Harry Potter, you will love this movie. If you don't like Harry Potter, you will still love this movie.” (Rodriguez, Miami Herald).

http://julianwalkeryoga.gaia.com/blog/2007/5/myth_fairy_tale_and_psyche_in_pans_labyrinth

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/pans-labyrinth,1122604.html

http://ae.miami.com/entertainment/ui/miami/movie.html?id=772007&reviewId=22080