Essay

Pan’s Labyrinth vs. Another Cinderella Story

            Pan’s Labyrinth’s storyline follows very closely with Another Cinderella Story. The traditional Cinderella stories are about a young vulnerable girl who is stuck living with an evil step- parent and step- sisters. The classic Cinderella always escapes to a grand ball where she falls in love, and the man she is after is always the ultimate goal in the movie. Pan’s Labyrinth and Another Cinderella Story don’t follow this traditional storyline completely, but they are similar to the original story as well as have their similar-differences.

            The ‘Cinderella’ in Pan’s Labyrinth is a young girl named, Ofeila. Ofeila is a strong child who realizes early in the movie that she is a princess, and must complete three tasks to be exposed to her Kingdom where she can be princess. From the moment she finds out she is a princess, that is her goal, and she does her best to listen to the Faun’s tasks so she can accomplish this dream. The ‘Cinderella’ in Another Cinderella Story is a young woman named, Mary. Mary is a talented dancer, and her goal throughout the movie is to get into Manhattan Academy of Performing Arts, where she can grow in skill and follow her dreams. In order to do this, she must complete a task, which is to be discovered at a Dance Competition. Both Ofeila and Mary have a dream, and have a task or tasks that they must complete to reach their goals.

            Ofeila and Mary struggle throughout this movie due to their step- parents. Ofeila is dealing with her step- father, who is also Captain. He is a very powerful man, and also the father of her new brother. Mary struggles with her step-mom, who does not support her dreams and uses different ways to stand in between her and her dream. Even though Ofeila and Mary have people standing in their way or making their lives harder, they each have supporters too.

            The classic Cinderella story includes a Fairy God mother to guide Cinderella. Pan’s Labyrinth and Another Cinderella Story also have someone to represent this Fairy God mother but in another form. Ofeila has the Faun, who gives her tasks as well as guides her so she can reach her dream and enter the kingdom. The Faun isn’t as sweet as the original Fairy God mother; however, the Faun still does lead Ofeila to her dream. The Faun also helps Ofeila help her mom get better, which was an obstacle she was struggling with. Similarly, Mary struggled to get to the Dance Competition. Mary’s friend comes to her rescue and drives her to the competition, as well as provides her with emotional support throughout this movie. Ofeila and Mary both have someone to guide them throughout these movies.

            Another similarity between these two movies is that although these main characters have support, they are alone at home. Ofeila’s mom was on bed rest for the majority of the movie before she died. She was friends with Mercedes in the home, but she couldn’t tell her anything about her goal, which caused her to be isolated. Similarly, Mary wasn’t able to discuss her dream of being a dancer because her stepmother and stepsisters belittled her and didn’t take her dream seriously. Therefore, she isolated herself when she was at home.

            Ultimately, both Ofeila and Mary reached their goals. Ofeila completed the three tasks and from what we see, she ends up in the Kingdom and is reunited with her mother and brother. Mary won the competition and was scouted by a representative from the school she wanted to attend. Both Ofeila and Mary overcame their personal struggles and reached their dreams, as all good fairy-tale protagonists’ do.

            The main difference between the visual styles of Pan’s Labyrinth and Another Cinderella Story is that Pan’s Labyrinth centers around imagination. The viewers learn by the end of the movie that a lot of what was occurring was all in Ofeila’s head. The main instance where this is seen is when the Captain sees Ofeila talking to what looks like herself, but we know it was the Faun. In a way, Ofeila uses her imagination to escape the real world. In Another Cinderella Story, there is no alternate world, and what is happening is Mary’s reality. The obstacles or tasks that Ofeila must overcome are not realistic. For example, one obstacle was she had to enter a giant frog. This isn’t something that really happened, and couldn’t ever actually happen. In comparison to Another Cinderella Story, one of Mary’s obstacles was she couldn’t get to the dance competition because her step- mother had assigned her a time consuming task to complete at home, which is a realistic task. It is very interesting how these two stories can be so similar but the way they are viewed seems very different because one is more magical, whereas the other is more realistic. Another visual style that is different is that in Pan’s Labyrinth there is little lighting, even when the scene is outdoors the colors are not very bright or vibrant. In Another Cinderella Story the colors are light, which gives the movie more of a modern feel. The lights also give the viewers hope for positivity, whereas in Pan’s Labyrinth the viewers are always anxious and feel something dark is about to occur.

            I believe the director of these movies chose to tell these stories through myths because Cinderella is a familiar story to most people that can be altered in various ways to still make it unique. The director from Pan’s Labyrinth show viewers a classic myth of Cinderella’s story can be turned to something dark but still follow a similar story line as the original Cinderella. The director of Another Cinderella Story added a modern twist to this myth by making the main character desire a personal goal like being a dancer. People can interpret the same story in several different ways, and these directors might have interpreted Cinderella’s story differently, or could have had their own hopes for what they wish Cinderella would have been like. They were able to make their versions of Cinderella come alive through their movies.

(Research) Pan's Labyrinth vs. Cinderella

Pan's Labyrinth has many connections to Cinderella. There are several versions of Cinderella, and Cinderella's goal isn't always only to find love. For example, in Selena Gomez's 'Another Cinderella Story' Selena's ultimate desire was to follow her dreams of being a dancer. In Hilary Duff's 'A Cinderella Story' her ultimate goal was to get accepted and go to Princeton. Both of these versions found love along the way but they had something they were both in search for that was beyond going to a ball. In Pan's Labryinh, Ofeila wanted to return to her kingdom after finding out she was a princess.

In all Cinderella stories the first thing that occurs is that the dad remarries an evil new wife. In Pan's Labyrinth, Ofeila's mom actually remarries an evil husband. However, in all three of these versions there is an evil new parent that enters the picture.
 

Also, in all of these versions there is someone supporting them to do what they want. In Selena Gomez's story she has her friend, Dominique Blatt. In Hilary Duff's case she has her co worker and friend, Rhonda. For Ofeila, she has Mercedes as a friend. However, Mercedes is unaware of what Ofeila is up to. She does, however, have the faun who is guiding her to what she wants. Also, in all of these versions these cinderellas are isolated in their actual homes. Ofelia's mom was on bed rest so she was mainly alone when she was in the actual home. Selena and Hilary were isolated by their step sisters so they were also alone in their homes. They were all also discrete about what they were up to and didn't tell anyone in their homes too much about it. For example, Hilary never discussed Princeton with her step sisters, Selena never discussed her dancing in her home, and Ofeila never talked about trying to enter this kingdom with anyone in her home. A big similarity between these tales is the protagonist ultimately receives what she wants. Hilary Duff got into Princeton, Selena Gomez won the dance competition and got an interview for the school she wanted to attend, and Ofeila reached the Kingdom and was with her mother and brother in the end.

Water-Spirtual Perspective

The movie Water is full of many different spiritual connections that align with the plot of the story. The story follows the religion of Hinduism, which impacts the story greatly. In the beginning scene, Chuyia is sent away to live with the other widows of the town because it is spiritually unacceptable for her to participate in normal society anymore being that she is a widow. Her hair is shaved off to abide by the Hindu rules she must follow and she is dressed in a white sari.

The most interesting spiritual connection I made was in the character, Kalyani. Kaylani is a younger widow who is caught between what she wants and what she feels spiritually inclined to do. A young man who practices Gandhism and follows Ghandi, Narayan, tries to convince Kaylani not to get mixed into what she thinks is her spiritual obligation as a widow and to marry him. 

Kalyani and Narayan's story is interesting to me because it makes me wonder if some of the rules that have been set for the widow are actually connected to religion, or if it is what is pleasing to society. I think the two concepts are commonly connected when they should not be. Kalyani is sent off to be a prostitute to make an income for the widows, but that isn't spiritually acceptable so where is the line drawn and what rules have exceptions? The idea that Kalyani shouldn't be married because she will be reconnected with her deceased spouse in another life changes things because in theory she won't be alone forever. However, since Hinduism is a religion that is constantly evolving I did some further research to see if it is now acceptable for widows to remarry. In 1856, the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act was created allowing widows to remarry with exceptions. 

Interesting Use of Music

I found this clip from One Tree Hill to contain a very interesting use of music. In this scene, two of the characters are in the car and almost collide with another couple of characters on the road, forcing the first couple's car off the road. At first, I didn't think the music really applied because this is a sad moment but the music was extremely loud. You will notice in the clip that as the car is going into the lake the music gets louder. However, then I realized that whenever the camera is actually in the water where you can see the characters stuck inside the car, the music gets quieter.



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I believe that this was done to add anticipation to the scene as the car was going into the lake. The audience immediately begins to wonder if the couple will make it. Also, when Nathan jumps after the couple the music is loud again even though this is a sad moment between Haley and Nathan seeing that they do not know if Nathan will make it out alive. Before he jumps in when they are talking, it's not as loud but as he jumps in, the scene is set to slow motion and the music gets louder.

Special Effect

The following pictures are from an episode of Vampire Diaries. Vampire Diaries includes a lot of scenes with fog to set the mood and the setting right before something traumatic is about to occur. The fog signifies that someone is going to come into the scene or that a spirit is among the character.

In this first scene, Elena is casually writing in her journal. The audience can see a little bit of fog coming from the left side of Elena, but she is oblivious to it. 

In this next clip, she has become aware of the fog and you can see the concern in her face.

Tsotsi- Sound & Music

Music did an interesting job of setting the tone for the different scenes in the movie. In the scene where Tsotsi ran out of the bar, there was fast paced music, which set the mood for him running away. Afterwards, when he is in the rain, quiet soft music came on. This supports the sad reflective moment he was having. He was reflecting on past memories as a child so this music went well with the scene.

Music gives more emotion to scenes for the audience. It helps the audience empathize with the characters because they can sense how the characters are feeling.

Transition- The Fade

In the following scene of Grey's Anatomy, Grey is telling a story she recalled as a child. Throughout this entire scene there are several fade ins and fade outs to recall her memories through flashbacks. In the beginning a lit up candle fades into siren lights, and then her face appears as the lights fade out.

Throughout this clip, she continues telling the story from her childhood. However, the flashbacks are not of her as a child but of her memories she recalls with Derek. She's still telling the story of her childhood when she was on the carousel, even though the clips being shown are of her and Derek. This could be because she is explaining how memory is a funny thing in general, and the director is showing this connection by having these clips fade in and out of each other. Her story about the carousel is a representative of life, which is how this memory of her childhood is relative to her memories with Derek.

Historical Framework- The Whale Rider

The Whale Rider shows many different aspects of the Maori culture throughout the movie. The characters in this movie were very respectful of the environment that surrounded them, which is a custom of the Maori people. They spent a lot of time outdoors during the majority of the movie. I also noticed that there was a lot of story telling being passed down. One of the customs this culture carries is the exchange of stories, which this movie did a good job portraying. In the presentation we learned that it is common for people to follow in their ancestors' footsteps. This was especially prevalent when Koro was teaching the boys about culture in hopes that they would carry these traditions with them and keep them alive.

In past times, the Maori people didn't see women as leaders, which is why Koro did not want Paikea to be apart of these lessons.

Another strong historical connection in this movie is that the Maori people believed that they came from the 'whale rider.' This was carried on throughout the movie and the Maori people were very concerned for the whales. The entire community attempted to help the whales when they were on land, and were all devastated when they could not succeed.

The Road Home- Symbolism

The Road Home used many different symbolic objects throughout the movie. One in specific that I paid special attention to was the bowl the main character, Di, carried throughout different scenes in this movie. The bowl was designed with intricate detail so it was easy to identify it. She used the bowl to serve Mr. Luo and the other workers food, with hopes that Mr. Luo would notice her and her food. When Mr. Luo came to her house, she served him using this bowl. When he left the village, she chased after him holding the same bowl. To me, this bowl symbolizes the strength of their love. When the bowl broke, Mr. Luo had left and him leaving was a test to see the strength of their love. When Di's mother got the bowl repaired, it seemed like Zhang had more hope in her love for Mr. Luo. Soon after, he returned. Also, the bowl's detail was painted in blue. In the Chinese culture, blue symbolizes immortality. This could be to symbolize that Di and Mr. Luo's love will live on forever.  

Camera Movement

I chose a scene from Grey's Anatomy to show the power camera movement has on gaining the audience's sympathy. In this scene, Derek is laying on a hospital bed and looking up at a little girl. The scene starts out with a close up on Derek's face, full of cuts, and you can hear doctors discussing his case. This close up tells the audience that Derek is listening in on what the doctor are saying. The camera then switches to the little girl, in a lower angle, so the camera is looking up at the girl but the audience can still see the top of Derek's head so it's more of a fuller view of the whole scene. The camera then zooms in again at Derek's face as if the camera is on the ceiling looking down, and then quickly the camera angle changes to looking up at the girl. However, this time it's as if the camera is on the floor looking up at the ceiling, which is the angle Derek is looking up at the girl at.

The movement of the camera shows the audience how Derek is viewing the girl in this scene, as if the audience is looking through Derek's eyes, which helps the audience empathize with Derek. The camera also shows how the girl views Derek, helping the audience empathize with the girl.

400 Blows- Visual Style

This movie did a great job depicting the setting of France through multiple extra long shots. These shots showed the town and were especially evident when capturing the outdoors. There were a few close up shots, which were used when two characters were in deep conversation. One scene in specific that included a close up shot was when the main character was having a conversation with his mom about secrets. The director wanted the audience to stay focused on what the characters were saying in this scene, and not be distracted by the background. 400 blows captured mainly long shots from what i noticed. There were multiple scenes in the classroom and the main character's home.

 

This screenshot shows a long shot of the main character working on his essay. This is an interesting shot because it shows one of the many long shots this movie had inside of the boy's home. In this shot, you can see the character's body language as he writes his essay which gives you a sense of his feelings about the essay without him having to necessarily say them.