Monsters and Demons and Gods, Oh My!

It proved challenging to pick a movie that had enough classical allusions such as what I chose, Pan's Labyrinth, but not too many (Percy Jackson, Clash of the Titans), especially since the assignment this week was focused on beasts and their function within modern-day story telling (it was also tempting to watch horror movies on Algonquin myths, ahem, Windigo). So I settled. And why not re-watch a movie I loved years ago?

Might as well start from the title--Pan's Labyrinth--which to the casual observer might conjure up memories of David Bowie. But let us not stray into the 80s. Pan was known to the Greeks as the son of Hermes, the messenger god. He was the god  of sheep and mountains, depicted with goat horns and legs. His niche in Greek God society was to play the pipe and bother travelers on their journeys. He must have succeeded because his name, Pan, is where we derive the word "Panic" today. Possibly due to the conch that he would blow when he was especially angry.

Pan's Labyrinth is set in the 1940s during the fascist regime in Spain. A young girl's mother marries a corrupted captain in the military and becomes subject to his sadistic tendencies. And so the girl creates a world to which she can escape the horrors of her new life. Her first discovery of Pan is when she wanders into a hole in a great tree. Insect-like fairies (I would say more akin to creepy cherubs) guide her to Pan, who arises under her feet in a clod of dirt. "I have so many names, names only the wind can pronounce, I...I am a faun, your most humble servant, and you Daughter of the King of the Underworld." This is where you go, wait, why would a child think of herself as princess of l'enfer? And who is this faun? Ah, where Greek mythology comes into play. Pan started out as an innocently mischievous god, but later in Pagan religions surrounding the 1940s, he is the clear bearer of hell, Satan himself. The faun tells the young girl, Ophelia, that her father is there to open the portals of her kingdom--but first, she must perform three great tasks to prove her immortality.What's more she has by the next full moon to complete her tasks. I smell an Odyssey!

She is Princess Minoa, the faun tells her, and she cannot return to her palace with circular gardens until she succeeds. Let's back track here...King Minos wanted to rule Crete. He asked the gods for a sign of approval, and Poseiden sent him a white bull. The bull was supposed to be a hecatombe (sacrafice) to Poseiden, but the bull was so magnificent that Minos couldn't help but fall in love with it. He kept the gift, and as punishment Aphrodite made Minos' wife fall in love with it. Here's where it gets weird--apparently his wife crafted a wooden cow and used it as a lure to mate with the bull (the Greeks were obsessed with this kind of stuff) and the result was the Minotaur, half-bull, half-man. King Minos felt a responsibility for him and decided to build him a circular labyrinth in which to dwell.

Now for the relevance to the story, this could be pure speculation but it is still rather interesting. At the end of the film, the faun asks Ophelia to sacrifice her newborn brother, the son of her mother and the captain. She refuses to do it. Sound familiar? The faun represents Poseidon in this scenario, Ophelia as King Minos who wants to rule, and her brother as the Minotaur. The captain is the bull, who the mother married for some unknown reason, and their child is half-bull half-human. Though this does not match up completely, as Minos was not supposed to sacrifice the Minotaur, it definitely plays a role in the story, adding to the overall fantasy of the film. Which is why del Turro is amazing!

 The first thought that ran through my mind halfway through the film, when Ophelia enters this dungeon-like Underworld complete with a feast and monster, was Tantalus!

Cannibalism and infanticide were frowned upon by the Greek Gods (surprising, eh?) And as an offering of sacrifice to the Gods, Tantalus cut his son Pelops into pieces and brewed him into a stew. Having heard of his plans, the Gods refused to touch their meals. However, Demeter didn't get the memo and proceeded to eat what was the shoulder of Pelops.When the Gods brought Pelops back to life they had to fasten him a shoulder of ivory. As a punishment for Tantalus' misdeeds, the Gods expelled him to the lowest part of the Underworld and forced him to stand in a pool of water with his mouth up to a grape branch that he could never reach. His name is where we get the word, "tantalize."

When Ophelia first enters the meal hall, the scene moves upward towards the ceiling; death scenes, those of young children being devoured by a beast, are depicted in huge murals. She looks down. A table is set for a feast, a skeletal creature with no eyes sits silently. Prior to entering the hall, the faun told Ophelia not to eat anything. Well, as many stories go, Ophelia eats a grape. A grape of all things! (now that's just making it obvious). The beast clenches his fingers tight, Ophelia chews, then swallows. He reaches for the plate on the table, raises two hands to his forehead, and reveals eyes that must not be his own. A fairy flies by his face and he swallows it in one mouthful. This creatures resemblance to Tantalus is uncanny--right down to the food he was forbidden to eat.

These allusions together, not even counting the ones I undoubtedly missed (mandrake root anyone?), form the film into a well of stories. The beasts of Ophelia's imagination are frightening to her, but even more frightening is the reality going on around her. We see the purpose of beasts, to distract fear from fear. Now fear aside, Pan's Labyrinth was just a joy to study.

Well I have pulled out as many allusions as I am able to at the moment. If you haven't seen the film, well I am not going to spoil the ending for you :)