Ho-kay...That Was a Downer

[jmward14]

 Pan's Labyrinth just reminded me of all the reasons I loathe Hans Christian Anderson.  
Real fairy tales exist to show the rewards of grit and resourcefulness, and the consequences of wickedness.  All sacrifice has a purpose, and virtue is rewarded in this life, because face it, we have no guarantee of any other.
Sure it's fantasy.  But it's empowering fantasy.  All so-called "fairy tales for grown-ups" do is remind you this life is screwed, and anything you try to do to make it better will only make it worse.  Which, thankfully, is not always the case.
I so didn't need to see this exquisitely realized gloom fest before bedtime.  Its internal inconsistencies are pissing me off too.  I know bleeding chunks (emphasis on the bleeding) were left on the cutting room.  Otherwise some of the characters' actions make no sense.  I can even guess the contents of the deleted scenes.  (Steam.Steam.Steam.)
Nope, I'm not mad at writer/director Guillermo del Toro.  He's entitled to his vision, and give the man his props, he realized it exceedingly well.  But I think all the critics who gushed over the damn thing without letting audiences know what kind of experience they were in for should be handed over to Captain Vidal and his trusty hammer for a good, old-fashioned question and answer session.
Snarls and kisses,
Jean Marie
(Off to find something meaningful to look at...like the original King Kong.)

Comments

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

As imagery I found it utterly stunning. Several things have lingered in my brain.

But oh, the poor mother and daughter in this story. Neither of them are rewarded on the earthly plane. It's like "The Little Match Girl" -- she has to die to get her reward, and that always appalled me. Morality tales aside, I would have opted for a slightly different ending.

I also couldn't help wondering if there's a cultural bias I'm missing that would make the story more satisfying for me if I had that frame of reference.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

The things that bothered me most were the missing on-screen motivation and a couple plot-driven TSTL moments (the grapes, the lock, the lack of follow-through when one of the good guys makes use of a knife, etc.) and the critical community's bait and switch with respect to the ending. As you said, it isn't a fairy tale; it's a morality tale masquerading as a fairy tale.
I think there are a couple sets of biases and frames of reference at work here. The experiences of the Franco regime are inform the Spanish consciousness the same way Hitler and Stalin affect the people of modern Germany and Russia. The atrocities depicted in the film were all based on actual events. Franco and his thugs lacked gulags and concentration camps, but the crimes committed against the Spanish people are every bit as horrific. In turn, that inspired a similar ruthless brutality in the opposition, tempered only by their lack of resources.
Americans have a cultural bias toward happy endings. In addition, I have a strong bias against morality tales, because I find it extremely hypocritical of a writer or a director--someone whose lifestyle is as close to the good life as their respective cultures permit--to tell his or her characters they'll get their reward in heaven. This is especially true of moviemakers wallowing in money and international acclaim. (Don't bring up It's a Wonderful Life or we'll be here all day. LOL) But I'm more than willing to point the smoking finger at religious apologists and medieval clerks.
I think my prejudices in these areas would come into play regardless of my cultural references. For example, as a second generation Irish-Italian, I'm imprinted with the cultural memory of the discrimination against immigrants which is the flip side of "the golden door". Xenophobia is a grand old American tradition--as are the immigrants' responses to it. Today's gangs are doing the same things in many of the same ways as the Irish gangs of the 19th century, and the Italian and African-American mobs of the 20th. Anybody who says differently isn't reading their history or looking objectively at the sociological implications of extreme fashion statements. When you come right down to it, tats and zoots say the same thing. Just ask a Yakuza.
Wait--it might be safer not to. ;-)
But even with that memory, that imprinting, I wouldn't be interested in a story about a pointless sacrifice to the ills of my culture. Given, the reading/viewing audience is a lot bigger than me. There are lots of people out there who really enjoy a good cry over the noble tin soldier and the poor little match girl. Makes feel all warm and fuzzy about the comforts they enjoy. So I'd never tell anyone they couldn't produce those kinds of stories. Heck, I might even like one if it's done well. It would need to be done a lot better than Pan's Labyrinth for the reasons stated above, but it's still possible.
But I don't want to go into the experience blind. I don't want the reviewers to delude me into expecting a happy ending.
Which, I suppose, is the very reason booksellers started categorizing books by genre. Truth in advertising--another fine old American bias. LOL
Hugs,
Jean Marie

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

I can't help feeling that this was more Captain Vidal's story than Ofelia's. In some ways his is the transformative element. The happy ending is more for a community, a way of life, than for an individual.

I too found the film's marketing tremendously misleading, especially since it was coming out around the time the first Narnia film did. It focused solely on the fairytale aspects of the story, and not the political themes. I'd have adored a dark, grown-up fairytale, something more fierce than Labyrinth or The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Instead I'm left with memories of brutality (oh, that razor, and Mercedes' knife).

You'll be happy to know I've never sat through It's a Wonderful Life. I know it's un-American to say that, but here I am, saying it.

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

Why am I not surprised? Hugs and grins, Jean Marie

[sandyinstep.livejournal.com]

OK, haven't seen the movie, but wanted to comment on your statements about fairytales.

Fact is, the fairytales of our youth are very Disney-ized fairytales, sanitized by adults too concerned with not exposing our youth to the harsh realities of the world. When you read the older versions of the tales collected by the "Brothers Grimm" and others, you find much more stark, much less light stories where children are abandoned, eaten, and otherwise come to harsh ends, even without that glimmer of "things will be better on the otherside."

I guess a good deal of the cleaning-up occured as part of the Xianization of the stories, many of which are much older than Xianity. Can't have good little Xian children being killed by evil/devilish witches, even if the little tots deserved their fates.

And don't get me STARTED on the sexism of the sanitized tales of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White!!!!

[jmward14.livejournal.com]

Sorry. I gotta differ again. I was referring to the originals. I've even parsed my way through Grimm in the original German. Children get brutalized, eaten, transformed, but the protaganist either makes it through, or through their death, changes a desperate situation. Which is not to say they don't sacrifice to get there--lost fingers, a wing for an arm, imprisonment, bereavement... But all those sacrifices result in a greater good. That's the empowering aspect, which Pan's Labyrinth entirely lacked. Alas.
Yeah, I play devil's advocate in all my convention panels too.
Hugs and grins,
Jean Marie

[annecain.livejournal.com]

I actually liked Pan's Labyrinth when I saw, but I can admit I'll probably never watch it again because it's just too much of an emotional coaster ride to go through. :P

But *do* check out The Devil's Backbone. By far, a more satisfying story--even with the heart-wrenching moments it does have. It has a fantastic ending too; there's one part especially that gave me goosebumps.