‘How is mise-en-scene used to create meaning in the Pale Man sequence of Pan’s Labyrinth?’ (10 marks)
Mise en scene is used to create meaning in the Pale Man sequence of Pan’s Labyrinth, for example through the use of the low-level tracking shot of the pile of grey children’s shoes. This creates meaning as it acts as a visual metaphor for the suffering during the holocaust at the hands of the fascist regime. Specifically, the children’s shoes suggest the binary opposition of innocence and death, demonstrating the little mercy or regard to human life Franco had and presenting the fascism as cruel and wrong. This links to political and historical contexts as it reminds the audience of the great number of deaths, as over 500,000 people were brutally killed, in addition to all of Franco’s murders. As well as this, in the pale man sequence mise en scene is used to create meaning through the use of the bloody slits on the Pale-man’s hands resembling a stigmata. The stigmata is symbolic of the religious views during the Spanish civil war, linking to the churches conservative values that aligned with Franco’s fascist views of women, family and homosexuality. This is significant as it shows they turned a blind eye to the atrocities and are thus complicit to what happened, representing how the blood and deaths are on the hands of the church. Another way mise en scene is used in this sequence is as we are shown a graphical match cut of the Pale-man and Vidal similarly sitting in front of a feast. The banquet is used to demonstrate the greed and selfishness of the fascist regime, the Pale man embodying Franco, whilst emphasising the starvation and famine Spain faced as a result of Franco’s dictatorship. In the scene we see the banquet made up of red food, foreshadowing the danger Ofelia is in and predicting how the Pale man will be an ominous and demonic creature. The use of fruit such as the pomegranate acts a symbol for Ofelia’s fruitfulness, and represents fertility and her femininity, which is an ongoing theme in the film. This is similarly found through the use of fallopian imagery in her story book which we see at the beginning of the sequence, creating meaning towards the importance of Ofelia’s feminine nature and showing the audience how this is a bildungsroman narrative as we see Ofelia become a woman. Lastly, mise end scene is used to create meaning in the pale man sequence as we see a POV shot inside the keyhole of Ofelia choosing the left keyhole. This links to political ideology as fascism is right wing, suggesting how Ofelia is opposed to the fascist regime and sympathises for those left-wing parties, by choosing the left keyhole. This is significant as the left keyhole appears frailer and more fragile, suggesting fascism has overpowered and weakened Spain as a country and its political power. In terms of political contexts, the Pale man sequence links to Marinetti’s manifesto about the future of fascism. This explicitly states its hatred of all things women, as well as it’s declaration citing ‘we want to glorify war – the only cure for the world – militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of the anarchists, the beautiful ideas which kill, and contempt for woman.’
Emma Coe Film Studies 