Pan's Labyrinth Context

Question 1

Who directed Pan’s Labyrinth?

Answer 1

Guillermo Del Toro

Question 2

What was the budget of Pan’s Labyrith?

Answer 2

$19.3 million due to the use of special effects and prosthetics

Question 3

How much did Pan’s Labyrith take at the box office?

Answer 3

$83 million

Question 4

What studios were involved in the making of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Answer 4

Estudios Picassa, Tequilla Gang (Del Toro’s own production company,) Esperant Filmoj and Sententia. They were all Spanish/Mexican film companies which meant Del Toro was able to keep his vision for the film.

Question 5

What did Del Toro refuse to do when creating a fairy tale?

Answer 5

He refused to make a clean fairy tale for children and he refused to define one world as good as he believed the ambiguity was crucial to the social commentary he wanted to make.

Question 6

What did Del Toro’s friends and colleagues say about Pan’s Labyrinth?

Answer 6

They warned him not to make the film and in interviews he has alluded to difficulties in securing funding.

Question 7

What did Del Toro say about the shooting of Pan’s Labyrinth?

Answer 7

“The shooting and production of Pan’s Labyrinth was a very very difficult experience. Aftwer Mimc, Pan was the toughest shoot I’ve ever had.”
“Shooting Pan’s Labyrinth was very painful, but it also became a war about me not compromising. I gave back my entire salary in order to get the film made the way I wanted it. I probably should have abandoned it the moment the funding fell through the first time, but I stuck with it for almost two-and-a-half years and refused to back down.”

Question 8

Why was Pan’s Labyrinth rejected by every major and independant studio in the US?

Answer 8

It does not have a classical Hollywood ending, it is about Spanish history which Americans cannot relate to, it is a very difficult film to market due to the genre, no big name actors, subtitled and Hollywood likes clear cut films, which this is not.

Question 9

When did Del Toro first begin experimenting with cameras?

Answer 9

When he was 8 years old

Question 10

What other job did Del Toro have within the film industry?

Answer 10

He spent 10 years as a special effects makeup artist.

Question 11

What did Del Toro’s Catholic grandmother attempt to do to him?

Answer 11

attempted to excorcise him

Question 12

Where is Del Toro from?

Answer 12

Mexico

Question 13

What were some of the awards Pan’s Labyrinth won?

Answer 13

BAFTA for best costume design, 79th aAcademy Awards for best art direction, cinematography and best makeup.

Question 14

What makes Del Toro an auteur?

Answer 14

His trademarks are themes of violence, young characters, a solo hero/heroine and a blurred line between fantasy and reality

Question 15

Where did Pan’s Labyrinth debut?

Answer 15

At Cannes Film Festival

Question 16

How many major awards was Pan’s Labyrinth nominated for?

Answer 16

76

Question 17

What was Del Toro’s experience with religion like?

Answer 17

He grew up in Mexico with his grandmother who was an extreme Catholic. She made him walk in shoes with inverted bottle caps to ‘motify his flesh.’

Question 18

What elements in Pan’s Labyrinth have religious connotations?

Answer 18

1. The Pale Man’s eyes on the plate are associated with St Lucia, whose matrydom is represented in Catholic art by her holding her eyes on a platter.
2. The wounds on the Pale Man’s hands are stigmata and this a=is a term used by Catholics used to refer to body marks in locations corresponding to the crucifiction wounds of Christ.

Question 19

What was Spain like during the 1930s?

Answer 19

Spain was a deeply divided country that was torn both politically and economically. They were deeply hit by the Great Depression after the Wallstreet crash. In 1929, the military dictatorship that had ruled Spain since 1923, collapsed.

Question 20

Who were the nationalist party?

Answer 20

Right wing political party made up of monarchists, landowners, employers, the Roman Catholic church and the army.

Question 21

Who were the republican party?

Answer 21

Left wing political party made up of trade unions, socialists and peasants.

Question 22

When did Franco take over Spain?

Answer 22

In 1936, a section of the Spanish army, led by General Franco, rebelled and a civil war ensued. In 1939, Franco came out victorious and rules Spain as dictator for the next 36 years.

Question 23

What is facism?

Answer 23

It is a nationalist, right wing ideology that puts the nation before the individual. It is led by a strong, authoritarian leader/government.

Question 24

Who were the maquis?

Answer 24

They were Spanish guerillas who waged war against Franco’s regime.

Question 25

Who were the international brigade?

Answer 25

They were military units set up by the communists. They were a group of foreign volunteers who fought with the republicans against the nationalists.

Question 26

How many people died during the war?

Answer 26

an estimated 500,000 but only 300,000 are believed to be comabtants. This means 40% of casualties were innocent civillians.

Question 27

What happened after Franco died in 1975?

Answer 27

The country began a long process of returning to democracy. As part of this process, both sides agreed to a 'pact of silence' which meant the war was to remain off of the political agenda.

Question 28

What happened in 2006?

Answer 28

The Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government drafter the Law for Recovery of Historical Memory. This involved compensating victims and attempting to locate the bodies of those who had been murdered or gone missing.

Question 29

How did Spanish films that approached the war differ from those produced outside of Spain?

Answer 29

They are more reflective and examine the war from the point of view of personal trauma and national disaster. They often use metaphorical representations of the conflict such as in The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) where two children wander the countryside in 1940s Spain looking for a Frankenstein monster.

Question 30

How does the Ofelia and the Toad scene link to facism?

Answer 30

The toad is living under the tree and it is feeding off of all the nutrients that the tree needs. This causes the tree to wither away. The tree cannot thrive whilst the toad is there, just as Spain cannot thrive whilst Franco rules. Franco's facist regime suffocated the people of Spain and took away all their freedoms.

Question 31

How was the faun's costume made?

Answer 31

The actor had to wear makeup that covered his entire body and even wore stilts to appear taller. The faun suit was in several parts, with there being separate leg pieces, body suit, arms and headpiece. This was done to distribute the weight of the costume more evenly.

Question 32

How was the Pale Man's costume made?

Answer 32

It was made of silicones with different parts having different densities to give them different weight and movement.

Question 33

What were the gender roles during Franco's Spain?

Answer 33

Women - to be mothers, housewives Men - provide and support the family, authority figures Mens salaries were raised whilst womens were lowered so that it would be less rational for women to work.