Pan's Labyrinth is one of the most symbolic films of all time. It so accurately portrays the archetypal shift in consciousness from Neolithic-Goddess matriarchy to post-Roman patriarchy that it begs further viewing to uncover what one has missed. Pagan symbolism abounds in the film, and it should not be mistaken for a Christian fairy tale because the symbols in Christianity were borrowed from ancient pagan myths all over the globe.
The mythological premise behind the story is that Bronze Age patriarchs destroyed all the goddess temples and suppressed women into submission after the princess of the underworld, Ofelia, decided to become mortal and wander the Earth. The film is set in an old forest teeming with regenerative growth, vaginal-shaped trees, and obscure structures, like pre-Christian Madonna-totems and “the last labyrinthine portal to the underworld”. Ofelia is suffocated by the male dominated world of Spain during the Civil War in 1944, which could arguably be described as the darkest year in history (World War 2 was reaching its climax and industrialization had its stranglehold on the natural world). There are several other female characters in the film who are exposed to masculine violence, all trying to overcome the oppression of fascist nationalists. Female liberation is the essence of this film, but unfortunately for Ofelia it can’t be done without a sacrifice.
Key symbols in the film are the moon, which represented a goddess in many ancient cultures; Ofelia’s green attire in a forest of the same color; Pan, a.k.a. Satan (the tester of material transcendence); the Devil’s temptation of the fruit (one of the creepiest monsters I’ve ever seen); the labyrinth to the soul, also referred to as the goddess womb; the toad killing the tree, representing the greed of industrial tycoons who suck energy out of the Earth for their personal gain; and finally, the Underworld, which is where Ofelia enters a cathedral with the gods sitting high above Pan, who mystically wanders around the art-noveau patterns of growth below their seats (representing his role on Earth, beneath heaven).
All this symbology, the emotional disturbances, and that haunting lullaby, gel into a melancholic climax. But good things can be taken from it. Ofelia becomes a Christ figure by sacrificing her blood for her brother's. We know this because God tells her she passed all His tests after she died (the tasting of the forbidden fruit was an exception- another allusion to the Eden myth). In this respect the goddess of the Earth is resurrected, represented at the end of the film by a flower blooming at the spot where Ofelia had left her green dress. The slow regeneration of the forest over man’s cloud of tyranny is faintly seen to materialize out of the sorrow.
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