Viewing notes

• Toad scene...
• Slow push-out LS as Ofelia enters opening of tree 

  -Yonic –return to the womb/O’s desire to escape adulthood and harsh world

  -Est O as heroine –feminine symbolism (Franco’s patriarchal, fascist rule over 1940s Spain minimized and objectified women –Del Toro subverts + challenges this)

  -Strong fantasy ties (“Fascism, the absolute lack of imagination...the most masculine expression of power, juxtaposed with the most feminine, which is the most beautiful expression of power, which is imagination.”)
• O costume –traditional 40s dress and pinafore 

  -Intertextual ref to Alice in Wonderland (Del Toro took inspo from many classic fairytales but subverted them like Brothers Grimm)

  -Fairy tale influence

  -These traditional roles of women subverted when O takes it off and gets it dirty –reluctance to get older, contrasts V’s grey uniform –binary oppositions 
• Pan to Vidal + troops using invisible cut of tree


  -Draws parallel between fantasy world and real world (Del Toro’s allegorical use of fantasy as symbol of war and the harsh political environment of fascist Spain)

  -Seamless/fluidity between worlds absorbs viewer
• Fairy dust sparkles lens (Editing/aesthetics) 


  Fantasy 
• Circling pan 2 shot of V + soldier 

  Proximity induces fear, est V as dominant in scene 
• V’s costume 

  -Reflects cold/controlling nature (“machine man with a machine mind” V parallels Franco and the fascist ideology itself)

  -Encapsulates masculine ideals of dignity and honor (Franco’s ideology)
• MLS of O + toad 

  Fairy tale imagery of heroine in battle 
• “Aren’t you ashamed...sitting in here eating all the pill bugs and getting fat while the tree dies?”


  Toad seen as metaphor for right-wing government/social and economic inequality as the fascist government feasting on the small and get larger while citizens starve 
• Bugs + insects (mise en scene) 


  Hint of decay behind the beauty 
• Pleonastic sound of bugs + breathing


  Intensifies emotion/stakes 
• LS zoom in on group shot of rebels 

  Triumphant, false hope 
• Pedro introduced with sun beaming through trees (aesthetics) 


  New dawn/hope for left-wing republicans 
• Rebel tortured/Dr. Ferreiro scene...
• Tortured rebel framed in MLS foreground 

  Draws attention to him -forces viewer to confront brutality of fascist Spain
• 2 shot OTS Vidal stands over, positioned on right-hand side of frame 

  Dominance/power of right-wing ideology 
• Dr F positioned on left hand side, slightly lower down, in the light 

  -Contrasts V

  -The power of fascism over left-wing ideology -lack of hope, -However light est him as the positive ideology + V as villain
• Rain + cold blue tones outside door contrast warm tones inside 

  -The cold harsh reality in the outside world, pathetic fallacy foreshadows death

  -Reminds audience government is unjust/corrupt so things don’t work out well
• “Why didn't you obey?” “To obey without questioning is something only people like you can do”


  -One who follows RW ideology is compliant and unimaginative

  -Del Toro critiques those who would comply with it and in turn fascism itself (“Fascism, the absolute lack of imagination...the most masculine expression of power”)
• CU shallow focus of Dr F with soldiers in background 

  Military strength, no escape 
• Sombre/delicate non-diegetic musical notes 

  -Dr F’s future sealed

  -Elicit sympathy/emotion in active audience before witnessing his unjust murder –align with him and V/RW ideology as antagonist 
• Dr F keeps walking even when shot 

  -Rebel republicans (Marquis) keep fighting despite the pain and seemingly hopeless battle they face against fascist troops
• Cut to wide shot as he falls + LA CU of him dead 

  -Significant death

  -Heightens emotional impact –brutality of fascist Spain and tragedy of innocent civilian killed in Spanish civil war (music secures this preferred reading) 
• Pale man scene...
• LA CU of O before revealing banquet hall 

  Viewer personalized connection to her as her expressions are exchanged with viewer –almost breaking 4th wall
• Curved pan reveals pale man 


  Juxtaposes his more direct cinematography -the fluidity between fantasy world and real world so active audience draws parallels 
• LS reveals pale man at the end of table -his appearance is grotesque (Doug Jones in a suit -was real) 


  Uncanny valley – an entity appearing almost human incites cold, eerie feelings in viewers --> opposition to pale man and represents how fascists are almost human 
• Pale man was inspired by the Cronos figure of Greek mythology


  A father who devoured his children to prevent them from usurping his throne
• He was also inspired by Goya’s painting which is an allegory for warMise-en-scene – red features heavily (walls, food on table, pale man’s fingers)


  Connotes violence and danger, foreshadowing events to follow and synonymous with fear and dread induced in audience 
• The audiences’ immediate negative emotions towards the pale man creates an opposition between them and him, influencing them to align with Del Toro’s political views 


  Pale man represents the catholic church’s right-wing fascism ‘a hunger to eat innocence, a hunger to eat purity
• Banquet and overabundance of food 

  Shrine to greed and excess, alike the right-wing government living comfortably while civilians starve 
• However, he instead feasts on those who try to take the food
• Gothic/biblical style murals -alike stained-glass windows in a church depicting children being eaten on walls and ceilings 


  Reinforces the comparison to the church wanting prey on innocence and those who try take what’s theirs 
• Pile of children’s shoes 


  Referencing holocaust