Blog Prompt #2 • Pan’s Labyrinth

After you have watched Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, watch the following videos and then write a post in response to the Blog Prompt below:

The Big Picture: Instructional Videos

NOTE: While you do not have to write specifically about my videos, you should somehow indicate your familiarity with the points I raise in them.

• Del Toro on Myth in Pan’s Labyrinth (blackboard link to Panopto—15 minutes)
• My video on fascism as background for the movie. (YouTube—69 minutes)
• Believing in Fairy Tales (12 minutes)
• Choice and Disobedience in a Fascist World: The Exoteric and Esoteric levels of Pan’s Labyrinth (coming soon)

Prompt for Pan’s Labyrinth Blog Post

Then in your blog post consider one or two of the following points (you shouldn’t try to cover them all):

• How does Campbell’s outline of the Hero’s Journey help you understand the underlying structure of Pan’s Labyrinth? (These links might be helpful: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.)
• How does del Toro weave the historical and the mythical layers of Ofelia’s story together in the film?
• How does the film explore the themes of choice and disobedience?
• How does the movie explore del Toro’s concerns with fascism in Spain?