Plot Summary of Pan's Labyrinth

          Pan's Labyrinth tells the story of a young girl named Ofelia who is intrigued by fantasy and one day encounters a fantastical world upon traveling to the forest wherein her stepfather is stationed. It is the time of the Spanish Civil War, during which time Spain was under the rule of a fascist regime. When Ofelia travels to the forests where her stepfather awaits, this becomes all too apparent as the story falls on the backdrop of a struggle between the fascist army, in which her stepfather is an officer, and armed rebels. Ofelia's mother is in the late stages of pregnancy, yet is driven to travel to the outpost as its father, Captain Vidal, desires that it be near him so that he might supervise his son's birth. While there Ofelia encounters a fantastical creature, a fairy, which at first appears to simply be some kind of insect. However, it soon makes its true nature apparent and proceeds to lead her into the ruins of an ancient labyrinth. Within the labyrinth there resides a fawn, the keeper of the fairy, who proceeds to reveal her fantastical origins. Upon revealing them, he proceeds to bestow her with three tasks that she must complete before the moon is full in order to return to her own world.

"Nothing in the Dark"

Nothing in the dark is a perfect example of the dark fantasy subgenre because utilizes a number of dark fantasy themes such as fear, horror, and impending death. At the beginning an old woman is woken by the sound of someone outside her window. The fear she exudes serves to set a fearful mood, as accented by a setting composed of a dilapidated old house with boarded windows. The general lack of organization serves to accentuate this feeling, with the lack of visibility caused by a snowstorm to top off the general mood of fearful suspension. Without warning a man is shot, and lies outside her door whilst beeging for help under the pretense that he will die. The fearful mood reaches a cresendo, as the old woman refuses to open the door, begging the young officer (shooting victim) to not ask her to open the door. She's evidently horrified to even think of opening the door, much less open it. Stating that she'll die if she goes outside, she pleads the young man to go away even as he pleads for her to help him. This fear of impending death reaches a cresendo as she steps outside, only to not die. She helps the young man inside, yet this only accentuates the mood as the story goes on, the presence of impending death ever there. The old woman explains why she can't go outside, telling of how she had always seen the presence of death whenever a death occured. However, this is interrupted by the arrival of a city worker who proceeds to knock in the door when she refuses to open it. The old woman is thrown to the floor by the event, and for a moment appears dead; thus giving the impression that the city worker was death come to take her away. Contrary to expectations, she is not in fact dead and the worker proceeds to tell her that she must evict her home as construction crews will be coming within the hour to tear it down. This meeting ends ominously when the old woman begs the young man to explain to the worker why she cannot go outside; however, the worker states that no one is there and promptly leaves. It is at this moment that the old woman realizes that she has allowed death to enter through her door. 

"Setting Exercise"

The overwhelming scent of death and decay hang in the air outside the cave. Upon the ground were a myriad of bones, as well as a number of rotting carcasses. Within the cave little could be seen; however, that which was to be seen was the color of dried blood. Liquid dripped from the ceiling of the cave, the color reflected by the light being eerily reminiscent of blood. The shallow valley which surrounded the cave was devoid of life, and no sane creature was willing to approach it. From within there emerged the pained and terrified screams of a creature's unfortunate victims. This was accented by a constant moaning which melded with the sound of the wind as it passed through the shallow gorge. The cave was hewn naturally from the rock, it's edges rough and uneven. From the cave's entrance there ran a series of tunnels which delved ever more deeply into the rock. These eventually connected to larger caverns beneath the ground, the beautiful hewes of the natural crystal formations muted by coatings of dried blood. In the deepest, of these caverns the creature dwelled, it's terrified victims so overcome by fright and despair that they made no move towards the cavers entrance, despite their closer proximity to the entrance. Within the horrid stench of waste mixed with the scent of rotting corpses, both living and dead.

"The Dozen"

“The Dozen”

1) Princess Mononoke – This was a wonderful movie with beautiful animation accented by the wonderful environments portrayed. However the real appeal of this movie lay in its story and the compelling way in which they characterized the struggle which resulted from having to choose between the environment and industrialization in Japan. Not to mention the enticing way in which they portrayed the struggle between life and death as well as good and evil.

2) Steam Boy – An animated film which features likable as well as realistic characters who play witness to the moral dilemma entailed by industrialization and the development of new weapons of destruction. This arm’s race twists the hopes and dreams of humans as they imagine the good they might do by improving technology, only to have it usurped by those who would use it to gain power over others.

3) Full Metal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shambala – This movie takes place after the end of the original Full Metal Alchemist anime series. The movie itself is quite dark as it features the horrors of a war driven solely by the human need to conquer and the desire for power. It is portrayed in a compelling way, as it does not shirk from the reality of civilian casualties which do not discriminate between men, women or children. It also deals with the injustice of prejudice and the lengths that humans are willing to go to escape from such discrimination.

4) Digimon – Haven’t seen this since I was a kid, but as I remember it was a great show (way better than Pokemon). Looking back at what I remember, it also deals with the themes of companionship and trust. Not to mention responsibility as the children (not really sure of their age) have to fend for themselves in an unknown world.

5) Van Helsing – A movie that I liked, though I found the ending to be somewhat funny. However, it was at least worth it to see a werewolf completely crush Dracula; not to mention the hilarity of Dracula’s response to the death of his thousands of hell-spawned children as well as his wives.

6) Spirited Away – A great movie that portrays a sort of alternate world full of demons and spirits. The story was great and full of creative characters that were believable despite their many unusual characteristics. One of my favorite overall movies.

7) Godzilla – Apparently this reflected the Japanese fear of nuclear attack as well as the repercussions of such an attack on them as a people. However, when I first saw this I was just a kid who was enthralled by the very idea that there existed creatures capable of destroying skyscrapers. Plus the fact that they could shoot fire, etc. was an added bonus.

8) The Lost World: Jurassic Park – A great movie that I first saw as a child. It portrayed the negative effects of toiling with nature and bringing an extinct species back to life. However, as a kid I was too enthralled by people being eaten by dinosaurs to realize this.

9) Avatar – A beautiful movie (in terms of picture) that can be seen as making a statement regarding a number of controversial issues. It featured elements of both Sci-Fi and Fantasy in an entirely realistic way. Not to mention that it addresses the lack of morality humans display when they seek to make a profit.

10) Predator – Saw it when I was younger. Hilarious how everyone but Arnold and that one lady dies. Especially, how Arnold says something along the lines of we fight or die.

11) The Road – A touching story that featured an apocalyptic future. Notably, there were multiple instances of cannibalism from whom the father and son miraculously managed to escape without even having an ear torn off. The world itself was entirely realistic, as it emphasized those qualities which humans think detestable and which they resort to survive.

12) Bridge to Terabithia – A great movie that addresses the human ability to imagine, an ability that is all too often forgot as people nowadays become enthralled in realistic video games and movies. In doing so, they lose the ability to imagine as they rely on others to do it for them. However, the movie also does not fail to address the cruelty of reality.

"My SciFi Blog Introduction"

In this class I except to learn the key elements of science fiction and fantasy as we read various works from within the two genres and proceed to analyze them.

This blog will feature posts discussing and analyzing science fiction and fantasy.