4. THE MAIN DIOLOGICAL QUESTION
Arnold & Fischer (1994: 57) explains that a dialogical community shares a [pre-]understanding mediated through language. The dialogue is created when the author comes in contact with the reader through a text using language. This language can be seen in numerous forms such as visual images, symbolism and verbal language in the sense of any communication. This dialogue is believed to be represented in the submission of a manuscript or text and successive iterations of the reader and author responses until consensus is achieved. (Arnold & Fischer 1994: 57)
For me, the main question asked in the film is made out of a lot of themes and subsidiary themes that exists iteratively in the film. In the events we see people being confronted with authority and their fears. They are forced to make decisions that are a lot of the time uncomfortable for them. Because there is a strong authoritative force within the story the people are sometimes unwillingly or forcefully strained to do something. This then leads to the theme of obedience and disobedience which the movie asks if it is sometimes right to disobey. We see the elements of obedience and disobedience in Ofelia’s mother, the doctor, Mercedes, the rebels and Ofelia herself. Some choose to obey and others to disobey. This theme for me strengthens the main question that the movie reveals in the dialogical process which is the progression of people and their character.
We see Ofelia being a juvenile individual at the start of the movie. She is a child that keeps herself busy with child-like activities such as fantasy stories and her imagination. As the film progresses, Ofelia also progresses with time. The thing that is interesting about her situation is that she keeps developing and maturing into an independent state but the elements that surround her like her imagination and her storybooks stay the same. Everyone urges her to stop wasting her time with her fantasies and imagination because she is supposed to be a big girl on the verge of becoming a woman. The theme of disobedience comes in where she refuses to listen to them and ends up dealing with her situations using her own methods. These methods are the ones that the people find childish and immature. The question then is as follows: Is obedience, even for a child, always the best thing to do for their progression of character or their individuality and personality?
5. SUBSTAINING THE DIALOGICAL QUESTION
The film starts of in a time where Spain was at war. It was a war between rebels and fascists. Fascism is a concept believed to support anti-individualism and the state which is ultimately an authoritative entity. (Fascism: 2008) This already strengthens the question posed by the film. It is a fight for freedom and individualism which is similar to Ofelia’s situation as she challenges it which discomforts her and ultimately reduces her essence and beauty which is her imagination and her ability to deal with issues through this process of fantasy.
The exposition then shows a scene where Ofelia rides with her mother, Carmen in a car to Captain Vidal. Carmen is to marry him and both, Ofelia and Carmen will stay with him at his home. For this trip Ofelia brought a lot of fantasy books with her which one could believe comforts her when she needs it. Obviously the new surroundings will be different for her and when she feels discomfort she will find solace in her reading. This for her is a major part of her life and how she deals with the harsh reality. Her mother then tells her that it is nonsense and that she is too old for it. An important thing then happens to her as her mother starts showing illness from her pregnancy. She walks away and observes her mother in her state but she seams to be in another world. She then makes the important decision to stick to her actions and character by seeing her reality in a different light. The moment she inserts an old statue’s eye back into place she immediately sees a fairy-type creature. This shows us her disobedience towards her mother’s advice.
When the two arrive at the Captain’s place we see how different Ofelia is from her mother. Carmen is advised by the Captain to use a wheelchair for moving around. Carmen at first rejects this notion because she feels it is unnecessary but then obeys the Captains order-like suggestion. Ofelia immediately disobeys the Captain as she offers her left hand to greet him. This for him is seen as a sign of disrespect. This scene just shows the differentiation in character between Ofelia and her mother. Ofelia then sees the fairy again and throws her books away following it into the woods. Mercedes, a figure that will become very important in her life brings her books back to her as she fetches her to come back to the cottage. This shows how Mercedes almost reinforces Ofelia’s confiding in fantasy and imagination as she supports her actions.
The two other figures that play a big role in the theme of disobedience are the Doctor and Mercedes. Both of their attitudes reflect Ofelia’s attitudes towards her situation and Captain Vidal. The Doctor bluntly refuses Vidal’s opinion and his attitude shows his disobedience towards him. The scene where he confronts Vidal about bringing the sick Carmen to him strengthens this notion. He openly disobeys him when he decides to kill Vidal’s rebel prisoner to stop his pain and him from talking. He is then killed shortly after because of his involvement with the rebels. Mercedes also disobeys Vidal but in a more sinister manner. She works for him and serves him but also does the same for the rebels, one of which is her brother. She secretly disobeys him and in the end reveals herself and her disobedience.
The most important form of obedience is Ofelia’s confiding in her own thoughts and imagination. Later she follows the fairy again into the labyrinth where she meets the faun. He then gives her a few tasks which she obeys mostly. This is a figment of her imagination which helps her become the person she admires to be. She dreams of being a happy princess living with her father and mother. Before she can achieve this happiness she is tested to prove her worthiness. She cuts out the harshness of reality and substitutes it for elements of her imagination. Through this way she learns on her own and progresses into a mature character. This is reflected in the image of a labyrinth where one need to follow instinct to progress in the ultimate purpose of a labyrinth which is to find its exodus.
The question is posed through various elements that are supportive and unsupportive of Ofelia. Vidal and Carmen both try to get Ofelia to discard her fantasy but Mercedes spurs her on saying that she used to do it also. This is where the voice of the author shines through as he shows his opinion towards this issue. On the one hand, Vidal has become a hard and almost evil individual. Carmen has weakened in her physical but also mental state. Her character has weakened because of the events that occurred which she chooses to follow. Both of them die in the end. Mercedes is a reflection of what Ofelia would become if she is given her freedom and individuality. She is a strong character fighting for what she feels is right and defeating her rival at the end. Ofelia is at the verge of choosing and her decision is clear in the end.
The progression of her character is seen in various intervals but a significant one is where her mother confronts her for wandering away from the cottage when the Captain hosted a dinner party. Carmen tells Ofelia that she disappointed her but Vidal even more. Ofelia’s reaction is almost sinister in the sense as she smiles out of spite and happiness. This shows that she has confidence in her actions and decisions. Her final character attribute is seen as the faun asks her to sacrifice her baby brother. She sacrifices herself before her brother which concludes her fate of becoming the person she wants to be.
6. [PRE-]UNDERSTANDING
My [pre-]understanding of Del Toro as a director was limited. I only knew his work from Hellboy and Mimic. These films were not my favorite especially the genre that they were done in. With El Laberinto Del Fauno the style was what attracted me to it. Del Toro explains that it is an adult fable or a gothic fairytale which sounds fairly intriguing. The only [pre-]understanding I had of this type of genre was the tainted versions of Alice in Wonderland. Also, my appreciation of foreign films or the recognition of potential outside mainstream Hollywood was different before watching the film. As Arnold & Fischer (2008: 57) explains that when a text or event is alien or puzzling it challenges the prejudgment to change. This was the case for me as it did challenge my [pre-]understanding about numerous elements like Del Toro, fantasy films, foreign films and people’s type of character. I believe this lead to a fusion of horizons.
7. A FUSION OF HORIZONS AND THE HERMENEUTICAL CIRCLE
Arnold & Fischer (2008: 63) explains that the text and the interpreter both have horizons. When these two horizons fuse together meaning and understanding is achieved. The sense that is taken from the text through semiotic analysis and the hermeneutical circle is the text’s horizon. The hermeneutical circle is a process where symbols are seen for it’s meaning over and over again in different conceptions of the whole of the text. The whole of the text is comprised out of individual signs with meaning but each individual meaning can only be understood by referring to the whole of the text and vice versa. (Arnold & Fischer 2008: 63)
For me the fusion only occurred when I viewed the film analytically. I was more aware of my [pre-]understanding and more open to change. With a beady eye I saw more and more elements repeated by Del Toro to strengthen concepts within his film. Del Toro explains on his DVD that the theme presented was about how people use imagination to deal with their reality. Coherently this deals with what I think the question is which the film poses. By experiencing life and your reality, does not matter in which way, you develop as a person and an individual. Ultimately by engaging in the hermeneutical circle and by viewing these examples in the text produced by the director in an iterative manner I recognized the facts and Del Toro’s intensions more clearly. By recognizing their meaning understanding takes place. Del Toro’s crafted film and his intense justifying of the themes challenged my prejudgment about not only the themes of the film but also film in larger view. Del Toro explains that through the film he used the rule of three which helps him justify certain elements. We see this in the final trinity of Carmen, the father and Ofelia or in the three tasks Ofelia was to partake in. This was a way to rhetorically persuade me to be open to the text’s horizon so that I could fully understand it. I believe through his craft the intensions embedded within the text’s horizon fused with my [pre-]understanding.
8. ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS: THE CONCLUSION
I consulted a few peers who also watched the film. The first individual was reluctant to view and interpret the film because of their cultural dispossession caused by an ignorant mindset. I believe this is the cause which seams blunt but the reaction explains it as she saw it as being too ‘dark’. This is justifiable as a lot of people actually are very sensitive when coming in contact with gothic and non-realistic elements. There is an individual who posted an article on the internet saying that the film is full of satanic and pedophiliac themes. Arnold & Fischer (2008: 57) says that [pre-]understanding cannot constrain an interpretation but I believe that an unwillingness to participate in a “good will” manner which is important in hermeneutical interpretation disables some one to understand a text. By having their attitudes towards that feature of the film interpretation I believe, will be incomplete as their prejudgment will not change and so their horizons will not fuse with the director’s intensions.
Another peer felt similar in my view as he stressed that it is about facing your reality in different ways. He also adds that the film does have a strong religious element to it. The interpretation basically boils down to the fact that people use individual ways to experience reality and obviously exist as themselves. I believe that our prejudgments are similar because of our cultural position and tradition. This confirms the question that I think is mainly posed within the film. Obviously there is no correct way of interpreting the text but because of traditionally similar [pre-]understanding interpretations can also exist similarly to one another.
…”There is never any one, or objective, understanding of a text. Rather, there are many; no one understanding can embody all the elements of tradition.”…
Arnold & Fischer (2008: 59)
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