Pan's Labyrinth context

Context

(Spain 2006)
- Guillermo del Toro director
- Won three Academy awards: Cinematography, make up, Production design,
- Nominated for: Foreign language film, Original screenplay, Original score

. Nuevo Cine Mexicano (New wave Mexican cinema)
. Spanish Civil War

Initial ideas Mexico:

- A lot of corruption caused by drug cartels in the Government, Army, Police
- Wealth disparity - hugely divided country
- The PRI (institutional revolutionary Party) governed Mexico for over 70 years, from 1929 to 2001
- During this time, they were responsible for corruption, electoral fraud and authoritarianism (a way of governing that values order and control over personal freedom)
- They lost  the election in 2001 ending their long reign
- New party (National Action Party) PAN, promised social change and to end corruption
- Against political unrest Nuevo Cine Mexicano was born
- Social inequality persists to this day in Mexico
- Mexico is 60% poor, only 10% are wealthy and 30% are middle class
- Mexico's cities are also very overpopulated
- During PRI's rule cinema was tightly controlled, restricting creativity and freedom of expression - this changed in 2001, allowing for the rise of Nuevo Cine Mexicano
- The three amigos, Inarritu, Cuaron and del Toro
Image result for mexico PRI




Nuevo Cine Mexicano - Characteristics:
Influenced by French new-wave and Italian neo-realism:

- Use of actual locations rather than sets
- Documentary visual style
- Avoidance of neatly plotted storylines
- Use of conversational speech, not literary dialogue
- Avoidance of artifice in editing, camerawork, lighting

Nuevo Cine Mexicano - Key themes:

- Issues of gender and women's roles
- Rural vs urban Mexico
- Modernism, religion and economy
- Political issues (regional, national, international)
- Disintegration of society, values, morals etc.
- Sexual unfulfillment
- Sci-fi and new horror/ themes

Del Toro:

- Strong connection to fairy tales and horror, w/ an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty
- He has a life long fascination with monsters, which he considers a symbol of great power
- Uses insectile and religious imagery
- Themes of catholicism
- Celebrating imperfection
- Underworld and clockwork motifs, practical special effects, dominant amber lighting, and his frequent collaborations with actors Ron Perlman and Doug Jones
Image result for pan's labyrinth











Spanish Civil War context:

- 1936 to 1939
- The Republicans (democratic, left leaning, urban secondary Spanish republic, w/ anarchists) fought against the Nationalist, Catholic, and largely aristocratic conservative group led by General Franciso Franco
- Democracy vs Fascism/ left vs right
- The Nationalists won and Franco continued to rule Spain for the next 36 years until his death in November 1975


Image result for spanish civil war



















Comments

  1. JCoSS Media Dept5 March 2019 at 08:25

    Good CW, Louie
    Notes are of a high standard throughout this unit
    Mr Boon

    ReplyDelete

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