Arthur Rickman’s ‘Grim Fairytale’ illustrations
cultural context
the idea that fairytales don’t end happily & not all magical creatures are friendly – the original tale of Sleeping Beauty the princess is raped & impregnated – fairytales are dark
Goya’s ‘Saturn devouring his son’ painting
cultural context
the painting represents the fear of being overthrown as Cronos killed all his children so he could stay in power – the painting doesn’t shy away from the horrors of the tale
Traditional gender roles
social context
women are housewives and men are the ones in power & working
patriarchal society
social context
men are in power/have control
the pact of forgetting
political context
a pact of silence passed after the end of Franco’s reign where people promised to forget and stay silent about what happened in Spain. People responsible for mass suffering were never prosecuted and deaths weren’t investigated. It was meant to prevent the past from becoming a political weapon.
the spanish civil war
political context
took place from 1936-39 & is one of the most brutal civil wars. It was considered a struggle between democracy and fascism. Franco ruled Spain for 36 years.
the law of historical memory
political context
was passed in 2007, a year after Pan’s was released. It was made to remember those killed during Franco’s reign and all the suffering that took place.
the involvement of the church
political context
Spain was catholic at the time & the church worked with the fascists. In southern Spain peasants worked tirelessly on massive estates and the church supported the landowners which highlights the corruption of those in power trying to stay in power.
fascism
political context
one ruling party is in complete power and people have unwavering faith in that ruling power
politics of hunger
political context
Franco used food as a weapon against people so they became complacent and wouldn’t fight back in fear of starving/being left with nothing
the years of hunger
political context
at least 200,000 people died due to Franco’s decisions & the politics of hunger
the holocaust & concentration camps
political context
there were nearly 300 concentration camps in Spain with between 350,000-500,000 prisoners inside. People who didn’t fit Franco’s idea of what Spain should look like ended up there & so did political rebels – had terrible conditions
eugenics
political context
using selective breeding to get a desired human race eg Hitler wanted Germans with blonde hair, blue eyes and to be white
institutional context
Del Toro wrote the subtitles himself – he didn’t want the meaning of the film to be lost in translation which happened in his previous work ‘The Devil’s Backbone’
Problems with funding – the film was rejected by every studio in the US and the funding fell through so del Toro funded the film himself and sacrificed his salary to make the film
