Representation of France - La Haine

Prime minister didn't care for immigrants (Front National)
La Haine is seen as an accurate representation of France, portrays it in a realistic way.
La Haine highlights the current issues of racism in France during the 1990's.
La Haine is critical of France during the 1990's it subverts cultural expectations.
La Haine breaks stereotypes of French people and French culture.
La Haine expresses the feelings of marginalisation that the French immigrants were experiences in the 1990s
Visit to the capital, lights turn on when he snaps his fingers. They leave thinking nothing will happen representing their mindset that nothing that they do will make a difference to society.
La Haine represents French values through the French immigrants. Scenes Cops vs Immigrants (Liberty)
When Vinz is woken up by Said (Fraternity)

Representation in Pan's

Ofelia has a birthmark on her shoulder, which is said to be proof of her royal identity. At the start of the film the moon can be seen to be a crescent that matches the birthmark. At the film’s end the moon is full, perhaps signifying her complete transformation to her royal identity. They call her the daughter of the moon.

The power of men is destroying nature, nature is represented as female e.g yonic imagery through out, tree scene. An analogy for destroying nature. Life can only thrive in a woman e.g Ofelia's death.

Pan's Labyrinth color codes the separate worlds of the film. Blue for reality. Red/Gold for fantasy. Green for the world of the Faun. As the boundaries between the worlds break down so too do the colors bleed from one world to another. Pale Man's room is yellow to represent caution and mystery.

Many viewers wonder why Ofelia is so foolish as to disobey the Faun’s instructions and wake the monster by eating the grapes. Beside the fact that disobedience in the face of authority is one of Pan’s central themes, recall that Ofelia was sent to bed with dinner the night before and may have gone a full day without eating at this point. Also keep in mind that Ofelia has just been proven right when she trusted her own judgment and ignored advice about which door hid the knife.

The Fairies weren't the only ones to mislead Ofelia about which door hides the blade. The Faun’s book also suggests the incorrect middle door. The door also plays on the same theme of deceptive visuals as the increasing beauty of the Faun. The beautiful door is the false choice. The shabby, broken down door hides the treasure.

The Faun in greek mythology represents the god Pan.

Ofelia returns to her Kingdom at the film’s end despite failing two out of three tests put to her in the film. She wakes the Pale Man and refuses to turn over her brother to the Faun. The only test she passes is retrieving the key from the toad.

The number three is supposed to symbolise Mars, the greek god of war. This use of the number three tasks is symbolic in Catholic (The Holy Trinity), as well as the three at the end could represent the fact that Ofelia is trying to fix the war like situation in Spain.

The two fairies killed by the Pale Man are seen alive again in the final scene. If we are taking the fantasy sequences literally this lends credence to the theory that the tests may have been faked and were more about how Ofelia behaved during the tests than about the supposed goals. suggesting that Ofelia may have made up this fantasy to deal with the Spanish Civil War.

Exam Prep (Themes)

Themes:

Pan's:
- Fascism
- Masculinity
-Power and Conflict
- Oppression
- Patriarchy
- Family

La Haine:
- Power and conflict
- Poverty
- Racism
- Gangs - Fraternity, brotherhood
- Violence
- Rebellion
- Masculinity

City of god:
- Power and conflict
- Poverty
- Drugs and violence
- Patriarchy
- Child gangs
- Government corruption
- Brotherhood