Elliott Soraff film studies A level

To what extent is this film a political film? This film is unique in the sense that it does provide some political context as it depicts the hatred between the communists and the fascists. However it portrays this by intertwining the historical/political genre with the genre of fantasy so the audience sees the political side of the film from Orphelia's perspective, which in turn gives us an insight to how children at the time would feel about each extremist party.  Del Toro, purposely visualises for the audience the sheer brutality and intolerance of fascism, which brings forwards his views about the far left extremists and that communists come across as innocent, less repulsive and peaceful. The film doesn't centralise around the politics of when the film is set but the political context is seen through each individual character. I think if we saw the film from an older character (i.e. Vidal), then we would get a completely different interpretation. But the fact that t...

Films are depictions of people places and events and therefore, like all of works of art, reflect the values and culture of the society that produces them. All the circumstances, that a film was produced in and that shape its reception are a film's context. A study of context looks at when, where, how, why the film is set where it is, The time, place and circumstances. -The study of context focuses more on the appropriate context of when the films were made, as opposed to set. There are different kinds of contexts that students need to consider when studying and analysing films: Social : A look at the relevant society's dominant attitudes and beliefs including debates about ethnicity and gender where relevant. -"Pan's Labyrinth uses fantasy and the supernatural to confront the malevolence and violence of the real world (Spain under Franco)"~ Podcast about Pan's Labyrinth. Cultural:  There are two kinds of contextual contex...

I am very happy with my recent essays, especially my second essay where I gained one more mark then my previous one. My target is an A grade and I want to achieve this to the best of my ability. I am really enjoying the films we are studying and the course as a whole. My improvements for the future is to make the points I am making a lot clearer as they can be very easy to misinterpret. I also need to further portray my point by adding more relevant context in order to get my point across. My feelings towards this course are summed up through this image:

In this scene in Pan's Labyrinth, Del Toro visualises to the audience the representation of gender through the characters, Vidal and Mercedes. He does this through the micro-elements of cinematography, miss-en-scene, editing and sound. The sound in the film sends our emotions on a rollercoaster. It forebodes for us that something is about to happen in the scene. For example, when Vidal is showing the tools he is going to use to interrogate Mercedes, a sound effect is used to intensify the scene. He lifts up a hammer and an eerie stereotypical non-diegetic sound effect you would hear in your typical horror film (i.e. Psycho) can be heard. This makes the audience feel very uncomfortable and emphasises Vidal's detrimental side. We are inevitably made to empathise with Mercedes who feels powerless at the beginning of the scene. But as the scene progresses there is a complete power shift and the music supports this change. When Mercedes escapes from the rope and stabs Vidal in...

The sound in the film sends our emotions on a rollercoaster. It forebodes for us that something is about to happen in the scene. For example, when Vidal is showing the tools he is going to use to interrogate Mercedes, a sound effect is used to intensify the scene. He lifts up a hammer and an eerie stereotypical non-diegetic sound effect you would hear in your typical horror film can be heard. This makes the audience feel very uncomfortable and emphasises Vidal's detrimental side. This reflects back to the frightening idea of fascism and how dominant they were to everyone below them. Women at first portrayed that's because men were deemed as so overpowerful. We are inevitably made to empathise with Mercedes who feels powerless at the beginning of the scene. But as the scene progresses there is a complete power shift and the music supports this change. When Mercedes escapes from the rope and stabs Vidal in the shoulder, quiet non-diegetic music is played to visualise her retali...

I need to make sure that to achieve the highest marks that I'm developing my points into why the cinematic elements of the film create meaning

Men:                                                                                                                        -Self-assured -Arrogant -Narcissistic/bad -Aggressive -Strong -Depraved Women: -Quietly powerful -Oppressed -Outwardly inferior -Self-reliant -Submissively (outwardly) -Restrained

The Spanish Civil War - The Spanish Civil War took place between 1936 to 1939. This is prior to when the film is set in 1944 showing that despite the war ending, tension was still high. - This devastating war was fought between the far right (General Franco and the Royalists) vs far left (the communists). - Prior to the war, Spain had been awfully hit by the the Great Depression. This caused the military dictatorship that had ruled since 1923, to collapse in 1929. -The Depression caused a rise in communism and more and more people felt that this was their last hope.   -Franco was one of three major fascist dictators within Europe. The other two were Hitler and Mussolini . These two dictators were determined to see Spain fall to the right-wing Nationalists. They supplied the right wing with financial and military support. As Fascist allies, they were passionate about stamping out all sectors of communism. They saw it as a nightmare if a neighboring ...