Extended Blog Post: Pan's Labyrinth Vs. The Little Mermaid

Within Pan's Labyrinth I was able to see a connection to both the Grimm and Disney versions of The Little Mermaid. In Pan's Labyrinth Ofelia is given tasks she must complete in order to keep her immortality, and she must fulfill them by the next full moon. The connection came when the Faun tells Ofelia that she only has three more days to complete her tasks. In The Little Mermaid, the mermaid (who goes unnamed in the Grimm version, but most know her as Ariel) is given three days to make the prince fall in love with her after she gave up her voice. If she failed to get the Prince to kiss her, she would not be able to stay a human. 

Ofelia is unable to complete her tasks after she doest follow the rules that the Faun set and she is doomed to be mortal. However, the Faun decides to give her a second chance and she is then able to complete her tasks. In the Disney version of The Little Mermaid, Ariel fails at first and she then has to fight Ursula and in the end is able to stay human and keep her Prince. In Pan's Labyrinth, Ofelia is killed, but by being killed she is able to complete her third and final task and become immortal. 

 

The main connection for the Grimm tail is the inability to complete the task and untimely ends in death. The Mermaid turns into sea foam after not being able to get her Prince, Ofelia is killed by her step-father. With Ofelia's death though, comes the connection to the Disney film. 

Ofelia refuses to spill the blood of her brother, and in the end is killed by her step-father. By him killing her, her blood is spilt and this completes her third task.  With the Disney version of The Little Mermaid Ariel is able to defeat Ursula and she is able to then stay human and keep her Prince. In both tales, the compilation of tasks lead to their "happily ever after".

Pan's Labyrinth Vs. The Little Mermaid

My idea is to try and tie in The Little Mermaid with Pan's Labyrinth. I saw the similarities when the Faun was telling Ofelia about the task she has to complete. Then at one point the Faun make sure to tell her that she only has three days left to complete the tasks. In The Little Mermaid, Ursula gives Ariel three days to get the kiss from the Prince and to stay a human for ever. Granted Ofelia doesn't need to obtain a kiss, but she has to complete the tasks in order to gain her immortality and to be reunited with her father. 

Stick It

I chose this scene from the movie Stick It. I thought this was interesting because it starts off with soft music that would typically be heard for a floor routine at a gymnastics meet, but then when Haley goes on for her routine, it is a high energy rock song and completely fits her personality.

Water

The use of water as a cultural symbol I thought was very well done. Water in many cultures can symbolize cleansing, life and death, and even rebirth. With in the movie I saw all three of these ideas. Whenever someone had passed away they were laid out by the water to have their cremation ceremony. This could be the idea of life and death along with rebirth. The person gives themselves to the water then the water can give this life again. Several times throughout the move people can be see washing in the pond, this could be the idea of cleansing. 

Insurgent: Special Effects

This scene comes from the Insurgent and Tris is in a simulation where she has to beat obstacles to beat the simulation. The effects in the scene I think is just amazing.

Tsotsi: Music and Sound

I really like the music in the movie. I thought the music really helped set some of the scenes. In the opening of the movie the music was very heavy with a rap song that showed the "hardness" of David and his friends. Then when baby David was in the picture, a lot of the scenes had softer music that was not as intimidating. The music was well balanced, there was just enough to help move the story along. 

My Mad Fat Diary: Interesting Transition

I chose this clip from a TV show that I got hooked on while I was in England. It's called My Mad Fat Diary and there is actually two types of transitions that I found interesting. The first is the zoom out from the bathroom stall and this is interesting to me because we see Rea leaving the stall but the camera doesn't follow her. To set some context, her friend Tixy she met in hospital and they used to meet in the bathroom to talk, she finds out that Tixy relapsed and may not make it out and she went to the bathroom to process. 

 The second type of transition is at the end of the clip when everything freezes and we then see a check list that Tixy's name get crossed out. Right after this it goes to a scene in her house where Rea is talking to her mum. This I thought was cool because it was a look insider her head while she is processing the news.