In the movie Pan's Labyrinth, the little girl Ofelia is facing such a situation. So, the fairy tale book in her hand became her only weapon against this adult world. She believes that she is the princess of that world, because of mistakes, she is living in the world. She believes that one day, she will go home.
That fairy tale world is different from the fairy tale world we know well. It's gloomy, grey, scary, cruel and bloody. The Pan Shen in that world is dark and stern, and even the righteous person like an angel is full of evil spirits. This is exactly the portrayal of Ofelia's life, in which no one can dream colorful dreams. It's more like a little girl's nightmare, revealing her fears and anxieties about the real world. However, even though this fairy tale world is equally bloody and gloomy, for her, this fairy tale world is more real than the adult world. At least, she can achieve her wish through her own efforts, those gems, the book that will automatically show and those chalks. At least, in that world, she can still gain hope by controlling some things.
Cope with the same fact: Ofelia didn't turn into a princess, and the fairy tale world and the real world have different explanations for this. The real-world explanation for this fact is simple: the fairy tale is not true. But the interpretation of fairy tales is much more complicated. And these complex explanations should all be seen as protecting the belief that the fairy tale world is real, which means so much to our protagonists.
At the beginning of the film, Ofelia came to Pan's labyrinth, and Pan told her that to become a princess, she must complete three tasks.
These ongoing challenges are how Ofelia explains the fact that she didn't become a princess: I didn't become a princess right away because I had to kill Toad; I didn't become a princess because I had to steal sword;
As long as she doesn't become a princess, the little girl needs to constantly explain this fact and has constant tasks. Until she stole the grapes from the god of death. Many people wonder why this little girl made the mistake of stealing grapes in the palace of the god of death? I don't think it's because of greed, it's more like finding a reason for the failure of this fairy tale to be realized through self-blame.
"There is no longer a task. I can't be a princess because I stole the grapes, but this fairy tale is real." When the reality of the fairy tale world could not be avoided, the little girl used self-blame to protect herself against this fairy tale world. Faith in fairy tales.
However, giving up fairy tales and giving up hope is a painful thing. When Pan turned away angrily and told her that "there will be no more fairy tales, you will gradually be forgotten and forgotten, and you will gradually decay and die in this world", the audience and the protagonist of the film also felt a deep despair. This desperation makes us understand why this fairy tale is so important to this little girl, so important that it has to be true. Otherwise, she will have nothing.
Because of this, at the end of the film, the little girl's mother dies and the female guerrilla who took care of her is arrested. When the little girl is most desperate, Pan Shen will reappear. At this time, the task was to sacrifice her younger brother's blood, and protecting her younger brother became the little girl's last explanation. In order to protect her younger brother, she would rather not be a princess and sacrifice her life to believe the truth of this fairy tale.
In the end, death makes this fairy tale a reality. Because of death, there will be no more doubts about this fairy tale. After escaping from the realm of reality, reality is no longer able to question the fairy tale world of the little girl. She went with a smile.
Remember which book said that fairy tales are created to satisfy wishes that cannot be realized in reality. When this desire is strong enough, people will create their own world. When this world is her only hope, that world is as real to her as it is to us who live in it. At the end, when both the king and the queen are her parents who died in reality, we understand that this fairy tale is just her own fairy tale. This fairy tale world is real, but she enjoys it exclusively.
The story is about the damage to children's hearts caused by brutal war. This is a psychodrama that tells us how children in such a living environment can find hope by creating their own world. But it's more than just a psychodrama. At the end of the film, when the dead old tree really bloomed again, the director conveyed hope to our world by believing in fairy tales.
It's a classic. You could accuse this movie of being less garish than any other fairy tale, but none is more real than this one. Although we do not share a real world of Ofelia, that world is as real to her as it is to us.
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