Pans's Labyrinth Pale Man Scene

The sequence begins with the dolly out from Ofelia into the fantasy world which is mainly warm colours contrasting the cold military colours showing Franco's rule on Spain this then cross dissolves into a long-shot of Ofelia at the end of the corridor where the architecture is medieval further highlights the fantasy world of the film. There is then a close up and zoom in on the hour glass showing the importance of it and how Ofelia should not waste her time this is then followed up by a long, wide, tracking shot of Ofelia walking up to the pale man's table which mirrors Vidal and his feast showing the pale man represents Franco and his fascist rule of Spain. There is then a panning shot of the paintings of the pale man eating children which was based of the painting Saturn devouring his son by Goya which also represents Franco and his rule Franco is Saturn and Spain is his son instead of nurturing his child (Spain) he eats it, destroying it this is shown through the pale man. This is followed up by a close-up panning shot of a pile of children’s shoes showing how many children the pale man has killed in turn showing how many children have died to fascism this is also an intertextual reference to the holocaust during world war 2 which happened under fascist rule further emphasises that fascism is incorrect and evil. 

The next part of the sequence begins with a close-up of Ofelia with the key which is a reoccurring motif throughout the film also the lockers resemble mouths which is also a another reoccurring motif throughout the film as fascists don’t let people speak their mind and Ofelia is opening their mouths so she is defying Vidal and fascism there is then a close-up shot of the hourglass which creates suspense as Ofelia only has a certain amount of time in the fantasy world. There is then a close-up of the knife Ofelia receives from the box the knife is also a reoccurring motif throughout the film for example Mercedes has a knife as well.  after this shot there is a panning shot of the pale man and the table full of food foreshadowing what is about to happen and further showing how the pale man is linked to fascism. There is then a shot of Ofelia tempted by the food on the table in the mise-en-scene Ofelia is wearing green which represents greed this foreshadows what Ofelia is about to do. This is followed up by a close-up of the food on the table which is all red which signifies blood and violence. 

The final part of the sequence starts with a panning shot over Ofelia’s shoulders going to the pale man then followed up by a close-up shot of his hands and the plate with his eyes this shows fascism as a whole the pale man is Franco and captain Vidal and Ofelia is just the people of Spain and her taking the food and eating it out right defies fascism. In this shot Ofelia eats two grapes which is later shown that the pale man has no sexual organs and the pale man represents Vidal this shows Ofelia is going against Vidal’s masculinity as later-on in the film she steals Vidal’s son further going against his masculinity this can also be shown in most of the food being red which could also represent lust and passion which further shows Ofelia going against his masculinity. There is then a mid-shot of Ofelia with the pale man over her shoulder. In this shot the Pale man resembles an old feeble man which links to fascism and how Guillermo del Toro is trying to say fascism is old and outdated. There is then a close-up of the pale man getting attacked by the fairies which represents the rebels fighting Vidal with the Pale man as the Vidal and the fairies as the rebels and in the end the fairies end up losing foreshadowing what ends up happening to the rebels in the future as Spain stay under fascist rule till 1975.