Pan's Labyrinth--a tale of two fauns

MrBob

MrBob

Well-known member
I saw Pan's Labyrinth last week and noticed that the faun in that movie was much different than Mr. Tumnus. Pan's faun was much more inhuman with eyes wider apart, rounded horns coming from his head, and generally, a bit more demonic.

Now I know that Pan's Labyrinth is a supremely much darker film than LWW, but I was wondering which representation of a faun was most accurate? Is there more than one idea of what a faun looks like?

MrBob
 
I think the faun in Pan's Labyrinth movie would be what I would imagine a more "mythical" fuan would look like. I saw a critic thought the faun in this movie was better than Mr. Tumnus (who rocks). Of course, I didn't see the movie, but I saw some pictures. The only thing is that the faun in PL seems more fake to me.. as in the face is a lot more... plastic-ey, you know?

And yes, I believe that there are more than one representations of fauns (just Google Image "fauns"- there is a very wide range of fauns). Everyone person is different, so, of course there is always more than one idea of what a faun looks like. :)
 
some people-on the imdb pan's labyrinth threads....said it was alot like his dark materials. its so annoying how everyone is making movies about "otherworlds" now....i mean they're my favorite kind of stories...but still!
 
I remember reading something about a Faun named "Pan" in Greek Myth. a few days ago. and I've seen the word Labyrinth mentioned too.

what is the movie about exactly?
 
There are two stories going on concurrently.

Ofelia and her mother have moved in with a brutal capitain in the Spanish military in the early 1940s. He will torture and kill anyone if it furthers his agenda. They move because Ofelia's mother is pregnant with his baby and her father died in the civil war.

Ofelia hates it there and wishes she could go home. The only person other than her mother that she can trust is one of the maids/cooks, Mercedes.

There is also a fairy tale that begins the movie. It tells of a young princess who lived in the underworld who dreamed of coming up to the surface, but her king father told her she was not allowed. One day, she escaped and went to the surface where she lost her memory and soon died. Her soul survived and was said that it would inhabit another girl who would return.

Ofelia is brought into the labyrinth on the property by fairies and is told the story by a faun. He tells her that she has three tasks to complete before she can reclaim her crown.

MrBob
 
The faun our fauno as Pan is known in Spanish, is much more of an accurate depiction of what is generally known about the looks of fauns in mythology. Tumnus, is kind of a different style, something that Lewis did himself to set it apart some, to make his own, and more of a modern British take of a faun in a sence.

Pan is the Shepherd God, and would look much more like he is depicted in that movie. So its only natural that it would be so. I personally like that, its not that the Faun is darker in Pan's Labryinth, but that they stuck to the actual imagery of fauns much closer than Lewis did himself.

tg
 
Ooh..the movie seems kool. My parents would allow me to see a rated R movie like this. Movies like Gladiator, Passion of the Christ and such I can see, but like..sexual movies I cant. And wouldnt want to anyways. :p

Do the Fauns look different from Tumnus?
 
Back
Top