The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

140 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 Fantasy Married to Metaphor Kelly Fischer Kelly Fischer is junior social work major who loves playing tennis, reading, writing, and spending time with her friends. “The only way to deal with an unfree world,” claimed Albert Camus, “is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Few countries have struggled so long for freedom as Spain, and few characters demonstrate freedom of the mind in an oppressive situation as well as Ofelia does in the film Pan’s Labyrinth. For many years Spain struggled under various oppressive dictatorships. Her First Republic lasted only from 1873 to 1874 and her second from 1931 until 1936, when Spain dissolved into civil war. Ofelia was born along with the Second Republic in 1931, but by the age of 13 she had witnessed the dissolution of the Republic and the rise of an oppressive dictatorship under General Francisco Franco. Pan’s Labyrinth traces Ofelia’s fictional life in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and her encounter with the fantastical which serves as her escape from the harsh rule of her step-father Captain Vidal. However, Pan’s Labyrinth is more than a tale of freedom of the imagination in hopeless circumstances. Instead, the film and its characters serve as accurate metaphors for the Spanish Civil War and life under the subsequent dictatorship. Ofelia struggles under the oppressive rule of her step-father Captain Vidal, who represents General Francisco Franco. Vidal is similar to Franco in his violent way of dealing with the resistance. Francowas amerciless dictator who dealt harshlywith his opposition in the name of efficiency. Although the full extent of his atrocities remains unknown, many examples of his ruthlessness exist, such as the murder by machine gun of hundreds, if not thousands, of Republicans in the town of Badajoz by Franco’s troops. Furthermore, tens of thousands of political prisonerswere executedduring Franco’s thirty-one year reign (“Francisco Franco”). Similarly, Captain Vidal shows himself equally unlikely to demonstrate mercy. His crimes,