Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Pan's Labrynth: Greek Mythology and Ophelia

First of all thanks to everyone for coming to watch Pan's Labyrinth at Nott Hall. Netflix was also and so where the wizard swears. For those of you who are confused by the weird titles of my classmates posts, Amy pulled up some puppet show on youtube of Harry Potter learning wizard foul language. It was rather interesting to say the least.

When watching the movie, the scene where Ophelia drew the door in the wall and went to the home of the baby eating guy really struck a bell with me. Ophelia eating the grapes reminded me of my Greek lore where Persephone ate 3 pieces of fruit while the captive of Hades. Persephone was daughter of the goddess of nature. Mother Earth's daughter basically. She was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld and held captive. She was a beautiful girl who did not have a care in the world until Hades entered her life. While she was a captive she ate 3 pieces of fruit in the underworld. She was finally released after Zeus put pressure on Hades. However because she ate the fruit she was required to spend 3 months of the year in the underworld as Hades' wife. This is the origin of the seasons as her mother celebrated her arrival and mourned her loss.

Opheila is a Penelope like character. Because she was a carefree girl until the "devil" of her step father entered her life. All of the fantastical elements in the story resemble those of Greek myth. In her story, the princess escaped from the underworld and now she is returning there. The weather was even cloudy and overcast throughout the story as if her goddess mother were mourning her return.

This is just a thought to chew on. There are many more connections that can be made.

2 comments:

ReneeRivas said...

*laughs* There never seems to be a lack of comparisons to mythology.

Unknown said...

*Ofelia