Final-Part 2

The movie Pan's Labyrinth use's myth to tell the story of a young girl who goes to live with her mother and new step father. The step father is portrayed as an evil man who really has no interest in the mother or the girl Ophelia. The only interest that the Captain has is that he has a healthy son that can carry on his name. The mythical aspect of the movie is that Ophelia's destiny is to be the princess of another "kingdom". In order to do this she must complete task's to prove that she is worthy of being the princess of the kingdom. This has many mythical aspects that are shown through visual styles and music. When Ophelia is completing her task's the music is whimsical, and generally playful, showing the playful side of the myth and showing that it is not in fact reality. Another aspect of film that that has a relationship to myth is the visual style. When Ophelia is in the "fairy tale" portion of the movie, the colors become brighter and everything seems to come to life. Along with this the transition's from the two scene help to distinguish it from reality and fairy tale. The transitions usually happen by a tree, the camera will move past a tree and the scene will transition from reality, to fairy tale showing bright colors, and things happening that are not reality, such as Ophelia crawling into a tree and there being a toad that is larger than her.



The story of Cinderella follows this mythical theme also. In the story of Cinderella, she is a young girl who's father dies and she must complete tasks in order to show her full potential and in a sense defeat her evil step mother by proving to her that she is much more than just a servant. The mythical side of this movie is shown through Cinderella talking to mice and them helping her, as well as having a fairy god mother. The visual styles that show this are the magic that is used by the fairy god mother to turn the pumpkin into the carriage for Cinderella to go to the ball, as well as her turning Cinderella clothes into a beautiful ball gown. The music in Cinderella also supports this because because the music during the "fairy tale" times of the movie is very upbeat and magical sounding. Where as when you are in Cinderella reality with her evil step-mother and step-sisters the music is more ominous. Much like Pan's Labyrinth, the scenes between reality and fairy tale are also similar. In both movies colors are more vibrant during the fairy tale portion.