Well, it was the faun and the fairies that I thought were ambiguous :) But they are the main motivators of that side of the plot. And it was precisely because I have read tons and tons of fantasy and myth that I find them ambiguous... One comment I read was that they demonstrated the need for the opposite of the unthinking obedience of the fascist regime represented by the Captain (and it is "Capitan"), but I don't find that entirely satisfactory - somewhat simplistic.
Interesting idea about Magic Realism. I don't think it is, really, although, of course MR _is_ a branch of "fantasy." And of course the Mexican/Spanish connection makes it tempting to see it. As I understand MR,it is where "fantastic" things occur in everyday life and are completely accepted by everyone in the "real" world, while they also in a literary sense usually have some symbolic weight as well, of course. In this case, there's a pretty clear "threshhold" that Ofelia crosses, which keeps most of her adventures in the realm of "faerie." There's a psychological complexity, though - the whole "is it real, is it a dream, which one is which" that I find very interesting, and want to think about more. I think I need to see the movie again, in fact.
I thought the Captain enjoyed what he was doing. Like a bully enjoys doing what he does.
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Interesting idea about Magic Realism. I don't think it is, really, although, of course MR _is_ a branch of "fantasy." And of course the Mexican/Spanish connection makes it tempting to see it. As I understand MR,it is where "fantastic" things occur in everyday life and are completely accepted by everyone in the "real" world, while they also in a literary sense usually have some symbolic weight as well, of course. In this case, there's a pretty clear "threshhold" that Ofelia crosses, which keeps most of her adventures in the realm of "faerie."
There's a psychological complexity, though - the whole "is it real, is it a dream, which one is which" that I find very interesting, and want to think about more. I think I need to see the movie again, in fact.
I thought the Captain enjoyed what he was doing. Like a bully enjoys doing what he does.