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Gender
Del Toro has said that he thinks of Pan's Labyrinth as a spiritual predecessor to his earlier film, The Devil's Backbone. And that's probably true: both are adventures into female adulthood.
Pan's Labyrinth is awash with female sexual imagery and symbolism that suggests Ofelia's tale is a journey through—or maybe away from—puberty, menstruation and eventually childbirth. And it's also a tale that makes a direct correlation between a patriarchal stepfather and authoritarianism: by disobeying Vidal, Ofelia's rejecting both an overbearing male presence and a nasty political ethos.
Ofelia's quest is a feminine one. She's pitted against a male world of war and tyranny…which is also reflected in her fantasy world tasks. (Hey: she doesn't have to go up against the Pale Woman.)
Ofelia's quest, while surrounded by feminine imagery and symbolism, is not gender specific. It is, in its essence, a coming of age story about a young person against the adult world trying to maintain a sense of innocence.
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