Social, Cultural and Political Contexts of Pan's Labyrinth and City of God

The representation of women in the film emphasises the social problems facing women in the patriarchal and macho era that the film is set.

Criticsim of the Catholic church and their complicity in the brutality of Franco's regime in Spain - find egs ...

Unlike mainstream Hollywood cinema, European films or films from World Cinema are often more political in nature. In Pan's Labyrinth the negative depiction of Franco's fascist forces is clearly a political swipe at Spain's and Europe's tolernace of facsim for so long in the 20th Century. Franco's regime is represnted as brutal, violent, undemocratic, whereas the Fairy Kingdom (although hardly democratic) is represented as more sensitive and benign. The rebels who fight against Franco's fscist dictatorship are presented as resourceful, determined (despite the risks of fighting for freedom againstt a more heavily armed military force) and egalitarian (supporters of equality).