The Uses of Enchantment

*****CAUTION: SPOILERS******

I saw Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) and Bridge to Terabithia at the cinema when they came out, then bought Pan's Labyrinth on DVD when it was released. It didn't occur to me until today that these movies have a similar theme: The use of enchantment--or imaginary play--to transcend personal circumstances. In both stories, a young girl dies: The "magic" cannot stop that. But what it offers is a bridge, a means to transcend grief, fear, and horror, and recover our humanity.

Bridge to Terabithia is the more straightforward of the two. Two outsider tweens befriend each other and create an imaginary world out in the woods and have adventures. When the girl dies in an unexpected accident, the boy is bereft until he realizes he can keep the memory of his friend alive by opening up and sharing Terabithia with others. When he brings his sister into Terabithia for the first time, it's a powerful moment.

In spite of being a simple tale, I discovered there was tremendous controversy surrounding the book this movie was based on. It was actually banned by some extreme groups. Some parents object to death being dealt with so frankly in a "children's" book. Some object to the "magic." Some object to what they perceive as threatening anti-religious sentiments. (Actually, the story is very spiritual in places; it just makes it okay to question religion, or at least look at it from a very different angle. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when the girl says: "You have to believe and you think it (religion) is horrible; I don't have to believe and I think it's beautiful.") And one librarian even wrote online that she had a father return the book on the grounds that no boy and girl that age should be alone together, because "we know what they're really doing out in the woods." [!!!]

All that aside, though, there is never any question that Terabithia is an imaginary world. It cannot bring the girl back to life. But the boy can use it as a tool to overcome the grief, guilt, and helplessness he feels over his friend's death.

With Pan's Labyrinth the lines between fantasy and reality are blurrier. Set during the time of the brutal Franco revolution in Spain, a young girl travels with her mother to go live at a military outpost. The General, her mother's new husband, is in charge of tracking down and destroying the rebels in the surrounding countryside. The picture can be interpreted in either of two ways: The girl creates an imaginary world to escape the harsh realities of the war surrounding her, or she really is a lost princess who needs to find her way back to her underground kingdom. The director very cleverly gives nothing away right to the very end. It is left to the viewer's interpretation.

At first viewing, I was a little disappointed with the ending. It seemed just a little too happy an ending after such a grim tale to see the princess get home to her kingdom. But after watching it again, I'm not so sure. I think it is a fairy tale, after all, the director's fairy tale. It is his gift to us. We need the happy ending. For we know that in the real world, little girls die, and there's no magic kingdom to bring them back. We know the horrors of war are with us, and we're all going to have to work just a little harder in order to get home.