ABSTRACT
The Gothic has become a mode of transforming reality according to creators’ and audiences’ imaginations through the reproduction of hellish landscapes and nightmarish characters and occurrences; it has also been used, though, to address societal concerns and criticize authoritarian and power relations between citizens and the State. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth uses Gothic horror and escapism to demonstrate the monstrosities of fascism and underline the importance of revolt and resistance against State oppression, particularly through a young woman’s experience of totalitarianism. This chapter will be primarily concerned with Ophelia as a Gothic protagonist that becomes an agent of revolt against the Spanish fascist state of oppression, through the lens of Giorgio Agamben and Hannah Arendt. The young protagonist roams between Franco’s Spain and fantastic worlds, often interpreted through a fairy-tale psychoanalytic lens and political theory, with surroundings drawing disturbing parallels to a violent reality. I will examine how language and escapism are used by Del Toro as analytic tools to depict resistance against the law and societal pressure; I also aim to demonstrate how the young protagonist herself refuses to comply with the authoritarian regime and the attitudes expressed against her by the adult representatives of power.
