Research Catalogue

Pan’s LabyrinthPan’s labyrinth is the epitome of films in an alternative reality and also the epitome of a fantasy. It is a key primary text for my area of research. It is useful because it displays all the conventions, iconography and ideas behind a film in an alternate reality. It makes the audience question whether or not the world Ofelia is living in is real or not. Pan’s labyrinth makes a clear distinction between the real world and an alternate one, but it does so in a way that we can believe that the alternate world can be real. One way in which is does this is by the use of believable characters, i.e. the evil villain in the film is actually in the real world.

Donnie DarkoDonnie Darko shares many characteristics that are similar to Pan’s Labyrinth. Like Pan’s it displays many useful characteristics and conventional ideas. However, it not display the fantastical elements that Pan’s does. This is because Donnie Darko is set in the real world and a world very similar to the real one. This makes it harder to recognise the difference between worlds.

Interview with Guillermo Del Toro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD4kspP5hRsIn this interview Del Toro talks about his lucid dreaming and how that was key to Pan’s Labyrinth. However when watching pans labyrinth, it is not clear that lucid dreaming is the reason behind the world Ofelia seems to be living in. It could perhaps be visions or hallucinations, or perhaps not even imaginary of any sort. This shows that the director’s intention is not always put across to the audience and explanations are not black and white. This therefore means that the film is open to interpretation.

Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema:

Resonance Between Realmshttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aIB9OP6t174C&dq=donnie+darko+script&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JGp0VJ-sLMjkapPsgKAB&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAAThis book analyses imagined world’s in cinema and looks at genre, history and construction and development across periods. The book also looks at The Wizard Of Oz, which is remarkably similar to Pan’s Labyrinth.

Dream Interpretationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_interpretationDream interpretation is a concept whereby meaning is assigned to dreams. This is useful to my research because psychological explanations can give a reason to why these worlds are being created. Psychological illness is touched upon in Donnie Darko, we know Donnie is suffering from schizophrenia and is taking various treatments. Psychological reasons could also maybe give a reason to why Ofelia puts herself in an alternate world.

Donnie Darko Scripthttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jumhNWN8BxUC&dq=donnie+darko+script&source=gbs_navlinks_sThis book by the writer and director of Donnie

Darko, Richard Kelly, will give me an insight into the film. It will help me understand Kelly’s intention or intentions in regards to how the film makes the audience think in terms of the alternative reality aspects of his film.

Interview With Richard Kelly

http://movies.about.com/cs/donniedarko/a/donniedarkork.htm“I think that the image of Frank that you see prior to

that is a different entity altogether, right?”This quote shows that even Kelly doesn’t really

know if Frank is real or not. Even the writer of the film cannot tell the difference between the real world and the world he created. The way he asks a question also suggests that he wants the film to be open to interpretation.

This source overall is useful as Kelly never gives a black and white explanation as to what happened, leaving me room to analyse his work.