Question about Pan's Labyrinth

analysis
#1

I recently rewatched Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and reread the narrativefirst article analyzing it, but I got a bit stuck in trying to fully grasp the narrative structure. Could someone help clarify this?

I mean, it’s clear that the Overall Story revolves around Captain Vidal’s efforts to preserve his legacy, and Vidal serves as the Protagonist, while Ofelia is the the MC (and Antagonist?). It also makes sense that the Faun is the Influence Character.

But here’s where I got hung up: is Faun even an objective character in the narrative? I mean, the Faun doesn’t seem to either help or hinder Vidal’s goal at all.

Thinking more about the film, it feels like there are actually two OS throughlines, and that the second narrative (possibly just a subplot?) revolves around Ofelia’s three trials. This strand has its own Action Drivers and its own objective characters (the fairies, the Pale Man, etc.), and the Faun seems more a part of that structure than the main story about Vidal. (For example, the Faun seems more like a sort of Help–Temptation character to Ofelia during the three trials, whereas in Vidal’s story, the more traditional Guardian role is filled by the doctor, he heals Ofelia’s sick mother and secretly aids the rebels.)

So, is it possible for the Influence Character to be someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the Overall Story? Or am I misinterpreting something fundamental here?
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen an official Dramatica analysis of the movie, and I can’t find one anywhere online. Could someone more familiar with this story help me out?

#2

I haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth in years, so I can’t discuss that, but I believe that it’s theoretically ok for the stories in each throughline to have nothing to do with each other. It might make for odd viewing, but if you were to re-edit Finding Nemo so that all of Dory’s scenes were replaced with Vincent’s scenes from Collateral, you should still get why Marlin changes. Or why Max would change if you replaced Vincent with Dory.

Or take any four movies with the same storyform and pull one throughline from each. It should still work on some level because the message doesn’t come from the characters in the story but from their roles within it and the perspectives that each throughline presents.

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#3

The Influence Character should represent their Crucial Element in the OS, but other than that their role in the OS can be minor. In Pan’s Labyrinth it appears the IC Crucial (Pivotal) Element is Trust.

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#4

Okay, thanks! But then shouldn’t the Faun’s Trust element be causing some kind of inequity in the OS related to Vidal? Because again, I don’t really see the Faun having any real influence on that OS throughline.

On the other hand, this is interesting because, to me, during Ofelia’s trials, the Faun as an objective character seems to embody the Test function more than anything. I mean, isn’t his fundamental role all about testing whether the girl is worthy of returning as a princess to the underworld?

Thinking about it more, the Faun intersects with Vidal’s OS throughline in only one scene at the climax when he tries to convince Ofelia to allow her baby brother to be harmed to open the portal. That’s when he demands her “trust and obedience.”

Or maybe not, I don’t know… Perhaps the Faun simultaneously embodies Trust and Test in two separate threads? Maybe in the climax the Faun represents a corrupt, Trust-demanding authority figure within Vidal’s OS throughline, the one who threatens Vidal’s bloodline? (“Give me the baby, it’s just a little blood… you have my word!”) While in the fantasy thread, he’s like a trickster Tester?

Or maybe I’m just overthinking all of this again… :smiley:

Sorry, I’m not trying to overcomplicate things or nitpick. I just really want to understand how Dramatica applies to stories like this. (Of course, maybe the film just doesn’t follow Dramatica’s rules 100%,which is totally fine. It’s still a brilliant movie regardless.)