Guillermo Del Toro has retained a fascination with the fantasy genre dating back to his early childhood in Mexico City. Del Toro addressed his youth in an interview with USA Today: “I have been collecting fairy tales since I was a kid," he adds, "I have a couple of hundred volumes” (p. 04d). The environment that Del Toro grew up in, coupled with his innate fascination with fantasy and horror films during his teen years made the writing and directing of Pan’s Labyrinth come naturally to him. Del Toro draws upon his childhood experiences with fantasy and mirrors it perfectly with Spain’s real struggle to establish freedom from the fascist regime that dominated the 1944 post-civil war. Growing up in Mexico, Del Toro was a first hand witness to the lightness as well as the darkness of humanity. His knowledge of the factual history of Spain’s civil war, and his experiences growing up in an unstable Mexican capital make his interpretation of the political unrest in Pan’s Labyrinth seem very tangible.

Wloszczyna, Susan. "Suprises Lurk Inside 'Pan's Labyrinth'." USA Today 3 Jan. 2007. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Oklahoma State University Library.12 Mar. 2008.

Ofelia, the central protagonist of the film, is a pre-pubescent tween, struggling not only to establish herself as a woman but also to find an escape from her militant stepfather. The film depicts her at an age when not only her body is changing, but her world is changing as well. She loses her childlike innocence as a result of the shocking brutality of the Captain and attempts to take refuge in the Labyrinth. “Choosing to explore a land of fantasy seems the most logical escape for Ofelia. Once she enters the labyrinth, she is faced with the entreaties of the mysterious faun. Everywhere she looks, she is trapped -- by the war, by her sadistic stepfather and by magical creatures who seek to control her” Del Toro comments (p. 04d). Ofelia is trapped by her uncontrollable situation and turns to the one thing that is a constant in her young life, her love of fairy tales. Her age, the changing of her body, and the shifting reality that her monstrous stepfather has placed around her allows the escape she makes to the Labyrinth believable and understandable.

Puig, Claudia. “’Labyrinth’ has magic in every corner.” USA Today 5 Jan. 2007. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Oklahoma State University Library. 12 March. 2008.

Del Toro creates a setting in Pan’s Labyrinth that seamlessly blurs the lines of what is real and surreal. He is able to achieve a believable film through his use of shockingly real wartime violence, mixed with the innocence that only a young girl can bring to a story. The undertone of the film and the fairy tale within it is very stern and serious. Del Toro reveals, "It's not exactly sanitized, Disney-esque imagery. It's a very bleak, harsh world. The creatures aren't really nice to her" (p. 04d). The entire film maintains believability because of Del Toro’s use of the harshness of reality. The magical creatures are not atypical of most children’s stories and her three tasks each involve serious risks and challenges. This provides Pan’s Labyrinth with a believable magical story line. Our young heroine must face the veracity of her situation and Del Toro portrays her struggle to escape the dire situation perfectly. The harshness and despair in the story combined with the innocence of Ofelia and her attempted removal from reality allow both fact and fiction to coincide flawlessly.

Wloszczyna, Susan. “In director's fantastical world, violence has reason for being.” USA Today. 3 Jan. 2007. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Oklahoma State University Library. 12 Mar. 2008.