Cold Open Pan's labyrinth is a masterpiece.
This movie defined a lot of my taste in fiction, and tinged it all with a lovely darkness.
I could probably spend hours talking about the themes and thoughts in this movie, but
there's one sequence in particular that's always... stuck in my mind.
Perhaps the most unnerving part of the entire film.
This... is The Pale Man.
The child-eating albino demon who guards one of the keys to the underworld.
And I want to know... what about this is so compelling?
It's not the biggest question this tale has to offer, but it's certainly one of the more
interesting bits.
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thanks to the streaming service Shudder, the Netflix of Horror!
Body Whether or not you've seen the movie, The
Pale Man makes a striking impression.
It's a visual simultaneously very fresh, and... oddly... familiar.
Sort of dissonant.
He looks like an old, deflated man-as if he were once positively corpulent, but has since
wasted away to literal skin and bone.
Apparently this look was inspired by a bout of rapid weight loss Guillermo Del Toro once
experienced, but it works very nicely with the rest of the design.
The pointed fingertips, blackened as if stained with old blood; the bare, eyeless, lipless,
noseless face, orifices more like holes drilled into a flesh mask; and of course, the most
important feature of all: his bizarre and terrifying eyes, which he keeps on a small
dish and inserts into the palms of his hands when it comes time to feed.
Together, all of this paints a picture of simultaneous hunger and restraint; blind aloofness
in the heart of luxury, until a suitable victim comes along.
And then... a ravenous, consuming appetite.
You could say without making too egregious a pun that all he has eyes for... is his prey.
That prey, of course, being... small children.
If you look closely, the hands without the eyes sort of resemble the stigmata of Christ-a
symbol drawn from the crucifixion.
The slits are similar to the wounds left by the nails used to secure Jesus to the cross.
This is not a coincidence.
In an interview, Del Toro said that: "The Pale Man represents the church for me.
(...) He represents fascism and the church eating the children when they have a perversely
abundant banquet in front of them.
There is almost a hunger to eat innocence.
A hunger to eat purity."
But notice that he mentioned fascism as well.
There's something more to this, which he explained in a short tweet in 2017: "The Pale Man represents
all institutional evil feeding on the helpless.
It's not accidental that he is a) Pale and b) A man.
He is thriving now.
(...) These are Pale Man times."
An incarnation of "all institutional evil", designed after the institutions the author
sees evil within.
I love the intentionality behind these decisions.
They make the whole thing feel cohesive and meaningful.
And even better, if you sheer away context and just look at The Pale Man in the vacuum
of the story, he means the same thing.
He's not just an allegory.
The danger he poses is never hidden.
The Pale Man's lair is littered with depictions of children being eaten and piles of childrens'
shoes.
The monster sits in the patriarch's seat at the head of the table, waiting.
A banquet is lain out, but he has no interest.
It's only there as a trap for unwitting victims.
Once lured in, like so many flies caught in a web, they're swallowed up.
Pan's Labyrinth is about this kind of disobedience.
Throughout the movie, we're shown what the rules are, and what happens when we break
them.
And... it's scary.
The fear the Pale Man evokes is foundational to the theme of the story.
We'll probably have to make a larger video about it someday, but I think it's amazing
that Del Toro was able to instill so much significance into a single sequence-a single
character.
The Pale Man is so much more than a scary monster.
It is a microcosm for the tale it inhabits: the story of institutional evil, the rules
it creates to abuse and control, and the insurmountable need to break them, even when we know the
danger.
It's only a small bit of the larger tale, but I find so much inspiration in the Pale
Man.
When I need to create monsters for my own work, I often think back to this as an example
of how to elevate them from something spooky to something that matters.
And now... maybe you will too!
Ad Spot Segue
Of course, Pan's labyrinth isn't the only place you'll find meaningful monsters.
There's actually an entire world teeming with them, and it's only a few clicks away.
The streaming service Shudder your gateway there.
Copy I was shocked the first time I tried Shudder.
It felt like someone had carved out a special dark place for me and put everything horror
into it.
And I do mean everything.
From exclusive original titles like the bizarre and tantalizing Room, to classics like Halloween,
I felt like everything that had ever spooked me was within arm's reach.
Which... is a surprisingly good feeling.
Even better, they add new titles every week, which means I never stop finding new things
to haunt me.
My most recent discovery is a movie much like Pan's Labyrinth called Tigers Are Not Afraid,
which is a dark modern fairytale about children whose lives are ravaged by drug wars... and
how some wishes... come true.
I cannot recommend it enough.
To get started streaming the best horror, thriller, and supernatural content, like The
Color Out of Space, Host, The Mortuary Collections, all the best horror documentaries, and the
hit Creepshow TV series Greg Nicotero, the director of walking dead, sign up for a free
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Visit Shudder.com/TaleFoundry and use the promo code "talefoundry" to unlock your first
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That's S-H-U-D-D-E-R.com/talefoundry, promo code, "talefoundry".
Once your trial is over, Shudder is only $5.99 a month, or $56.99 a year!
Go use our promo code to delve into the darkness.
I'll see you there.
Patreon Spot Before we wrap up, I'd like to give a quick
thanks to all the helpful humans who support the show on Patreon.
All those words you see scrolling in the background of these videos?
Those are actually the names of our Patreon maintenance crew, without whom this show would
be impossible.
And a special word to all of our top patrons: Lord_Gatte, RPGgrenade and TheAutumnWriter
- thank you so much!
Outro And... that's it for this video!
There's usually a few weeks between uploads, so if you want more Tale foundry in the mean-time,
come join our community!
We have a discord server that's basically like a big family of creatives-a lot of love,
there.
We also run writing groups on Twitch every week, if you want to get some practice in!
You can find links to all of it in the description.
Hope to see you there!
Until then, thanks for watching, and keep making stuff up!
I'll see you...
next time.
Bye!