Malevolent Fathers and Rebellious Daughters: National Oedipal Narratives and Political Erasures in El laberinto del fauno (2006)

Abstract

El laberinto del fauno (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) offers a vision of post-Civil War Spain halfway between history and myth. The film denounces Francoist violence from the perspective of gender division, presenting victimized or rebellious women and men who represent extremely violent versions of patriarchy. However, in spite of its condemnation of dictatorial power, the film appears to be trapped in a paradox. Although it shows the public and private victimization of women, its denouement presents female sacrifice as necessary for the survival both of democratic ideals as well as of male offspring. Guillermo del Toro's own position is strangely similar to the little boy who survives at the end of the film, who will be able to explain his experience of the Francoist regime from exile. Del Toro is also an exile from Mexico, and, therefore, familiar with the narratives of violence told by the Spanish republicans who escaped to his country. His voice, masculine and peripheral, seems to be the only one capable of explaining this history of female sacrifice.