Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth is possibly one of the best movie that has ever been filmed because it shows a lot of reality such as color symbol, family issues and disobedience in a screwed up fairy tale story. It shows that even grown-ups have a child spot deep inside their hearts. It also shows that sometimes when we want to live in our fantasy world, we would still have connections with reality.

The color effects in the movie popped up often. During unpleasant scenes, the colors would be very dark and gloomy to add to the suspense of the mood. The dark colors tend to focus on the Captain because he was cruel! When Ofelia entered the underworld, the colors turned from gloomy to bright and colorful which shows different mood.

Pan’s Labyrinth shows that no matter what; it is very often that many families have their own issues. Ofelia seems to be a happy child who wants to live her life to the fullest and to appreciate everything she sees. Even though she was a princess, she still has issues with her family, especially when her mother decided that Ofelia move in with the General. A child should never live its life without a mother! Ofelia had no choice but to move in with the General so he would save the baby growing inside her mother’s belly.

Del Toro, the director included a lot of disobedience to show the viewers that it is okay to disobey either somebody or something, if it is something that a person feels strongly about. In the movie, Ofelia could have been the best daughter by listening to her mother and not explore things. Only if she had done that, she would never realize she is a princess.

Del Toro also displayed his disobedience while he was making the movie. The ending is not a happy ending like many fairy tales' endings. He ended the movie with Ofelia dying to emphasize that we do not always get everything we want. Even though Ofelia died, but because she died doing something she felt was right, her soul did not die.

In my opinion, there is no escape from reality, no matter how much we try to believe that there is an escape. Reality will always be part of us; Del Toro showed that in his movie, Pan's Labyrinth. I believe we would be free from reality when we draw our last breath. There is no way to verify that kind of statement until we die.

Purdue OWL website

I have heard about Purdue OWL website, I used the website to cite my work in APA format before it was mentioned in class on October 9th. I did not realize how much information the website provided for the students. There is a long list of guides that we could use to improve our writing. If we take the tools from Dr. Wood and the helpful guides from the OWL website, our writing could blow many people’s minds off.

Throughout the discussion in class, I came to a point of realization that my writing could improve with the helpful tips from the OWL website. They suggested that our conclusion should have a rebuttal in the essay therefore the writers need to show their knowledge and opinion to make their argument into a good rebuttal. Also, on the power point, it shows how we should support something we state thus when people read, they will understand the essay as a whole, rather than having the essay stand alone.

Based on the feedback I got on my writing, I now know my weak area. I could tutor myself with the website given to us. I could look up different links on the OWL page and find the site that I need to work on and learn how to do it properly by following it. I found a page called Strategies for Variation on OWL website, it shows different methods of creating sentences in a new paragraph. It is one of my weak areas and one that I need to work on.

In my opinion, this type of website would benefit deaf students because based on the hearing norms, we are delayed in reading and writing. In ASL, we can express a lot of words and ideas in signing but when we have to convert it into our second language, English; it becomes very difficult. Our thoughts are dropped down because most of us do not have the skill to convert from one language to another. Thus, Gallaudet students who are struggling with writing should contribute more practice time to improve their writing skills. Purdue OWL website could provide such help for us.

Schools overall has many English teachers ready to teach the foundation of reading and writing although not every student understand every teacher’s teaching style. Today in this world, most of new things are learned through technology thus Purdue OWL website is a good place to start for the students who are struggling in writing. It is also open twenty-four hours over seven days a week, fully accessible to the night owls when the teachers are not available to help. Purdue OWL website is there for every kid to help them improve their writing.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/03/

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth movie directed by Del Toro is one of the strangest movies I have watched. It is similar to a fairy tale yet so different. During the movie, I have caught a lot of points that Del Toro was trying to imply. Del Toro mentioned that the movie almost killed him. I could see why.
He included a lot of religion issue in the movie that could upset religious people. Del Toro included fascism system, which is very unpleasant to watch. He used colors to match the mood of the movie.
The first thing I noticed that this movie could be another fairy tale because in the beginning, it mentioned that the king was looking for its princess. However, the scene was not pleasant. It was one of Del Toro’s styles to show disobedience. It had fairies, of course, a fairy tale movie cannot be without fairies but the ones in the Pan’s Labyrinth did not have nice colorful looking fairies.
Another thing, I noticed that Ofelia, the main character, could see the fawn, but not the General. It is common for most fairy tales to show that if you believe in something, you will be able to see it. However if you refuse to believe, then you would not be able to witness it.
I am into realistic movie therefore I am not a fan of imaginary movie. The creativity that Del Toro included was a gigantic frog that tried to eat Ofelia, a root that looked like an unborn baby, and a person that had to view the world through eyes in his palms. I have to admit, regardless of the extreme creativity in the movie; it is still a good movie. Del Toro obviously used a lot of his imaginary, it was really creepy to watch the movie and think about the things that he thought of. Such as, the way the creatures looked, and how the General killed people. Especially, how he came up with the plot of the story.
This was my first time to analyze a movie, as I analyze it, I found it more interesting on what the director is trying to imply. I also noticed that when we watch movies, we might miss out the small details that might be the key point of what the hidden purpose is all about. I enjoyed watching and analyze Pan’s Labyrinth even though it is not my type of movie.