Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

50
Fantasy and Myth in Pan’s Labyrinth
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dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Analysing these two central characters from a
psychological perspective allows me to explain the ‘Cronus complex’ within the
symbolism present in the story.
Before the analysis it is necessary to briefly summarize the story of Cronus and
its psychological significance. In Greek mythology, Cronus, a Titan, was one of the
dozen monstrous children born to Uranus (father-heaven) and Gaia (mother-earth).
Both Uranus and Gaia originated from the chaotic origin of things and their
children inherited the fury of this genesis. The Titans were enormous in size and
strength. Because his children were monsters, Uranus feared them and hid them in
the body of his wife, Gaia, as soon as they were born. In a rebellious act, Gaia
released her children and asked them to take revenge on their father. But only
Cronus, the youngest, responded to his mother’s cry for help by castrating his
father with a sickle and marrying his sister Rhea. As an oracle prophesied that a
son of this union would overthrow him and Cronus became afraid of losing power
and control, he swallowed his children as soon as they were born, regardless of
their gender. These children were the Olympians. However, Rhea hid her youngest
son, Zeus who grew up and defeated his father.
Carl Jung studied the role that myth and archetypes play in the plurality of the
psyche. According to Jung, an archetype is a pre-existent or latent pattern of being
and behaving, and these patterns are contained in a collective, universal
unconscious. Thus the Greek gods and goddesses are archetypal figures because
they represent the fundamental structure of a man or a woman’s psyche. In a 1984
clinical psychology article, the ‘Cronus Complex,’ is described not as a murderous
tendency per se, since Cronus did not just intend to get rid of his offspring, but as a
‘destructive ingestive process which hinders the [child’s] capacity to exist
separately and autonomously from the parent.’ 1 In consuming his child, Cronus
aims to make him part of himself, to continue living through him. Jungian Analyst,
Jean Shinoda Bolen points out that, since ancient times, the ‘Cronus complex’ is a
tendency through which male oriented cultures have maintained power. This is
historically evident in systems such as fascism, one of the most radical mutations
of patriarchy. 2
The action in Pan’s Labyrinth takes place in just such context, 1944 Spain. The
Spanish civil war ended in 1939 with the defeat of the second democratic republic
and Francisco Franco taking power as dictator. The post-war period was marked by
escalating violence and repression from the Francoist regime, as well as by
resistance from antifascist guerrillas who hid in the mountains and were aided by
village sympathizers. Fascism is represented in the film by Vidal, Ofelia’s
stepfather, a vicious captain in Franco’s Civil Guard based at a rural military post.
He is in charge of eliminating the guerrillas resisting in the mountains. Ofelia is an
orphan whose father died in obscure circumstances during the Spanish Civil War.
Carmen, her mother, remarried Vidal who controls her. She is constantly sedated
and confined to her bedroom during the last weeks of her pregnancy with Vidal’s