Just a quick shout out on one of my favorite poems. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe was first published with his name attributed to it on this day in 1845. Very haunting and very Gothic. Anyway, if you’d like to read it, go here. If reading isn’t your thing, you can find a recording on Librivox here. If you want to see a video of Vincent Price reading The Raven, go down to the bottom of the wikipedia page on the poem and you’ll find it under external links/video. He does a dramatic reading of the poem, not literal, but hey it’s Vincent Price! And if you want to see the best adaptation of The Raven ever, go here for The Simpson’s Halloween special version. So, if you like really depressing, gothic poems, enjoy!!
Pan’s Labyrinth is simply a stunning film, both visually and thematically. I liked it the second time around more than the first. Opening with the story of the princess of the “Underground Realm” where there are “no lies or pain,” who dreamt of outer world and escaped to there, the film traces the story of that lost Ofelia, who has no idea her true identity. But you can see she’s called to the world of Faerie early on. Arriving at her new house, she runs straight for the woods. Given a bath and a pretty dress for a dinner party, she ruins them both in one of her magical quests. The best “surprise” she could receive is not a dress, in fact, but books.
Fans of Potter and other fantasy works will have lots of of connecting points to Pan’s Labyrinth. There are common features, like the woods, three magical tasks to accomplish, magical mandrake remedies to maladies, and a blank book with magically-appearing ink. It has a Narnia-like beginning, with the threat of war (WWII) in the background, and the young girl moving to a new house. Unlike Narnia, she moves from one war zone to another, and her own battles must be fought around the portal to the Underground Realm while WWII continues around her. [click to continue…]
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