In any form of storytelling, be it literature, film, theatre, there is said to be a 3 act structure at its core, the beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order. To look at this concept further I have chosen to look at the film Pans Labyrinth, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, to see how the 3 Act Structure exists with in it. Key to a true 3-act structure is the protagonist, this is the main entity we are following, this could be anything, but here it is a young girl named Ofilia. Through the scenes of the first act the main themes of the film are established, the idea of fantasy, of war and of personal and socio-political struggles, which create the internal story of the world of magic and the secret kingdom, and the external stories, of her mother’s pregnancy and illness, and the guerilla war being fought against the Fascist Franco regime.
The end of act 1 and the start of act two is when she is visited by a fairy which leads here through the labyrinth to meet a faun who reveals the secret kingdom of which she belongs to, and presents here with a choice to make. It is by accepting his offer to attempt to return to her place in the kingdom, which leads to the main action of the film: acts 2 and 3. Throughout act 2 the protagonist goes through a journey, this often makes up the longest part of the overall time.
Act 3 is culmination of all the events that have occurred, where the equilibrium had been disturbed at the end of the first act, it is through this section that it is restored and the story resolves. In pans labyrinth this is when she attempts to complete her final task and sacrifices her self to save her brother, and the rebels successfully attack the troops and kill the Captain. As is common in a Three Act Structure, after the crisis is resolved things are altered, the setting has changed and the protagonist is not the same as at the start, here Ofilia in the real world has died but she has also returned to her place in the kingdom.
When designing a character there are a number of factors to think about that will affect the strength and quality of them. From Pans Labyrinth I looked at the primary antagonist Captain Vidal, he was described by the actor who played him, as ‘is the most evil character I've ever played in my career’. We predominantly only see him in full uniform, a symbol of his authority and control over everything, a symbol effectively used, as the times when he has removed parts of it are also times of weakness like at the end of the film when like his uniform he has lost control. From his first introduction we see the true evil and unrelenting heartlessness when he violently grabs Ofillia’s hand. This violence only escalates through his actions in the film with torture of weaker characters and the murder of the protagonist, a child. What further strengthens his ‘evil’ character is his response to his acts of violence, he is cold, completely unaffected by them, at no point in the film does he show any remorse or show any ounce of humanity (a successful metaphor for the fascism he represents). This is supported by his dialogue with other characters never do we here word of joy and happiness, other then perhaps a sense of achievement after successful military actions.
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