Pan's Labyrinth

Hey Folks - Real world horror and fantasy – the Spanish Civil War and a fantasy world; fairy tales as a way to understand our difficult reality.

The reality: resisting fascists in 1944, the year I was born, and the failure of the allies to do what was morally required and the gruesome consequences of that.

The fantasy: ugly insect “fairies” in an ugly underworld.

Interesting thoughts on the nature of fantasy as being really no different from religion or politics in the sense that all are “conceits” rather than concrete realities – or that ALL are equally realities, in a non-objective, “spiritual” sense.

“The entire world we live in is fabricated. . . these imagined conceits [that we call “real”] can create such horrors.”

“Monsters were created by mankind to explain the universe around them and when we became civilized, the universe within us.”

"Horror and fantasy saved my brain from this torment [caused by early religious teaching]"

Yes, Folks, this crazy world - the largest part of it - is just a "conceit," a creation of our mind in order to tame the anarchic universe in which we live.

Give a listen to a Fresh Air interview with the creator of "Pan's Labyrinth"!!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10266161

And watch the movie, too!!

- Uke Man