The Microcosm Of The Real World Exposed In Pan's Labyrinth

Reimagined worlds have the power to provoke reevaluations of our own reality, and by blurring mimetic parts of our own world with non-mimetic aspects of the fantastical, authors can use the fictional form to challenge problems within society and call for change. In Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Guillermo del Toro utilises the nested world of the Labyrinth to critique the fascism and oppression in post-civil war Spain, using the interplay between harsh reality and fantasy as a tool to counter and challenge aspects of society in the mimetic. In Lord of the Flies (1954), William Golding employs the microcosm of the island to reflect on broader human behaviours and societal structures. Similarly, in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poems Khubla Khan (1816)

This mirrors Neil Gaiman’s argument that escapism is more than an escape, rather a chance to explore new horizons and reality, provoking a reevaluation of our own reality, and offering provocative insights into our world and humanity. The paranormal and fantastical chaos in the Labyrinth serves to backlight and ultimately confront human nature, challenging traditional fairytale and mythical archetypes around the ‘monstrous’, highlighting fantasy and escapism as key to opposing contextual stereotypes within our own world. The parallel of camera angles and colour in the Pale Man’s lair and Vidal’s dinner party blurs the boundaries between the ‘monster’ and the ‘man,’ subverting the audiences expectations and challenging the spontaneity of violence in our own reality, encouraging viewers to question authoritarianism and the nature of reality itself, revealing how fantasy can uncover deeper truths about human nature and resistance rather than just being a tool for escapism. Del Toro’s characterisation of the Pale Man disrupts contextual boundaries surrounding the monster, revealing the fantastical ‘monster’ to be lesser evil than the ‘man', due to the presence of rules and

By integrating elements of the mystical and fantastical with the mundane and natural world, Coleridge creates a heightened reality that explores the depth of the human psyche and imagination, echoing Gaiman’s argument that escapist fiction can provide you with knowledge about the world around you, challenging Enlightenment thinking and offering new, romantic ideas. By contrasting the exotic paradise initiated by the figure of Kubla Khan with the poet’s personal ideals, Coleridge explores the power of imagination by joining the two separate worlds in the ‘pleasure-dome’, highlighting the interconnectedness of reality and imagination and inviting readers to question the unknown and the mystical aspects of existence. Mirroring Gaimen’s argument, Coleridge delves past the mimetic in Kubla Khan, utilising ‘dream-like’ qualities and the unconscious mind to explore the power of non-mimetic elements to go past mere escapism, instead offering alternative realities and heightened mystical experiences that encourage provocative insights into our world and humanity. Furthermore, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge continues to blur the line between reality and imagination through the use of supernatural elements and vivid, dream-like imagery. The