tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191175516095233957.post8666144504513248944..comments2008-02-26T21:08:31.104-08:00Comments on Acid-Free Paper: Pan's LabyrinthToilerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08953413585016766709noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191175516095233957.post-8088700901882512012007-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:002007-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:00"All stories do not have fairy tale endings."They ..."All stories do not have fairy tale endings."<BR/><BR/>They do if you believe in fairy tales, which Guillermo does. He's a Christian. He believes that the "believer's" soul sprouts wings and flies away of its own accord once the useless body takes a bullet through the forehead. <BR/><BR/>This is, of course, primacy of consciousness. Guillermo holds that the body may rot and burn in "this life", but in some sort of fairy-tale world of his imagination (what the less creative types would call an "afterlife"), the soul will fly away to dwell forever with the fairy people. What a blessed escape from suffering -- but only after you're dead, of course.<BR/><BR/>Yes, Ophelia does eventually get to be with the fairy people, but importantly NOT IN THIS LIFE! She's dead.<BR/><BR/>The true believer in fantasy -- meaning, the Christian -- is stuck between a rock and a hard place. His highly idealized vision of a utopian afterlife leaves him at odds with this world, to put it gently. He can't escape the fact that this life is at best doleful, occasionally painful, and sometimes even wretched and putrid compared to what his imagination conjures up for the future. This physical life, then, separates the true believer in fantasy from bliss — which means the end of striving — and leaves him all the while bound up in a body that's tainted with the knowledge of good and evil, which means: the sin of choice. <BR/><BR/>You write: "These beliefs are powerful because they give us hope, keeping us going. And although these beliefs may be untrue or childish that is not their purpose." <BR/><BR/>This is sad. I not only don't agree with this idea in principle, but I don't live by it nor ever wish to. I'm quite content living in the bite between cause and effect, between choice and consequence. I do not wait for some kind of "end" to "trials and tribulations", as you put it, betraying your own disillusionment with this life, but rather, I treat circumstances, whether difficult or otherwise, as opportunities to tip the scales in my life toward wellness and prosperity, within the context of my available choices, of course. And because as Aristotle observed, A is A, my success in this realm -- again, within the context of chance and circumstance -- has always been and will always be directly proportional to my commitment to honesty, integrity, and reason -- in short, to reality.<BR/><BR/>Happiness is contextual; it refers to the state of mind that comes from a man making the most of his life. It is not utopian; it is realistic. In that sense, speaking only metaphorically, fairy-tale endings are indeed possible in this life -- but they are never guaranteed.Toilerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08953413585016766709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3191175516095233957.post-86014032521649632022007-07-30T12:23:00.000-07:002007-07-30T12:23:00.000-07:00After watching the film, I can see your points. I...After watching the film, I can see your points. I am mixed about the ending. I am not certain how I should feel.<BR/><BR/>Could the ending be considered trickery? I don't believe so. The ending fits; leaving us unsettled. We all want to feel that at the end of all our trials and tribulations, our hopes are realized; they become reality.<BR/><BR/>This is not reality. All stories do not have fairy tale endings. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps what Del Torro was trying to convey was that we all have our beliefs. These beliefs are powerful because they give us hope, keeping us going. And although these beliefs may be untrue or childish that is not their purpose.<BR/><BR/>And in the end, through it all, what matters most is that you lived your life according to your beliefs. Your reward is your own destiny.<BR/><BR/>That is a hard truth to contemplate.altacushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12442162717447855610noreply@blogger.com