Technological – City of God is well known for it’s experimental editing – including montages, still frames, flashbacks, change of colour grading and text overlays.

Historical – The film is based on a 1997 novel of the same name by Paulo Lins, which detailed the true events of life inside the favelas. The likes of Rocket, Lil Ze and Knockout Ned were all real people who experienced what spectators saw on screen.

Social – 20 percent of Brazil’s population live in complete poverty, which is roughly 32 million people. Therefore it was important for City of God to accurately represent such a large amount of people.

Political – In 2002, when City of God was produced, President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva led the first left-wing Brazilian Government in over 40 years.

Institutional – Several production companies, mainly Brazilian ones such as TV Globo and O2 Filmes, were involved with the making of City of God. Internationally, it was distributed by Miramax, a successful company known for releasing international and independent films.

• Gold colour palette for fantasy/Ofelia
• Shadowy blue for Faun/labyrinth

During the King toad scene, the camera wipes between Ofelia’s and Captain Vidal’s story, creating binary opposition between the two.

One form of opposition is how Vidal is in the wide-open woods, whereas Ofelia is in the cramped dark space. She is represented with a high angle shot showing her confidence has grown.

Ofelia is represented in this Alice in Wonderland dress which she then abandons before going into the tree. This shows how she challenges the typical female stereotype, as she gets dirty.  Vidal is in this neat, sharp suit upon a horse keeping it clean, showing he is in control over everyone, however, it also shows his cowardness almost. The smaller space that Ofelia is in shows how her world is a lot smaller, her fantasy world is one of her own, whereas Vidal is in a much bigger more open space

How is gender represented in Pan’s Labyrinth? 

• Gold palate featured in fantasy world/Ofelia scenes 
• Mise en scene shows how Ofelia uses fantasy world as escapism 
• Technical elements such as lighting and camera angle used to contrast Dr and Captain 
• Eyes are recurring motif as captain often hides his eyes 

Analysis of toad scene 

In the King toad scene, the gender representation can be shown through costume and other elements. In the scene, Ofelia approaches the tree and realizes her new dress is going to get ruined, which I think Ofelia wouldn’t mind, however she cares about her mother and how she made the dress for her. Ofelia taking the dress off to go into the muddy tree showcases her caring nature, rather than her thoughts on the dress since she doesn’t care for looks which challenges the stereotypes of girls being neat and tidy, and caring for their appearances instead of becoming more daring and being adventurous, like Ofelia has become.  

Gender is represented in the Toad King quest through the low angle shots as Ofelia travels through the inside of the small and claustrophobic tree, showing her character becoming bold and fearless, whereas diegetic wipes take the film back to Vidal and his men unsuccessfully searching the woods for the rebels. This challenges the patriarchal society presented to spectators throughout the events of the film. Costumes also provide gender representation as Ofelia gets muddy and dirty whereas Vidal remains tidy and avoids any ‘hard work’ while searching. Ofelia’s outfit could be an intertextual reference to Alice in Wonderland – also about a girl embarking on a quest in a fantastical reality.  

How is gender represented in Pans Labyrinth?

• They use a lot of gold as a colour pallet when they were in a fantasy world.
• Shadowy colours when the Faun is on screen.
• Use of blue lighting when the scenes are sadder.

Analysis of the toad scene Ofelia wears a silk green dress; she wears this to show her gender and to show how woman had to dress all the time back in the 1940s, her taking of her house dress and getting all muddy is breaking the stereotype. the scene of Vidal chasing the rebels is significant because it is showing how committed he is to find these people and getting rid of them. The colour of this part is bright lighting because the scene does not really have any important emotion, however when the screen switches to Ofelia the lighting is a dark orange and gold colour, to show she is in her fantasy world and to show that she has a mood of being scared

In pan’s labyrinth a gold colour palate is mostly used for the fantasy world, while the real world uses much colder, darker colours, this reflects how oefila feels about the real world. 

In the beginning of this scene Ofelia is wearing a dress similar to that of allice from allice in wonderland, though she quickly removes it before entering the tree, and underneath she is wearing a more simpler, but more effective for her task, this reflects her character as someone who is not truly bothered by her appearance and is less vein then someone like Vidal who is vain and cares deeply about his appearance, this shows the viewer more of what Ofelia is like, and how she as a character is a binary opposition to Vidal. Once Ofelia has entered the tree we can see warmer colours, this is a common visual motif of the fantasy world, being that it is much warmer than the real world, as when Ofelia leaves the tree the lighting of the real world is much bluer and darker, as well as it is raining, this reflects how Ofelia feels about the real world. Compared to her fantasy world. While Ofelia is inside the tree all the shots are close and cramped bringing us closer to her, this reflects her world, as she is very restriced in what she can do 

Contexts:

Technological –

With the use of digital editing allowed the films editors such as Daniel Rezende experiment and try out new ideas. According to him, many of the interpretations of the characters came from the editing stage. through the improvisation of the actors he could edit all their scenes to uniquely craft their portrayal.

Historical –

Brazil was colonised by Portugal in the 16th century which resulted into a large genocide of the indigenous people. Portugal also largely imported slaves from Africa which made up a large part of funding their economy. After it was abolished, they had become locals much like the Portuguese colonizers. As a result this is what makes their multi-ethnic communities today as seen in the film. The film set in the 60s and 70s shows this through the vehicles and music seen and heard throughout the film.

Social –

Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, covers half the continent. Being the 5th largest country in the world in terms of land area and its population of 163.7 million. It is estimated that 20% of the population (32 Million) live in poverty. The disparity line between those living below the poverty line (who receive only 2% of the GDP) differences massively to the top 10% (who receive 50.6%) is greater than most other countries in the world. This is shown largely through the depiction of Rio de Janeiros slums, as known as favela’s in the City of God.

Political –

During the time of filming, Brazil was economically dependent and dominated by the USA in the 20th century, In 2002 the same year the film was made, an ex metal worker, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva was elected ,after his fourth attempt, to become president. From this point onwards he promised economic prosperity and led the first left-wing government to be in power for more than 40 years. In City of God, Brazils reliance on the USA in the 20th century can be seen with the use of American supplied helmets and weaponry, The helmets worn where left overs from the US’s current involvement in Vietnam in which the films setting is set around.

Institutional –

Financed by TV Globo, Brazil’s biggest TV Channel as well as some other companies like O2 Filmes. It was distributed by Miramax, the company founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstien in 1979, through them they supported in the films success with showing it internationally as an independent film.

Representation

Very few women appear in City of God, and those that do are treated badly and violently by men, primarily Lil Ze. Following Benny’s death, Angelica is forced by Lil Ze to leave the club, with him blaming it on her. Additionally, Knockout Ned’s girlfriend briefly appears, firstly where he turns down a dance with Lil Ze, and secondly where he confronts her and Ned, attacking the two and raping her.

Aesthetics

Tone – City of God’s third act is highly suspenseful, with tension being built as the gang war between Carrot and Lil Ze continues on. In fact, the war begins around 40 minutes before the end of the film, so a large amount of the runtime is spent leaving audiences questioning who will win. This is enhanced with the fast pacing of shots and editing giving the effect that so much is happening all at once to the people living in the city throughout the conflict.

Visual Style – City of God uses two main styles of colour grading. For the majority of the film, the appearance could be described as highly saturated with softer colours, whereas the colour grading becomes grittier and could be described as ‘kitchen-sink’ following the beginning of the gang war.

Realism – City of God is a social realist film, depicting the lives of those who experience several horrific things such as murder, drug abuse, rape, war, and poverty. The use of handheld shots reinforce the documentary style approach Fernando Meirelles took in order to make the world feel real and create a sense of verisimilitude.

Representation of Gender –

Men –

Men such as Lil Ze and carrot, are represented as being highly patriarchal and on occasions evil with their actions. Without the access to a proper education, which is proved by their inability to read, their immaturity can stem from this and the culture that surrounds them of gang culture within the neglected slums of the City of God. Men however are also represented as being rational and forced to become involved with the reaction to survive or get revenge such as with Rocket and Knock-out Ned.

Women –

Women in City of God are represented as being mainly as accessories to men, shown throughout the film as being love interests and not having much screen time compared to the male actors. In the film they are often the victims of violence at the hands of men such as the Women in act 1 who was beaten to death for cheating, the motel workers shot dead and Knockout Neds girlfriend who was sexually assaulted by Lil Ze.

Aesthetics –

Tone –

Tone in ‘City of God’ Distancing effect is used with Lil Dice’s reveal as a psychopath, who enjoys killing and is further added to by this from the use of a soundtrack and POV shots putting us in the place of his victims. This distances the viewer from the immersion to remind them they are watching a film because its seriousness of mass-killing over the span of his childhood and teens is played off as his characters rambunctious personality type which is further shown with the choice of music.

Visual Style –

Visual style in City of God can be seen with the use of colour grading. Colour grading is present in both the past and present aspects of the film, with the sandy slums of the tender trio having a brighter more warm tint to it to the much darker shaded scenes of the slums in the city of God. Perhaps used intentionally, the tone of the past with the tender trio represents a more stable time where only their gang ran the slums, it isn’t until when we get into the later parts of the film we can see how armies of gangs have formed.

Realism –

In City of God, we can see with the use of a hyperreality, how the aesthetic is set out within the film. Based on a true event, the film exaggerates the true story with large scale wars, subplots and more. How a hyper-reality can be said to used is with the use of a distorted reality of events, to make it presentable in film and immersive.