Irene Baena-Cuder

Ph.D. Candidate
School of Film, Television and Media Studies
University of East Anglia
Captain Vidal and the New Fascist Masculine Identity in Pan's Labyrinth
After the Spanish Civil war, Franco imposed a new Fascist Regime that supposed "the
fusion of Phalangist principles with Catholic doctrine" (Morcillo, 2008 p. 5). His main aim
was the "reconstruction of the fatherland" (quoted in Morcillo, 2008 p.3) and to create a
new Spain based on the R.Catholic morality. For this purpose, the regime constructed new
gender identities to both men and women. On one hand, it promoted an "ultraconservative
construction of "ideal" womanhood, perceived as the fundamental guarantor of social
stability" (Graham, 1995 p.182). The Phalanges Feminine Section was created in order to
shape a new generation of women as mothers and perfect wives. However, this paper
seeks to investigate the new fascist masculinity through its representation in the film Pan's
Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006) as the film presents an open critique to this new model of
manhood strongly militarised.
Pan's Labyrinth was released in Spain in October 2006 and it was the second film, after
Devil's Backbone (del Toro, 2001) included in a trilogy of films that the Mexican director
based on the Spanish Civil War. Unfortunately, the third film has not been made yet. The
film won 7 Goya awards, 3 BAFTA and 3 Oscars and it became the most successful
Spanish film at the USA box office.
In terms of genre, it has been reviewed as a gothic fairy tale and film scholars included it
both in the horror genre and in a subgenre of films based on the Spanish Civil war,
together with Devil's Backbone. Both films are included in the corpus of my thesis project,
which explores gender representation in contemporary Spanish horror film. In this sense,
Pan's Labyrinth offers a very good description of the new masculine identity and its relation
to women's new domestic and ultraconservative role, thanks to the persona of Captain
Vidal.
Pan's Labyrinth's storyline is constructed by two different narratives interlaced. On one
hand, Ofelia, a little girl is forced to move from her home town to a small village in the
mountains so her mother can give birth to a baby from a new marriage. The girl will find
shelter from the painful reality in a world of fantasy in which she is the protagonist. On the
other hand, the film explores Spanish post-war reality and the small focus of resistance

that the maquis (Anti-francoist guerrilla) presented to the new regime, which is represented
in the film by Captain Vidal. This paper focuses mainly on the second storyline, which
reproduces Spanish recent past and presents the conflict between "the two Spains"
(Antonio Machado, 1912). This part of the plot is told mainly through male characters who
embody different kinds of masculinity in a time of war. Moreover, the film takes place after
the Spanish Civil War therefore this is a story of victors and defeated and this has a
reflection in the masculinity depiction, which is displayed through the mens bodies. On
one hand, soldiers from the national side (now the victors) wear a clean, new uniform; they
have shaved clean faces and brushed hair; their body language is assertive and confident,
showing pride; they ride horses and they carry several kinds of weapons. On the other
hand, Republican soldiers (now the defeated side) wear old, dirty, torn uniforms. They are
dirty and injured and they run and hide in the mountains, trying to be invisible shadows. As
a result, Captain Vidal explains, referring to the Republican side: ellos piensan q somos
todos iguales pero se quivocan. Hay una gran diferencia: que la guerra termin y
ganamos nosotros y si para q nos enteremos todos hay q matar a esos hijos de puta,
pues los matamos y ya est, showing how little he cares about these men's lives because
they have been defeated and, more interestingly, othered.
Thus, the new masculine identity was constructed as the normative one, othering the
Republican ideal of manhood. This opposition between the new normative identity and the
other can be observed in the film by looking at the characters that embody them. Thus,
whereas the male characters from the national side are all white, fascist, wealthy, Spanish
and belong to powerful institutions such as the R.C. Church or the Army, among the
characters who represent the Republican side we find not Spanish personae (International
brigade), people with disability and a woman. As Sandra Blasco explains: Todos estos
valores del fascio exigan su anttesis, que se configuraban a partir del otro, de la
alteridad. () A grandes rasgos, son el judasmo, homosexualidad y feminidad las figuras
negativas por excelencia que permiten a la esttica fascista elaborar sus mitos positivos
de virilidad, salud e higiene, fsica y moral (all these fascist values demanded their
antithesis, that were constructed in opposition to the other, to the alterity () judaism,
homosexuality and femininity were the mainly negative aspects that would allow the fascist
discourse elaborate their ideals of virility, health and physical and moral hygiene) (Blasco
Lisa, 2013, p15).

Captain Vidal and the new masculine fascist identity

Pans Labyrinth offers an exhaustive description of the new normative fascist masculinity
through the character of Captain Vidal. He is a proud military captain. As Sandra Blasco
explains: "Tras la Primera Guerra Mundial, el soldado se convirti en el arquetipo
masculino por excelencia" (After World War I, soldier became the masculine archetype by
excellence) (Blasco Lisa, 2013 p.3). Thus, "soldiering was the ultimate example of true
manliness" (Vincent,1999 p.70). According to this same scholar, masculine attributes
encompassed not only courage, heroism, and a sense of adventure but also stoicism,
discipline, and an idealized sense of that camaraderie (Vincent, 2014.p.73). Captain Vidal
embodies all these attributes.
From the very beginning, he is portrayed as an extremely serious, strict, demanding,
selfish, proud man. The rest of the personae in the narrative help to explore new
characteristics from his identity. Consequently, his new wife, Ofelias mother, helps to
express how irrelevant is to him a womans life. As we see in the film, she is heavily
pregnant and she was told to travel to the mountains so he would see his son born and
have him near him. When the mothers life is threatened by the pregnancy, he tells the
doctor to safe his sons life as he does not care about the woman. According to the new
feminine identity, women are constructed as mothers and it is their duty to have children.
Moreover, in this particular case, Captain Vidal wants to have a son so his descendant line
is completed. As a result, the woman, constructed by the regime as a baby machine, has
completed her task and is no longer useful for the cause. Furthermore, this same
undervalued conception of woman is what starts the end of Captain Vidal and the triumph
of the resistence since he understimates the persona of Mercedes, his housekeeper. She
runs the house for the Captain, following his orders. He is very demanding and wants
everything done to perfection but he cannot take care of any domestic task as he is a man.
Mercedes has been identified as part of the Republican resistance since the beginning of
the film. Her role is a passive one as she does not fight the national soldiers directly.
Instead, she brings food, medicine and letters to the maquis. Moreover, Mercedes
expresses to her brother Pedro that she feels like a coward because she cooks for the
Captain and cleans his house and he is the enemy. When Vidal finds out that she is
helping the Republican soldiers, he prepares to torture her in order to get useful
information. Then, he tells his men to leave him alone with the prisoner and one of them
asks him are you sure, Captain? Vidal smiles and answers arrogantly: por el amor de

dios, no es ms q una mujer (For god's sake, it's just a woman!) and they both laugh.
However, when he is ready to torture Mercedes, she takes the knife she uses in the
kitchen and that she always carries with her and stabs Vidal. Instead of killing him, she
desfigures his face by cutting his cheek. His clean shaved face that was the image of the
proud, clean fascist is now ruined.

Vidal is a military man and, as we have seen, those two concepts are strongly related in
fascist masculinity. As a result, the Captain enjoys displaying his authority and he expects
to be obeyed. Thus, the rest of male characters are there to show his authority, since he
runs the place and the unit with a strong hand and military discipline since fascists
reformularon su masculinidad a travs de la condicin fsica, el nacionalismo acrrimo y
una abierta agresin militarista (constructed their masculinity through physicality, extreme
nationalism and an open military aggressiveness) (Blasco Lisa, 2013, p.3). In addition, as
mentioned above, Captain Vidal embodies the new normative fascist identity and thus, he
expects everyone else to obeey him without question, following a military hierarchy.
Nevertheless, Dr. Ferreiro decides to help die a prisioner and Vidal reproaches him for his
disobedience. Ferreiro looks at him and says:es que...obedecer por obedecer, asi sin
pensarlo, eso solo lo hace gente como usted, capitan (obbey just for the sake of it,
without questioning, that's something that only men like you do, captain). The doctor is
referring to this fascist male identity when he mentions men like you. In this sequence it
can be observed that Dr. Ferreiro has chosen to be another kind of man and this choice
has cost his life.
His victims among the villagers and the maquis are there in order to prove how merciless,
aggressive and heartless he is. He kills a father and a son for hunting rabbits to feed their
family and he enjoys torturing the prisoners. More importantly, he is depicted as a bad guy;
a real monster, which constitutes the films main anti-fascist element. What do you think of
me, Mercedes? You must think I'm a monster... he asks Mercedes, the housekeepeer,
aware of the image he projects. Later in the film, Mercedes refers to him as an animal,
when he threatens him if he hirts Ofelia and says no ser el primer cerdo que deguello
(you won't be the first pig I kill!) Furthermore, the persona has been reviewed as
lincarnation du mal () un des personnages les plus terrifiants jamais cr `a lcran
(evil incarnated () one of the most terrifying characters ever created on the screen)
(Dahan, 2006, p.7). The camerawork helps increase the feeling of authority by using low

angles that add power to the character. He has a very strong presence in the shots and
everyone seems to fear him, including the men at his service. As a result, Captain Vidal
has been constructed as a negative persona, which is why this film has been reviewed as
an anti-fascist one.

Finally, another element included in the fascist male identity and that is also very present
in the film is courage and the idea of a honorable death. According to mary Vincent, in
relation to what she calls the Francoist crusade, The deaths of the soldiers at the front
represented heroic resistance, courage in battle, and armed engagement with the enemy.
(...) This was a patriotic, military sacrifice as well as a religious one and it was thus
archetypically masculine. (Vincent, 2014 p.91). Since his father died a hero, he has to die
a hero as well. Moreover, he cannot show any fear or pain as braveness, stoicism and
strength are jey characteristics included in the male fascist identity. Consequently, in the
armed encounters with the maquis, he looks at his watch and he prepares himself to die
serving the fatherland. According to the Falangist paper, FE, death was 'an act of service,
neither more nor less'. Martyrdom was, in some cases, a 'school of suffering and sacrifice
(Vincent, 2014, p. 76). Moreover, he projects this feeling on his men when he yells at one
of them, in the middle of a shooting: Venga, Serrano, sin miedo, q esta es la nica forma
decente de morir! (Come on, Serrano, have no fear, for this is the only decent way to
die!). More importantly, he deprives of this glorius death to his victims, to whom he tortures
(maquis) or kill in cold blood, when disarmed (father and son hunting rabbits) or from the
back (Dr. Ferreiro). Their lives are nothing to Vidal as "National identity usually is
configured in opposition to the Other, which creates a dichotomy between us and them,
that is, between what is considered to belong legitimately to the nation and what is seen as
a foreign and threatening element" (Gonzlez-Allende, 2010 p.193), therefore Vidal is
protecting the fatherland from the republicans.

A tale of fathers and sons

It is not rare in war based narratives to find different depicitons of fatherhood and fatherson relationships. In some films, it works as a looking backwards to a glory past or the
people who made a better present possible; in others, is about leaving a better future to
the children, looking forward instead (Eberwein). All of them have something in common: a
sense of heroicity. Eberwein offers a possible explanation to this element in Amercian war
films, conceiving the father-son relation as an example of an ideological operation
supporting and valorizing conservative and patriarchal values. Moreover, according to this
scholar, these films based on WWII offer a tribute to an older genration, fathers or
grandfathers of today's men. However, the Spanish case is radically different as the films
based on Spanish Civil War are aimed to bring back to present a historical truth that has
been hidden or ignored for so long because of the traumatic past and, mainly, the Pacto
de Olvido (Pact of Oblivion). Breaking this pact has been the main goal of the Associations
for the Historical Memory in Spain. This film is framed in that context and consequently,
there is no nostalgia in the narrative, on the contrary, it depicts the cruelty and the injustice
of the Francoist regime, as a base of a strong anti-fascist narrative.
Thus, the father and son tale works to link Spanish military coup through three
generations. First of all, General Vidal, Captain Vidal's father, represents the military coup
d'tat that started the Spanish Civil war. He embodies the past, a gloorious past, according
mainly to his son and other characters in the film. He is introduced in the narrative by one
of the characters who attends a dinner party at Captain Vidal's house. He explains that he
kew him personally when both were serving in Moroco. Regarding his personality, the
character explains that he was un gran militar (a great militar) and that he smashed his
watch against the floor para q su hijo supiera cmo muere un valiente (so his son would
know how a brave man dies). From this brief description we know that the man established
a normative masculinity, based on military values, honor, and nationalism that he
trasmitted to his son. The honorable and heroic death is the zenith to the masculine
identity; to die like a hero, as "El culto a la muerte es comn a todos los fascismos, en
juego del lenguaje entre el vitalismo y la exaltacin. Las frases morir como un hombre o
la muerte del deber (The cult to death is a common element among fascisms, expressed
as a mixture between vitalism and exaltation. Expressions such as to die like a man or
death as duty(Mainer, J.C. Falange y literatura. Labor, Barcelona, 1971, quoted on

Blasco Lisa,2013 p.13). Captain Vidal is strongly influenced by this manhood ideal and he
carries the watch that his father left him with him all the time. He is obsessed both with the
watch which he checks it constantly, trying ot be as precise as it and with constantly
proving his masculinity. For example, when the persona is introduces for the first time, it is
a cut-in of his hand, holding the watch, showing it in detail. Then, he complains to his wife
that she and Ofelia are 15 minutes late when they first arrive, at the beginning of the film.
Thus, Captain Vidal is marked by this watch that offers a symbol of his father and heroic
virility. The present is represented by Captain Vidal, who states proudly that he is there,
fighting because he wants his on to be born in a new, better Spain. He tries very hard to
embody the ideal of virility and he enjoys the authority he has over the rest of the militars.
Moreover, he wants a son to make sure his continuity in this world. Even if he does not
know if his wife carries a boy or a girl, he assumes it is a boy. When the doctor suggests
the possibility of having a daughter, he responds arrogantly: don't fuck with me, doctor.
Moreover, the doctor questions his decision of making his wife travel all the way to where
he is in her delicate state. He has put her life in danger. Nevertheless he replies: un hijo
debe nacer donde quiera que este su padre (A son has to be born wherever his father is),
putting a harsh end to the conversation. All he cares about is having a male descendant.
This can be observed when the woman's life is seriously in danger and he tells the doctor:
Salve al nio. Ese nino llevar mi nombre y el nombre de mi padre. Svelo a l (save the
boy. That child will have my name, and my father's name. Save him!). The son represents
the next generation: the future. Captain Vidal explains how he wants his son to be born in
a new and clean Spain (Quiero que mi hijo nazca en una espaa limpia y nueva). The
three generations meet virtually when Captain Vidal is surrounded by the maquis with his
son trying to leave the labyrinth. He is aware that his time has come and he wants his
death to be heroic. He does not ask for mercy. He gives the baby to Mercedes, his
housekeeper and he makes a last request while he looks at his father's watch: decidle a
mi hijo , decidle a q hora muri su padre... (tell my son the time of his father's death) he
says solemnly. He wants to make sure that his legacy is transmitted to his son. No
interrups abruptly Mercedes. He won't even know your name and he is shot while
shocked by the news. Mercedes and the maquis have put an end to this fascist masculine
identity transmitted from fathers to sons.
In addition, this father-son relation is also marked by death since Vidal's father died in the
battlefield, as a hero and a martyr of the cause and, in a certain way, Captain Vidal feels
that he is going to die in another heroic death and, therefore, he wants his son to be aware

of this fact and remember him as a fallen hero. This fatherhood notion, deeply rooted in
fascist ideology, contrasts with the sequence in which father and son are arrested and
brought to the Captain for questioning after hearing the father shooting in the mountain.
The son comes voluntarily in order to defend his father and he explains that he was only
haunting rabbits to fed his family. Captain Vidal turns to the son and hits him viciously in
the face with a bottle. The father cries and calls Vidal a murderer and son of a bitch. He
does not hide his feelings and deep sorrow, as fascist stoic masculinity does. Vidal kills
them both, denying them the heroic death or even a death in dignity. Although men, these
men had severel anarquist pamplhets with them and, consequently, they are immediately
othered. They are poor men whose life worths nothing to Vidal.

Conclusion
Pan's Labyrinth is a film that combines fantasy and realism in two paralel narratives.
However, there are monsters in both of them. Whrereas a Pan and a creature with eyes in
its hands are the terrifying monsters that haunt Ofelia, Captain Vidal is the monster that
haunts Spain. He embodies the imposed regime and gender identities that Spain suffered
until Franco's death in 1975. By depicting him as the monster he is, the film offers an antifascist allegation that, for the first time, spread outside the Spanish borders, across the
world with great success both at the box office and reviews.
Thus, the film looks at the recent past not with nostalgia but with to make us remember our
traumatic past; to offer an overview of the cruelty of the repression that followed the end of
the civil war. Vidal and his fathers are not the heroes of the film. The heroes are those who
did not give up. Mercedes, who proves Vidal that women are more than mothers; Ofelia,
who rejects his authority and is brave enough to disobey him and the maquis, who fought
until death to defend the legitimate government of the Spanish Second Republic and for
freedom. Unfortunately, the end of the film is a sour one since there was no and they lived
happily ever after. As many other Spanish of the time, escaping to France was the only
choice they had to survive. Maybe the small symbolic victory of defeating Vidal and the
values he represents and to put an end to the transmission of these values is a happy
ending; the one that the civil war sadly never had.