So in other words, Guillermo Del Toro deals with trauma by returning to the trauma through a mixture of fantasy and historical backing that explains a great deal of why his films turn out the way they do. It might be a simplistic and not even close to complete explanation of the clip but it is a start and something that the casual reader might find the need to expand upon. Del Toro is a great director and storyteller and has shown that throughout his career thus far, but his films tend to tell a story that is far more than what we see and experience in the theater.
Throughout his stories the trauma that is inflicted upon the protagonist is often so great that they find themselves capable of slipping into a state of mind in which they can eventually negate the fear of the unknown thanks to the fear of what is already known and the choice that is made between the two. When you realize what lies behind you and have yet to see what might be in front of you there is a choice to make and quite often when it comes to child characters the choice is fairly easy. Children are often considered to be the world’s greatest explorers since at any given age until adulthood many things that adults take for granted and attempt to control are still magical in a way and are a large step away from the authority and trauma that Del Toro’s characters are typically seen to have undergone.
The desire to belong to something greater than oneself and to find the solidarity in life that does not exist is a big driving force behind his characters. Throughout at least a couple of his films driven those same characters to understand the world in which they find themselves in a much different way. The desire to fight against what is deemed as authority, to defy what is known, and to break out on their own is a very noticeable character trait in Del Toro’s movies, but so is the need to sacrifice and risk their lives in a manner that is not entirely sensible but is easily seen as a part of the maturation process that his characters must go through.
Trauma in movies is often something that is seen to be so horrible that running from it is the worst idea possible, while facing it is just as daunting and doesn’t usually happen until near the middle or end of the movie. This is when the protagonist seems to realize that no matter what they do the trauma is still there and must be dealt with even if it is a continuous thing that will never fully leave them. It is still a very real presence that must be faced and either overcome or at least moved past.
Del Toro’s method of dealing with trauma in movies is largely fantasy-based and often takes a very dark cast that speaks of walking through a very dark time in the lives of his characters. The light that is desired is something that must be fought for and eventually endured as it is not always the reward that his characters might hope for.
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