So since the class discussed Pan's Labyrinth and all the "rule of three" references found within the plot, I can't seem to stop thinking about it. So off the top of my head, we mentioned the three trials that Ophelia had to undergo, tehnically there are three noticeable monster figures in the film (the faun, the oversized toad, and the pale man...I don't know if the captain can't substitute one of these because he's not exactly magical), three fairies, three locked chambers in the pale man's domain, I believe Ophelia had to feed the toad three magic rocks, Ophelia used her chalk to draw a portal three different times.....oh when we were on this particular subject, I mentioned a tree, this was the tree I was referring to. I'm not sure if we actually see it in the film or maybe this is the tree in which the toad lived in. However, the shape of the tree kind of resembles two intertwined beings and with Ophelia standing in front of the opening of the tree kind of makes her an element of it, a key in balancing out the composition of the image, thus the rule of three. Female, Male, child? The more I though about it, the more I realized the prominence in this method of story-telling and the overall balance that comes with it. A triangular formation, which can result in three lines being matched up at opposing ends, is a pretty strong structure. Throughout many well-know fairy tales, the rule of three is very popular as well. There were three major candidates for the glass slipper, Cinderella's two sisters and Cinderella herself. There were three little piglets that set off to make it on their own before their encounter with the big bad wolf.
In a pretty recent fairy tale, Shrek, Lord Farquadd had to choose between three potential princesses to be his bride in order for him to finally be King.
In Hocus Pocus, there were three witches.
This may not be fairy tale related, but the Holy Trinity. There were three sisters of the Charmed order in the cult show.
The more I think about, the more it seems like we can pretty much connect this rule of three to anything from the formation of cutlery to stories to the philosophy of an earth-bound life being that there is birth, life, then death....
It's like what Jim Carrey was doing in that movie, The Number 23, (which I've never seen but from the previews) the more thought he put into it, the more he started to see the connection between everything and the number 23. Except my number is three. Just three. Althought I do like the number 2 as well. Oh no. I'm turning into Walter Sparrow.
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