Del Toro on demons

In anticipation of my upcoming AAR paper on Guillermo del Toro’s theopolitical imagination, here is a selection from a new USA Today article on del Toro’s understanding of demons and monsters:

"I'm interested in monsters because, much like archangels and angels, they represent a portion of the human soul," says the Mexican writer/director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which arrives Friday.

Del Toro has become a sought-after director for his distinctive creatures and otherworldly parables that use the realms of fantasy to explore fundamental human issues such as love, alienation, weakness and, of course, fear. . . .

"In adult movies, R-rated movies, monsters can signify many different things," says del Toro. "But in the (PG-13) Hellboy mythology, they symbolize our imperfections and how we can embrace them. If we were more eager and willing to accept otherness, things would be better between people." . . .

"I'm eager to explore themes that lend themselves easily to metaphor," he says. "The fantastic is the only tool we have nowadays to explain spirituality to a generation that refuses to believe in dogma or religion. Superhero movies create a kind of mythology. Creature movies, horror movies, create at least a belief in something beyond."