I love a good cult classic film, as I touched upon in Lisa Frankenstein, and this week, I'm delving back into cult classics with Labyrinth, which I will revisit later this month in an interview for my monthly newsletter. The fantasy film feels like someone cracked open the mind of a very imaginative and creative child, which I feel was exactly the point of the movie.
This feels like something never meant to be critiqued by film critics who had mixed opinions about it because either you get it or you don't. Personally, I feel like I did get it, and I completely understand its appeal. While there are many points where the viewer might find themselves wondering what is going on, that's what makes movies like this all the more enjoyable.
Adolescence & The Inner Child
Sarah is a fifteen-year-old girl at the point in her life where she feels caught between continuing to express her childlike imagination and having to grow up and attend to responsibilities; her main one in the film is babysitting her younger brother. I recently spoke with someone about the idea that at some point in women's lives, they are expected to grow up so fast, and I think that's led to the popularity of things like the Barbie movie and The Eras Tour. These two very wholesome pop culture experiences allow us to tap into our inner child.
In Labyrinth, Sarah's fun of playing in the park and reciting lines from her book, The Labyrinth, comes to an end when she realizes she's late for babysitting. When she gets home, she's scolded by her stepmother, who then expresses a desire for Sarah to go on a date, something she assumes teenagers should be doing instead of playing pretend. While babysitting, Sarah becomes annoyed by her brother's crying and the fact that he took her teddy bear, leading her to wish him away to the Goblin King, Jareth, sending her on a journey through the labyrinth to get him back.
There are a lot of symbols throughout the film that tell us Sarah is stereotypically immature for her age. She has childhood books in her room, like The Wizard of Oz and Snow White, representing her imagination that most people sadly lose as they age. There's also an aspect of Sarah we can tell is threatened by her baby brother. She's been an only child most of her life, and she feels that attention and love are being taken away from her and given to her brother. At a time when she is growing up and becoming a woman, she feels like she's missing the love she got as a child, which further makes her want to stay young.
“Sarah, go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby,”-Jareth, Labyrinth.
When Jareth arrives and takes her brother, he even offers her her dreams in exchange for him, but Sarah turns them down. This feels like Sarah being forced to choose between her imagination and her responsibilities, and she chooses her brother, proving she's already evolving as a character. Then, there's the unsettling masquerade ballroom scene that feels like a true fever dream, especially when the camera rotates, showing close-ups of the guests' masquerade masks. While Sarah rejects Jareth's advances and continues on in her journey of finding her brother, there are undertones of Sarah coming to terms with her adolescence. The fact that Jareth intended to make Sarah his queen represents her inner conflict of maturing while still possessing childlike tendencies.
What I really enjoyed about the film was that, in the end, Sarah was not forced to grow up, and her childlike imagination was encouraged. When she finds herself back at home, she invites all the friends she made in the labyrinth to hang out with her in her room, proving she's continuing to utilize her imagination and understanding that growing up doesn't have to mean growing apart from all the things she loved about being a child. In this sense, the film feels very ahead of its time because this is a concept I've only recently seen people discussing.
When I was growing up, a lot of movies and TV shows portrayed teenagers as wanting nothing to do with their parents and desperately wishing they could be treated like adults, whereas Sarah in Labyrinth craves attention from her dad and stepmom and wants to be able to play pretend like a kid. I find it refreshing that at the end of the movie, she's allowed to embrace her inner child instead of being shamed for it.
Overcoming Fear & Triumphing
In Labyrinth, Sarah is riddled with fear when we first meet her. Obviously, there's the fear of Jareth and the anxiety that she lost her brother, may never get him back, and will have to face the consequences. There's also the fear of becoming an adult and a fear of the unknown, which is linked to becoming an adult. Humans love to stay in their comfort zone, even if they're painfully bored, because it's familiar, and therefore, there's nothing to fear.
However, through Sarah's hero journey, Labyrinth reminds us why it's important to venture through the unknown, even if it's terrifying. We also learn that it's the power of love, not fear, that drives Sarah. Despite her initial annoyance with her brother, her love for him is stronger than her fear of Jareth and his labyrinth. It's this love that compels her to travel through the horrors of the realm in order to get her brother back.
“Don’t pay any attention to them, they’re just false alarms. You get a lot of them in the labyrinth, especially when you’re on the right track,”-Hoggle, Labyrinth.
Overcoming fear is one of the main themes and is introduced at the very beginning of the film when Sarah is reciting lines from her book and can't remember the last line. In the end, when confronting Jareth and getting her brother back, she finally remembers the last line: "You have no power over me." This is because, in the beginning, she is still afraid; she can't remember the powerful line until she overcomes her fear. When she doesn't fear Jareth anymore, and when she doesn't fear growing up or the unknown, all of it loses its power over Sarah.
Fantasy: Inside The Minds Behind Labyrinth
There's no denying Labyrinth is a creative movie, despite what anyone might think of it. As I mentioned earlier, it quite literally feels like we've gone inside the mind of someone incredibly creative and imaginative, so it's no surprise that some of pop culture's most creative minds created the movie. David Bowie, who plays Jareth, Jim Henson (puppeteer and creator of The Muppet Show), and George Lucas (the mastermind behind Star Wars) were all a part of the film's creation.
Many of the characters in the film are puppets produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and Henson also directed the project with Lucas as the executive producer. Lucas also contributed to the film's screenplay alongside several other writers. Aside from playing Jareth, Bowie collaborated with composer Trevor Jones to create the soundtrack for the film, which would play throughout Labyrinth as it is a musical fantasy film.
So, while the film wasn't initially a massive success, it resonated with many for generations to come, as all cult classics do. Much of that can be credited to the creative geniuses who put their heart and soul into something they believed in despite what the general public thought.
Why haven't I seen this film?? Will watch it soon. 💖
I loved this film, though I should really watch it again as an adult to see what hits differently. Bowie’s songs were brilliant and he and Jennifer Connolly were so memorable in these roles