Why I Love: "Labyrinth"

I will forever be grateful to my cousins for showing this film to me. (Thank you, you know who you are!). So here, in short, is my history with the film, and why i hold it so close to me.

I was 8 if i remember correctly, and every summer holiday i went to my cousin's house. This one particular summer in 1992 i went over and amongst all the usual cool stuff they usually show me was this movie. They told me about "this really cool fantasy film" they managed to tape off the TV and started to describe it to me- a Goblin King with very tight pants, a dwarf named Hoggle, a giant creature called Ludo, an incompetent Fox-knight that rode a shaggy Dulux dog, and really cool music. I wasn't to fussed about it to be honest but decided to watch it anyway and as soon as the opening credits rolled i was hooked. I became addicted to it and the entire summer i watched it every day. After the summer hols finished i begged and begged my cousins if i could borrow the tape, and eventually they let me have it.

I took it home and used to watch it every day, showing it to friends who used to come over (but were not really into it as much as me), playing and re-enacting the scenes in the playground (rather sad i know but nothing but cool when you are 8!), writing fan-fiction stories for my creative writing homework in year 6, just loving everything about it. Eventually the tape wore out and finally pretty much got stuck in the VCR machine, and i was never able to get it back as we had to throw the entire machine away. One of my darkest days as it was my soul and my life which was lost; i put so much of myself into the film (the film i daresay reflected a lot about myself too) that losing it meant that a part of myself was also missing...

After mourning over the loss of my favourite film i eventually forgot about it as Jurassic Park was released that same year and became my number 1 favourite film of all time, and Labyrinth sadly got lost and forgotten about as i was "growing up", going through my teenage years in secondary school and eventually Art college. It wasn't until 2000 when the film came back into my life again. My friend had just been shopping and told me he had just bought a film on DVD called "Labyrinth". I knew i had heard the name somewhere and asked him to bring it over when he came round. We watched it and the memories of my childhood started coming back to me- the dialogue which i knew by heart, the music, the characters. I was obsessed again. I asked him if i could borrow it, he agreed and i started watching it every day from there.

I went on the Internet as soon as possible to do research on it and didn't know that there were so many fans of this movie out there who loved and cherished the film as much as i did. I went to HMV and to my surprise saw the CD soundtrack was re-issued, and i bought it instantly. I bought the re-issue VHS as i didn't have a DVD player, but then the following year bought the DVD the day i bought a DVD machine.

Since the year 2000 the popularity of the movie has just grown and i'm seeing it way more than usual everywhere, from bookshops (where i got the Henson Studio book with an extensive chapter on the film), to the re-issue of The Goblins of Labyrinth, the manga, multiple re-releases of the film on DVD, t-shirts and now of course the range of figures from Neca.

Personally it's just a fantastic movie that encompasses everything which a good family and fantasy film should have; awesome visuals, creative character designs, inventive and humorous dialogue, funky music, a great story as well as dealing with themes of friendship, companionship, courage and honesty in a very warm and quirky way. And of course the film is basically a chapter of my childhood being played out. It was also one of the first films that inspired me and got me into fantasy, special effects and film-making, so i will always hold this film with the utmost of respect. A great film and an absolute classic!

So, after watching the film so many times, i had to come to my final conclusion regarding the story:

*SPOILERS*


...was Sarah's experience real, or not?

I never really thought about it to be honest, but it does make an interesting debate.

So after watching it recently, i came to the result that none of it was real, as it kind of detracts what the movie is all about- the journey of a girl becoming a responsible adult. Everything in the film makes so much sense, the world of the Labyrinth is basically the ever-changing world of Sarah, pre-pubescent teenager.



It's perfectly clear that all the creatures, incidents, environments etc reflect what Sarah is personally going through at that exact time in her life. The beauty of the film is that we, as an audience/fantasy lover/teenage female or even psychiatrist can understand in a really fun way what happens to a girl at that age. It's such a deep film it demands to be analysed bit by bit. For that world to be real and to exist regardless of who's experiencing or imagining it would be devoid of the actual point of the whole film, in my opinion.

The ending is great because Sarah has become a different person and we went through that change with her, so there is no reason for that world to exist anymore for anyone else, except when Sarah is a little nostalgic of her childhood days some point in the future. The characters aren't "real" per say, they have no past, presents and futures; they're personifications of people she loathes/loves bought to life in that journey. It's her world, no-one Else's.

To give Jareth, Hoggle et al actual lives outside the imaginary world doesn't make much sense to me, and doesn't really fit in with the closed narrative of the movie.



Now, this can be perceived another way with Jareth's speech at the end: "Just fear me, love me and i will be your slave". He says it in a way that demands to obeyed, that he exists, that the world exists, it's all real and Sarah can be a part of that if she just believes in him and makes him her king.

But for me, i always thought that it was Sarah telling Jareth telling her to believe in him. As in Sarah mis-believing that the characters of her imagination were actually telling themselves that they were real and they demanded a place in the actual reality of the real and/or imaginary world. Sure Jareth is telling her that he wants her to believe in him, but who "created" Jareth? Sarah did.

So basically it's Sarah's creations trying to persuade her that they are not her creations but real people in a real world that she can live in for the rest of her life if she just forgets about reality and starts to believe in her imagination. Which in itself is a trap, as she has become so entwined with her imagination that she's actually believing that her characters are real and speaking out to her.

The whole movie in reality (my interpretation of it anyway) is about trying to stop daydreaming and face the pressures, issues, hardships and every day situations of growing up and real life, not to always have your head in the clouds or believing you're in some dream world of your own creation. In the end Sarah accepts that every now and again it's perfectly normal to need her "characters" to escape, but not to live with them all the time. In this case there is a lot to be learned- always be true to yourself and never forget who you are. Sarah indeed has an active imagination and it is acceptable to feel comfortable around things which you create in order to get through the troubles of life- but there are times when they are needed and times where you must do it alone without their help; but never forget them. From the moment we are born we are alone, and we die alone- so it's all for the better that we have someone by our side, whether they be real or not. To be at peace is all we humans desire, and in Sarah's case it was (in her teenage years at least) her imagination, to live in a fairy tale which will never leave her as long as she stays true to herself. This is moral which the ending is trying to convey, and i think it works perfectly. Indeed a very powerful lesson to learn.



However the ending could be interpreted that everything was in fact real and not fantasy (all the creatures suddenly come into her bedroom- the real world- again) but i think it's purposely derived to be this way IE open ended when it is in fact (in my personal opinion) closed. The recent Manga books are written from the perspective where everything that happened in the movie were in fact real events, that Sarah experienced everything and remembered it all as did Toby (so much so that they are now the official events); but the way i think works better is if it wasn't "real" and that it was all her Sarah's imagination, the ending itself being her talking to herself and confronting herself directly and we as an audience saw it all visually to make it more cinematically effective. The fact that we see all the goblins and creatures which were initially evil and trying to kill/eat her in the end in her bedroom being all nice means that they are all deviations of Sarah's imagination anyway, that in her mind, for the stories sake, they were evil but they are in fact interpretations of things in her subconscious mind that okay their part for the experience but at the end become their common, pure selves agian IE embodiemnts of goodness, as they are from Sarah's (a human with this capabilty as default) mind herself. This is how i see the ending- everything worked out, she had changed, lessons were learnt and mistakes were rectified; everything turned back to how it originally was, all state of consciousness was reverted back to it's original form as the mind experienced thorough levels of reprimand. Therefore everything that indeed posed a threat to her will no more, and so return to their normal pure self of positivity rather than signifying any negative attributes; which is why all the creatures which caused her harm turn up at the end as happy souls ready for a party.



Again these contribute that it was all conjured up by her mind as it all turns back to normal- except of course for Jareth, who was and still is (and always will be) a threat to her. The end of the film explains that her mind is at peace and ease again as all the issues (manifested as creatures) she went through are now no trouble for her as she has overcome her fears and are now all in her room (the most personal and intimate of all places for anyone) happily laughing with her. So what of Jareth? Well as we all know Jareth represented the darkest, dangerous and most important hardship of any man/woman/girl/boy- the idea of love and relationship with another partner. Jareth was Sarah's secret love, and he represented the common and ongoing threat of the life's soulmate, the "perfect" man or woman in which we humans have the constant never-ending desire for. Jareth is therefore the physical manifestation of a human being representing love of another human being. Sarah was in love with him, but also scared of him as he is both dark and dangerous yet capable of fulfilling her dreams. I feel Jim Henson was in fact a genius when he wrote this story as it represents perfectly the idea of real life's ideas. Our partners are our life and soul and when we are in love we would do anything for them and hopefully vice versa, but in essence love is a truly dangerous, harmful thing as well, powerful as it may be it is also predominantly fatal to anyone unaware or inexperienced (or even experienced) with it. It can kill, it can heal, it can bring people together and it can tear them apart. Therefore it's a constant force at war with itself, and to those of us who would let it it can bring us joy and pain- it's never an embodiment of total purity; it is both good and evil, light and dark together, a balance always fighting. We as humans know this, love and relationships are never perfect but we are strong enough to overcome all the barriers to live in a state of harmony with our loved ones, which is what Henson was trying to say. Sarah, as a teenager, knew this or at least had some knowledge of it (due to her past experiences with her mother, father and now her step-mother). And so in the end Jareth, instead of turning into a state of "pure" goodness (as he came from Sarah's mind) and being with her in her room for the party, was still a threat and left shut outside in his less intimidating form of the barn owl. This again shows that right now for Sarah he's not as powerful or terrible and can be dealt with (as seen in the end when he banishes him) and so Sarah is ready for a normal and hopefully healthy relationship with a boyfriend becuase she knows how to deal with the dangers of (in this case forbidden) love. She knows that some day love could still hurt her (as it will always be a ying and yang force) and so Jareth is still left outside, but right now she is contempt with the feelings it could bring and can deal with it. Again Henson was a genius as he knew how to convey human relationships in a surreal yet completely logical and realistic way!



That's what i always thought anyway, if that makes any sense. The film is a deep psychological well that goes beyond lengths of analysis, and i love that it does this. My conclusion is that no matter what extended material may make of it, i thought that the film's events were not real and that everything that happened to Sarah were physical manifestations of what she was going through at that time on her life; the creatures, characters and situations in the Labyrinth were all embodiements of her understanding of the world and the things around her. It was her own unique story; that's what the Labyrinth is. It's a unique and individual world made by the creator, and in this case it was Sarah's world. She could have wished herself to the castle in the centre if she wanted to and if she did she would have got there (just as she wished Toby away and it actually happened becuase she actually wanted it), but she didn't even contemplate to even think about that, becuase she thought the world was real, that rules were in place just becuase people had told her there were (she is constantly reminded of the rules throught, just as people are told to believe things they are told by the media and society), agian her mind "playing tricks" on her, like all people lost or delving into a mind forged on this planet.

Always question the so-called "knowledge", have an opinion and speak out as the world is corrupt and people can easily become prisoners of it if we don't stand up and believe in ourselves, which is what Sarah did at the end of the film where she finally takes control. By the end, she learnt that she can stand her ground and be in control in a world where things are/were all naturally agianst and opposing her (even if it is her mind, which does this all the time anyway) and had overcome this factor or at least come to terms with it to be able to fight it agian in her future years. But she was at the right age, the end of childhood and the begining of adulthood where we all need to come to that threshold- the right time for many people to come to those crossroads. The mind and the world is a wonderously fantastic thing- it can help us and it can destroy us, yet there's still a hell of a lot to learn about it.