So I just recently saw the movie Labyrinth, and I had some thoughts about it that I wanted to share. This isn’t exactly a “review” as such. I’ve found that my opinions on films are pretty much useless to everyone but myself. You see, I base my opinion on a movie mostly on emotions and feelings rather than on rational thoughts. Soon as I hit the play button, my brain turns off. I often find that the films I enjoy have some serious flaws, but that’s a discussion for another time. Needless to say, I’m not going to tell you why you should, or should not watch it, or whether I think it was a good or bad film; I’m just going to tell you my initial thoughts or impressions of it.
I’ve found that 80’s sci-fi/fantasy movies have a very different “feeling” or aesthetic than films from other eras. I think it was Star Wars that really set the tone in 1977, and just about every other film made after that just sort of followed suit. This is very true of Labyrinth. It’s hard to describe; I remember one of my friends describing it as a “wide-eyed wonder”. Even in the most terrifying moments of the film, there is a sort of wonder to all of it. You can still find this in some 90’s movies, but it’s virtually disappeared from movies since about 2000.
In some ways it also reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia and George MacDonald’s work. Sarah, you see, is a very whiny, self-centered teenage girl who is tasked with babysitting her little half-brother; a job which she does not want. Her parents are being perfectly reasonable in what they’re asking of her, but she just does not want to hear it, so she flippantly wishes the Goblin King (portrayed by David Bowie) to come and take her brother away, which he does. She then realizes she’s made a terrible mistake and must then journey through the Labyrinth to rescue him, complaining about the unfairness of life all along the way.
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There’s one scene in particular that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. There’s a particular scene where the Goblin King tricks her into eating a fruit that causes her to fall into a deep sleep and have a really odd dream (as if this film wasn’t odd enough). In part of the dream, Sarah finds herself in a junkyard, populated by these weird old hags who carry around all their possessions on their backs. One of the hags leads her into an exact replica of her own room. For a time, she thinks it’s all been a really bizarre dream; but it wasn’t. The hag tries to distract Sarah with her own things, to keep her from reaching the Goblin City and completing the quest. She stacks Sarah’s old toys and books and other things on top of her back. I slowly realized that she was trying to turn Sarah into an old hag like her. In time, Sarah comes to this realization as well; it’s all junk. All of it. She doesn’t need these things. It’s just stuff that’s holding her back from her true potential.
By the end of the movie, Sarah realizes that we all have to deal with the responsibilities of life, and we can’t keep stagnant in our childhoods. We can’t find our identity in our stuff. We can’t carry all this baggage around with us; we have to learn to let things go in order to be our truest selves. I’ve been thinking about this a lot; is there anything I’m carrying around that is holding me back? Is there stuff that I need to let go of to reach my potential? What about you? Is there some stuff you need to part with; if not physically, then mentally? Spiritually?
I’ll let you figure that out for yourselves.
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