Exploring the Heroine’s Journey in Labyrinth
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Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: There are a plethora plus one of jokes about Jareth/David Bowie’s codpiece, and even more articles about it, I’m sure. I enjoy the jokes; why not? But it seems that Sarah’s(Jennifer Connelly) story gets swept aside for Jareth/David Bowie. Sarah is the heroine, it is Sarah’s journey.
Come with me as I dip my toe into the realm of symbolism(not the Bog of Eternal Stench) that represent Sarah’s journey from childhood/childishness to becoming a more mature person-not an adult, just more mature and ready to accept her new family. Keep in mind that these are all just opinions, and if you don’t see what I do, that’s OK. I won’t be going over every character and every bit of symbolism, either. That’s a journey for you!
Spoilers, but this movie came out in 1986, y’all…
Sarah
Sixteen year old Sarah Williams is a child of divorce(if you read the novelization, this is more clear. It is her mother and her mother’s boyfriend in clippings on Sarah’s mirror). She loves her mother, the actress. Sarah clings to fairytales and plays, going so far as to treat her father’s new wife(Shelley Thompson) as
…a wicked step-mother in a fairy story no matter what I say.
Sarah wonders the town in costume with her dog and a copy of her favorite play. She loses time during her latest outing as she recites lines to a barn owl in the park. She is an hour late for babysitting.
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The birth of her half brother, Toby(Toby Froud), has made Sarah childish. She is jealous of him. She says she hates him, and has a temper tantrum when a teddy bear is taken from her room and put in his crib. “It’s not fair” is Sarah’s mantra.
Babysitting
Sarah’s stepmother and father(Christopher Malcolm) are going out and have tasked Sarah with babysitting. Sarah does not date, much to her stepmother’s worry.
Sarah is very much, without a doubt, made to be pure. It is pointed out that she never dates. She is a final girl that never had any group to be the final of. Sarah thinks she is very much alone, and lives in a dreamworld in her head.
The Journey
Sarah’s brother is taken from her when she wishes him away.
Thus begins the quest. Sarah immediately realizes her mistake, asking for him back. The Goblin King, Jareth(David Bowie) has taken him, and she must solve a labyrinth before 13:00 to get him back(Actual 13 o’clock, not 1:00 military time). We know it is 7:00 when her father and stepmother leave; we’ll tack on another half hour for Toby to be restless and for Sarah to notice her bear missing and wish him away. So this movie takes place in about a 5 1/2 hour timespan.
Jareth
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I don’t think it takes a scholar to recognize Jareth’s role. He is handsome, but he is older. He has magic just like in her fairytales. Jareth is a King. He has more experience in every way than Sarah. She finds him very attractive, at first. She’s sixteen, she’s curious. And Jareth has the goods on display. He not only represents overt sexuality, he represents a sort of perversion. After all, Toby will be turned into a goblin if Sarah doesn’t rescue him. And Sarah is only sixteen to his we’ll say forty, as that was Bowie’s age.
Higwort Hogwart Hoggle
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Hoggle(Sharie Weiser, voiced by Brian Henson) is a short statured, dour creature that is spraying fairies with a fairy pesticide. He is the first character, aside from the handsome Jareth, that Sarah meets in Jareth’s realm.
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The sweet looking fairy(Natalie Finland) bites Sarah as she picks it up, and she receives her first lesson towards adulthood. The sweet and airy things that grant all your desires aren’t always what they seem-like her mother. Discipline is important. A fairy/her mother can’t get Sarah out of this predicament.
Sarah is on her own, after Hoggle shows her the way into the labyrinth.
The Worm
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Sarah sees the labyrinth as a straight line with no twists or turns. A small worm(Karen Prell, voiced by Timothy Bateson) helps her to see that there are openings everywhere, if she would just look. And reminds her that things aren’t what they seem. And if one wants to put a phallic/needing a man twist, nope. Like the cigar, he’s just a worm.
What was perceived as a straight laced, plain thing became more complex-like her stepmother and father.
Ludo
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Ludo(Rob Mills, voiced by Ron Mueck) is a giant beast with a mighty roar. But Sarah finds him to be a simple thing, gentle and timid and needing looking after. He calls Sarah his friend. Like Toby, Ludo is helpless without Sarah. He becomes Toby’s substitute until she finds her brother.
The Fireys
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The Fireys are a bunch of crazy ass creatures that can take themselves apart and put themselves back together. They promise to show her a good time. Sarah nearly loses her head with these wild fire creatures, but comes to her senses. She climbs a rope thrown down by Hoggle to literally rise above them and their destructive ways.
Sir Didymus
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Sir Didymus(David Barclay, voiced by Dave Goelz), like the fairy, is another realization for Sarah that fantasies aren’t really that wonderful to live in. He is a knight, but he fights for no reason, and doesn’t listen. He lives surrounded by shit, but can’t smell it. His mount is a cowardly dog. His stubbornness costs them time. Sarah realizes that these childish traits can be hurtful to her journey/life. Didymus is Sarah. But he changes as she does.
The Ball
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After eating a cursed peach, Sarah is transported away to a ball. Peaches have long represented a woman’s genitalia. There are decadent adults, some in phallic masks, others with horns(horny), dancing inside a bubble. It is a very adult world. There is odd laughter and joking. Everyone stares at Sarah, almost disapproving of her innocence. Jareth finds her, they dance, and she mostly forgets Toby.
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But Sarah doesn’t like the ball, she doesn’t like Jareth, and she smashes the bubble, sending everyone flying to places unknown, and herself into a junkyard. The peach is rotten and wormy. She tosses it. She is too immature for such things. This is Sarah beginning to realize she shouldn’t idolize a woman(her mother) that abandoned her to be with a man she was having an affair with. Also, that while she is growing more mature on her journey, she isn’t ready for sexual side of growing up. And that when she refuses both her mother’s artifice and some creepy/unworthy men’s advances, she may be tossed aside. Landing in the vast junkyard, Sarah falls on the Junk Woman. She is Jareth’s last attempt to keep Sarah from fully remembering Toby.
With modern eyes, the peach could be considered drugged, and Sarah regaining consciousness and prevailing over the one who drugged her.
The Junkyard Lady
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The Junk Lady(voiced by Denise Bryer) lures Sarah into a facsimile of her bedroom and leaves, leading Sarah to believe it was all a dream after she lies on her bed. But the lady returns, loading Sarah down with all the childish things that are holding her back from progressing with her life, and finding Toby. When she looks in her mirror, she remembers that she has to save Toby, and that her toys and costumes and teddy bears are nothing compared to the child that truly loves her. The walls literally fall down, and her new found friends again help her rise above it all.
The Final Battle
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After a battle in the goblin city, Sarah faces off alone with a now sickly looking Jareth, and rescues her brother by declaring Jareth has no power over her just as the clocks chime 13:00.
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Just before she leaves her friends, they tell her they will always be there when she needs them. Her imagination can be helpful; but she must rely on herself, in the end.
Back Home
With Toby safely asleep, Sarah nestles the bear she had her temper tantrum over next to him, telling him that the bear(named Lancelot) belongs to him now. She is passing on her childish things to an actual child. Her father and stepmother come home, and she tells them she is upstairs. She has changed. Sarah puts away the pictures of her absent mother. She doesn’t want or need them, now. Sarah doesn’t want to be like her mother. She wants to be herself. And she has a stable family right here, a stepmother that cares. And yes, things aren’t always fair, but so what? She’ll learn to deal.
As she looks in the mirror, she sees her friends reflected in it. Turning around, Hoggle, Ludo, Didymus, et al really are there in her room. She dives into the pile of friends as they celebrate being together. Yes, there is a time to grow up, but never, ever give up on a childlike sense of wonder. Never lose your imagination. And never give up on the ones that love and help you, no matter what they look like.
Looking inside the window at the festivities, unseen, is an owl. Is it Jareth? When/if Sarah is ready to face the more adult side of life, her sexuality, it will be there. But not a minute before.
That all being said, I just really enjoy the movie as a fantasy. Sarah was my age the first time I saw it, so it really resonated. I think the things really happened to the character. I don’t think she dreamed it or had a visionquest of sorts. Because it is a movie. Things like that can happen to characters in a movie.
More Labyrinth Facts
The CGI owl during the opening credits was the first realistic CGI rendering of an animal used in movie history. For some reason, I love my ground breaking CGI movies.
This movie was made for high def. I have seen it over 200 times, and watching it in high def was like watching it again for the first time. It really holds up. There are so many details missed in the older formats. If you haven’t seen it in awhile, definitely worth a re-watch on Netflix or on Blu-Ray. Little movements, details on fountains and characters, so much pops.
If you look closely, you’ll see that the Labyrinth has a milkman.
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Jareth’s spies that are spread throughout the labyrinth.
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To put a religious spin on the story, one might add that Toby means “God is good,” and this is Sarah’s rejection of evil(Jareth wears a horned mask at one point) to find God.
The novelization of Labyrinth is specific that Sarah was disgusted by Jareth at the ball; in the book, he tries to kiss her. Wouldn’t your sixteen year old self be disgusted at a random forty year old trying to suck face? So suck it, fanfiction writers.
