Labyrinth: Not Just For Children

If I could sum up my childhood with one movie, it would be Labyrinth. Every chance I got, I was watching that movie, and still to this day, it is one of my favorites. It explores a fantastical world of goblins and magic, all created by the power team of director Jim Henson and producer George Lucas. This movie also has a dream cast of Jennifer Connelly and the infamous David Bowie. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is about a young girl names Sarah who dreams of a world where she does not have the responsibility of her annoying baby brother and she is the ruler of her own world. When she wishes upon the Goblin king to come take her brother, she finds that she gets more than she bargained for. Jareth, played by David Bowie, swoops in to capture the child, and says that the only way for Sarah to get her brother Toby back is to find her way to his castle hidden somewhere within a magical labyrinth. On her journey, Sarah meets an eclectic cast of characters, all of which are puppets created by Henson himself.

The beauty of this movie truly comes from the set, costumes, and puppets. The viewer is transported to a magical land that is both fascinating and a bit frightening, especially to a young child. There is a dream sequence in this movie that I believe is beyond beautiful. It involves Sarah at a masquerade party and Bowie singing as she gets lost in the crowd of beautiful costumes and strange masks.

Of course the scene is very 80’s, (1986 to be exact) but who doesn’t love a romantic 80’s scene now and then.

Labyrinth is a movie that I will watch over and over again. I would recommend it to everyone, if not for the story, at least for the creative characters from the mind of the brilliant Jim Henson. And if you are still not into any of those things, at least you can be mesmerized by the voice of musical icon David Bowie.

Bowie.

As a few of you know, David Bowie is my favorite recording artist of all time. Not only do I appreciate his music, he is one of my greatest inspirations as an icon. In my junior year of high school, the year I also decided I wanted to go into the film and television industry, I was at the peak of my obsession with Bowie. My friends made me a Ziggy Stardust cake for my birthday, I dressed up as him for Halloween, contributed to his fan sites, had a fish named Ziggy, watched hundreds of youtube videos, and watched a few of the movies he has appeared in. Since I have been listening to him practically non-stop for the past two weeks, I felt the need to talk about him so I will discuss his appearances in movies and television. As you know from a previous post, David Bowie was in Labyrinth, a film that was directed by Jim Henson and released in 1986. Some of the other movies he has been in include The Prestige (2006), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), and The Hunger (1983). David Bowie also appeared in a television show years later with the same name in 1999.
The first time I saw him in The Prestige I barely recognized him at first! Before seeing the film somehow I had no idea that he was going to be in it. One of my friends had to say, "Hey Danielle, who is that?!" in order for me to come to the realization and scream at the top of my lungs because that is what happens when I see him unexpectedly.
For the others, however, I was expecting to see him when I watched The Man Who Fell to Earth and The Hunger. Sadly, The Man Who Fell to Earth took me awhile to get through. For some reason I kept getting interrupted while watching it so I had to pause it quite a bit, but also some of the time I actually had little idea what was going on because it was hard to follow. Since David Bowie was very fascinated with aliens and even adopted an alien persona, Ziggy Stardust in 1972, with his concept album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, he was asked to play this alien character called Thomas Jerome Newton who is an alien who has 'fallen to Earth' from his home planet Anthea, which is suffering from a draught. On Earth he takes the form of a human and becomes head of a large technology corporation. One scene that I remember I enjoyed in particular was the scene where Bowie's character, Thomas, is watching about 30 television sets at once as a way to soak up knowledge about the Earth. I would really like to watch this movie again and I am ashamed I have only seen it once. It is a cult classic and I am proud to say that I have one of the original promotional film posters.
In The Hunger, Miriam, a centuries-old vampire played by Catherine Deneuve, has converted her lover John, played by David Bowie, into a vampire. Unfortunately, John unexpectedly begins to age and waste away one day. Miriam tries to find the source of this problem since this has happened to her lovers before. Although David Bowie is mainly just in the first half of the movie, I found the movie quite enjoyable because of the performances of Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and its Neo-Gothic style.
Although I have only seen one episode from the series, the television show of the same name was completely different from the film. In the episode that I saw there were no vampires just David Bowie playing this genius artist, Julian Priest, who had gone crazy. I must say it was a very disturbing episode for me at the time when I watched it in high school.
David Bowie, I will admit, is not the greatest actor, but I do highly recommend his music.

Labyrinth

Being at home for fall break has put me in a nostalgic mood so I thought I'd write about Labyrinth. It was a favorite of mine when I was little and apparently it was the first non-animated film that I had watched as a child.

Labyrinth is a coming of age story about a girl, Sarah, played by Jennifer Connelly, who wishes for her baby brother, Toby, to disappear. Jareth, the Goblin King, played by none other than my favorite artist: David Bowie, grants Sarah's wish by kidnapping the baby and taking him to the Goblin City. Once Toby is actually gone, Sarah realizes her mistake and wishes to have her brother back. However, in order to bring her brother home, she has to make her way through the Labyrinth and surpass all of the plots and schemes devised by the persuasive Goblin King who tries to distract her from her objective. Jareth does this by offering her a crystal ball which would show her her dreams, sending Hoggle to misguide her through the Labyrinth, making her solve logic puzzles, changing the Labyrinth's orientation, and trying to seduce her during a masquerade ball.
While on her quest, Sarah realizes very quickly that things are not always what they seem and advances through the Labyrinth until she storms the Goblin City with the help of her friends Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus. At the end of the movie, Sarah must face Jareth herself and decide whether to return home with her baby brother or stay with the Goblin King who offers to give her everything she's ever dreamt of.
One of my favorite scenes of the movie is the scene leading up to the finale where Sarah is trying to retrieve her brother from a room that was closely based off a lithograph by M.C. Escher called 'Relativity,' shown below.

In this scene the set design, special effects, and camera angles completely disorient the viewer, which helps to show Jareth's wavering hold on Sarah and her persistent determination and frustration with wanting to retrieve her brother and finally return home.

Although Labyrinth only made about thirteen million in the box office from the U.S. theatrical release, it has become a cult classic that has been adored for decades. With Jim Henson as the director and the person who was responsible for the incredible puppeteering, George Lucas as the producer, Terry Jones, from Monty Python, as the head writer, and David Bowie as a lead actor, it is unfortunate that it did not have more success in the box office.
Labyrinth is a cute movie and I would recommend it if you like The Dark Crystal or Princess Bride.