Fear Me, Love Me, Do As I Say: My Love Affair With Jim Henson’s Labyrinth

On September 11, 2016, I went to my local movie theater for an experience that I never thought would happen in my lifetime. One of my favorite films, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, was getting an extremely limited theater presentation, courtesy of Fathom Events. I was thrilled. I’d watched the movie over a dozen times since its 1986 release, but I wasn’t old enough to see it during the original theatrical run. But on that night in September, the thirtieth anniversary of the film’s initial release, my dream came true.

I won’t bore you with the details, other than to say that I killed at the trivia that kept popping up on the screen during the pre-show. When the film finally began, I burst into tears.

Why is that? Why would a slightly cheesy fantasy film, with a rather unlikable heroine, with a cast formed largely of puppets, make me cry in utter happiness?

There will be spoilers for this thirty-two year old film.

I can’t tell you when I watched Labyrinth for the first time, exactly. I know that it was at a slumber party. It was certainly in elementary school. I remember being frightened, fascinated, entranced, and eventually triumphant as I watched Sarah, the teenage heroine of the piece, overcome the dangerous but alluring Goblin King, Jareth. Of course, I wouldn’t understand Jareth’s true magnetism for many years, but something about David Bowie’s portrayal of the thieving, manipulative Goblin King stuck firmly in my impressionable brain.

I swear to all things holy that it wasn’t the breeches. But I’d be a liar if my friends and I didn’t giggle in nervous amusement when we witnessed Bowie in those breeches.

Ahem. Anyway. Jareth’s appeal was all in his attitude. You’ve met middle-school aged boys before. You know what they’re like. Compare that to Jareth’s careless elegance and arrogance for a minute. It was weirdly appealing. It didn’t matter that Bowie was easily old enough to be my father. He was my first celebrity crush.

Moving beyond the confused, hormonal fascination I had with the film’s antagonist, I began to really appreciate other aspects of the film as I began to view it with slightly more mature eyes. As I said, I was young when I first experienced Labyrinth, so it thrilled me that it was a story about a girl going on an adventure! And this girl? Had long brown hair, just like I did. In a childhood filled with blond girls, from Barbie to She-Ra, here was a brunette girl who liked reading books and playing pretend and who resented her baby brother. I felt like I was watching what I could be one day, if I just tried. And I definitely tried. (There may or may not be photographic evidence of my semi-unconscious emulation of Sarah’s fashion sense when I was in middle and high school.)

I most certainly did chant “I wish the goblins would take you away right now” at my younger brother. It never worked.

Anyway, I began to understand the layers to this story as I reached middle and high school. I still identified with Sarah, but I felt that I understood her teenage angst so much better when it was something that I was going through myself. The story really took hold for me when I was in college and took a film studies course. My childhood favorite seemed even more interesting after I got a bit of perspective under my belt. I even wrote an essay on Labyrinth for that same class. Now, as I revisit the story as an adult, I see things to appreciate that I missed during the first dozen or so viewings. For example, there are hidden images of Bowie’s face throughout the film. I’ve spotted at least three of them, mostly thanks to the film being remastered for an anniversary edition.

I really, truly, love this movie. It’s a little strange that my first big-screen viewing of the film took place on September 11th. On the September 11th, I turned off the news and started watching my much-loved tape of Labyrinth when I couldn’t take any more real-world horror. I’ve returned to the maze and its inhabitants more times than I know. There are so many reasons. I’m going to discuss a few of them.

To begin with, the film was a technical masterpiece. I still marvel at the Henson Creature Shop‘s exceptional work with the hundreds of puppets that populated the film. The details are exquisite. Take this little guy:

This little worm is the first character Sarah meets when she enters the labyrinth proper. The worm has hair. He appears to be balding. He’s wearing a scarf. It didn’t take long to create that scarf, I’m sure. But someone, somewhere in Henson’s band of artists and dreamers decided that the worm needed something to give him a touch of character. Thus, the scarf.

I could go on for a long time just singing the praises of the puppets, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. (Or, visit Movie-Screencaps.com, where all of my images came from, and peruse their gallery.)

Moving beyond the obvious workmanship that went into the puppets, there’s so much more to appreciate here. For example, during one scene, Henson and company utilized an early version of green-screen technology. Watch a behind-the-scenes clip that explains it:

If you’re not able to watch, the puppeteers (and there was a team for each individual goblin in this scene) dressed in black velvet from head to toe and performed the scene with Sarah against a black velvet-covered set . The computerized camera shot the background after the fact. It was all put together during editing. This is a common practice for today, but it was a big deal for 1986. (Another fun fact! Gates McFadden, of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, choreographed the intricate work in this scene, and in fact served as the Director of Choreography and Puppet Movement for the entire film.)

If we abandon the technical aspects of the film and really get into the story, it’s deceptively simple. A spoiled teenage girl wishes for the Goblin King to take her baby brother away, and he does. Realizing the folly of her words, Sarah feels compelled to embark on a quest to get him back, even when the Goblin King gives her the option to … not. Sarah obviously succeeds, despite numerous obstacles and challenges, and manages to save the day. Simple, yes?

Not so much, when you start looking a little closer. I’ve harped about Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey before. It’s all present and accounted for here. Sarah is whisked away to the mysterious and fantastic labyrinth, which is populated by any number of nonhumans and monsters, and comes to a decisive victory when she overcomes Jareth’s temptations and challenges.

Let’s talk about those temptations for a minute. One major scene stands out. During the latter part of the film, when it appears that Sarah might be successful, Jareth resorts to dirty tactics. He bullies Sarah’s friend and guide, Hoggle, into giving Sarah a poisoned peach. Hoggle doesn’t want to — he’s become quite attached to Sarah by this point, but he’s terrified to disobey his king. Hoggle gives Sarah the peach, and after she takes one bite, she tumbles into a dream of a hazy masquerade ball. The dancers here are nothing like anyone else that she’s encountered thus far. The dream ball is filled with masked adults in seductive costumes, dancing, flirting, and whiling away the hours. Sarah appears in a modest white gown and is the only guest with no mask. She wanders for a while, seeming to be searching for something, while the audience catches tantalizing glimpses of Jareth, who’s watching Sarah intently. Eventually, Jareth finds Sarah and the pair begin to dance. For some time, it seems that Sarah has forgotten what she was doing and seems content.

Eventually, Sarah spies a clock in the corner and seems to remember something important. She manages to escape, but can’t recall her quest when she wakes up in a junkyard. Consider this scene and think about your knowledge of mythology and folklore for a moment. This entire scene calls to mind the Lotus-eaters of classical mythology:

I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return. (From Book IX of The Odyssey, more information here)

If you consider that Jareth, a human-appearing individual is the “goblin king” and start to think about that in terms of elves/faeries, you could make the argument that this scene (which seems to take place in a round ballroom, mind) is Jareth’s version of a fairy ring:

What then could be so dangerous about a circle of mushrooms? According to many English and Celtic tales, any human who enters a fairy ring will be forced to dance with the creatures, unable to stop until they go mad or perish of exhaustion…

…Welsh tradition’s dire tale varies slightly in that the unfortunate consequences of a human’s arrival into a fairy ring are not brought about by the fairies themselves, but by the nature of their world. According to the legend of Llewellyn and Rhys, the pace of the fairy world differs from that of the human one; a person could dance for minutes in a fairy ring only to discover that it has been days or weeks in the human one. And if one manages to make it back into the human realm, the shock could easily kill them. (From Garden Collage, “The Myth and Lore of the Fairy Ring“)

Pretty dark for a “kids” movie, when you really start to think about it.

One could argue that this film wasn’t made specifically with children in mind. There are some dark elements to this tale, but that’s true of most traditional fairy tales (and several of Henson’s other cinematic endeavors: The Dark Crystal, The Storyteller, and even the earlier Muppet movies dealt with adult themes). The story is definitely a coming-of-age tale, still unique in that it centers on a girl’s journey to adulthood. There’s also a touch of cautionary tale here: be careful what you wish for. Words have power.

This is shouted loud and clear by the film’s end. Sarah, having reached the castle beyond the Goblin City, is confronted by a weary-looking Jareth. He’s frustrated by Sarah at this point. He warns her that, despite his “generosity” to her prior to this final confrontation, he can be cruel. When Sarah challenges his claim of generosity, he snaps that he’s done everything for her. He took the child when she asked. He “reordered time, [and] turned the world upside-down,” and that he did it all for her. Sarah begins to understand her own power and when she attempts to wield it, Jareth stops her one final time. He claims (with a great deal of persuasion) that he can give Sarah her dreams. “I ask for so little,” he says. “Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want…. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave.” Sarah falters for a moment before declaring that Jareth, and everything he represents, has no power over her.

The question remains, then, what does Jareth represent? Dreams? Fantasy? Imagination? While we’re never given a definitive answer to this question, the final moments of the film suggest that Sarah is, indeed, finished with playing in the imaginary world. She goes about packing away the childish items that filled her room. Her quiet resignation shows that she is determined to move into the adult realm, leaving dream-filled fantasies behind.

Then that point gets a little shattered. I’m not going to ruin everything about the ending.

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Happily, if you’re intrigued by this film, or if you’re already a fan, you might be able to experience it on the big screen as I did. Fathom Events (remember them?) is once again in the midst of a limited screening of Labyrinth. Visit this page to look for a screening near you either today or tomorrow. If you’re interested, you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity, because who knows if it will ever happen again. If you decide to go, be gentle with your opinions of the special effects. Not all of them have aged gracefully. Go for the glorious puppet-work, Bowie’s irresistible soundtrack, Connelly’s extremely convincing portrayal of a teenage girl, and baby Toby Froud in his only on-screen role to date. Isn’t he cute in those striped PJs?