What I Learned from Labyrinth

The cinematic product of Jim Henson, George Lucas, and David Bowie took me away. I mean, AWAY away. For roughly an hour and a half, it wasn’t my 20th birthday. I wasn’t sitting there, unblinking, in my living room watching it for the first time. I wasn’t stressed out by work and school nonsense.

I was somewhere in the labyrinth, right beside Sarah and Hoggle, as we struggled to make a careening beeline for the towering kingdom of Jareth. I hoped and prayed I wouldn’t be sent to the Bog of Eternal Stench (even though I was), for who knows what might be lurking down there? Jareth himself, waiting to announce our fates that didn’t exactly smell like a bouquet of roses?

That’s pure escapism. Any movie that can pull that off is a winner in my book. Although I was, for the most part, thoroughly gone, I remembered something a fellow Bowie fan had told me to look out for, prior to viewing it: it’s chock full of metaphors. (If you happen to be the one who alerted me, thanks a bunch!!) And boy, was that fan right. As a metaphor junkie, I’ll admit it was tough to scout them all out without returning to my living room, but it was worth it. In fact, I’ll most likely have to visit Goblin City a second or third time to really soak everything in. But for now, this is what Labyrinth taught me the very first time I saw it.

Nothing is what it seems.

Perhaps the most obvious lesson of them all, it even appears on the DVD cover, and rightfully so. Sarah views her baby brother as a nuisance, an intrusion on her life. Toby cries, he screams no matter how she tries to console him, which renders the teen clueless. When my brother was a baby, I felt the same whenever he started crying. Why does he have to be so loud? What’s he trying to say? What do we do? Sarah, wrapped up in her own business, fails to see that Toby is simply going through a tough moment and that he won’t be mercilessly crying all his life. She values him less than her leisurely time for herself, a priority soon to be reversed.

We can’t forget ol’ Hogwart! The little goblin, whom I interpreted as Jareth’s landscaper/pest exterminator/maintenance guy, seems willing to prevent Sarah’s reunion with Toby. I felt that he wanted to see her fail; he was a subtle sadist. Later on, after he’s shown her the way into the labyrinth, he turns out to be her “underground hero,” coming to her aid when she has trouble with the small, technical obstacles of her journey. Hoggle lies to Jareth when he is nearly caught helping the enemy, as he is ordered by the King to send Sarah back to square one, the labyrinth’s entrance. He fought on her side in the war at Goblin City and, ultimately, promised Sarah he’d be there for her if she should need him.

Walls change, dead ends form, brick walls are actually optical illusions, even the tiles of the floor get swapped from time to time. The labyrinth itself is not what it seems, and neither is its movie.

Even if you don’t see it, you HAVE come a long way.

Occasionally, Sarah gets frustrated and is on the verge of breaking down within the massive maze, and understandably so. Navigating her way through the Helping Hands, trap doors, walls that literally close her in, and Jareth nearly killing her and Hoggle, she doubts she’ll ever see her baby brother again. After they surface from the oubliette, Hoggle assures Sarah that, contrary to her belief, she has come far. The camera pans out, revealing walls made of shrubbery rather than stone and brick, and the joyous truth in Hoggle’s words. Jareth’s castle is closer than ever, and almost in their view. Even my mom, sitting right beside me, said, “Oh, she really has come far!” once we as viewers were able to take a step back and observe the big picture.

Sarah’s progress teaches us to believe in ourselves and to not give up when our goals seem unfeasible. I got a little emotional at this part because it’s what resonated the most with me. I suffer from general anxiety. The illness will tell you everything you never wanted to hear: you won’t get out of it, it won’t get better, or you haven’t improved since your first anxiety attack. It’s cruel and ruthless. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone, not even the number of coworkers who’ve done me wrong when I knew I didn’t deserve it. But Labyrinth gives me hope. I am Sarah, anxiety is the labyrinth, and Jareth’s castle is my goal of tranquility. The menacing walls of thought obstruct my view of a positive future. I may feel small and insignificant compared to my own racing mind, but not too far behind it all lies the kingdom of happiness, a place where I can exist as me, and not a lost, disoriented version of myself. And that’s a powerful lesson coming from a short little goblin.

Don’t take everyday things for granted.

Do I sound like your parents yet? ;)

Revisiting Sarah and Toby, Sarah allowed her selfishness to overtake her altruism for her brother. After all, she had plans to go out with her friends on the same day her parents decided to have a night out. And that’s totally NEVER happened to me before! Anyway, I doubt she thought she’d really meet the Jareth the Goblin King when she summoned him to take Toby away. Sarah was clouded with anger and didn’t consider, if Jareth actually did show up, how bad her deed was or how much she’d miss having a brother.

To my surprise, Sarah regretted her decision immediately and pleaded for a way out of it before Jareth even left Toby’s room. That quick response isn’t something I see every day in the movies.

We would do anything for our families.

Sarah puts the “I’d walk _____ miles for you” cliche into personification. She may have been scared to continue, but never refused or gave up, all for baby Toby. She was nearly plowed by the cleaners, dropped into the oubliette, forced to face Jareth and his crystals, tricked into biting into a poison peach, deceived by a lady goblin, even went to war with her ragtag band, crusaded the anti-gravity staircases in M.C. Escher’s famed painting, and had her final face-off with the King at the top of his castle. Pretty good big sis, if you ask me!

You don’t always hate the villain.

There’s something unique about Jareth the Goblin King that allows him to stand out from the usual “villain” stereotype. It’s not the fact that he’s brought to life by David Bowie (okay, maybe that’s a portion of it), but perhaps his motivation. He does not victimize Sarah because she’s a threat, she has some sort of power he wants, or because she’s his mortal enemy. He only does what she asked him to. Isn’t that his job?

Most villains in the movies, animated or live action, are portrayed as ugly and/or flawed. The Evil Stepmother has wrinkles, an elongated face, and a menacing glare. The Wicked Witch of the West is green and has warts. Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean has slimy skin, no nose, and a face full of tentacles. Jareth is totally human and not too scary in appearance. Sure, he might be intimidating, but nowhere near nightmarish. You just don’t see many bad guys with 80s hair to die for, flawless eye makeup, tights accentuating you-know-what, and stylish accessories. He doesn’t seem evil, but doesn’t the movie teach that nothing is what it seems?

Also, Jareth is repeatedly seen cradling Toby and sitting him on his lap, sharing the throne with him. He even sang a song for him (and tossed him maybe five feet in the air) with the intent of cheering him up and stopping him from crying! The Goblin King took on a fatherly role in Toby’s life, making sure he’s never truly in danger when he could’ve easily thrown him to his goblins, left him in a cage, or simply turned him into a goblin once he “stole” him. Aside from whimpering as all babies do, Toby did not appear frightened of Jareth in the slightest.

Never give up on yourself.

While the most obvious lesson in persistence is Sarah’s voyage through the labyrinth, many other characters demonstrate it as well.

Jareth never surrenders Toby until he has no choice. Why would he surrender to a teenage girl anyway? He's the king!

Hoggle insists on coming to Sarah’s aid despite his visibility on Jareth’s radar. In fact, he comes only a few steps away from being caught, then lies to protect her. Not even the threat of doom in the Bog of Eternal Stench can sway him; he’s determined to fight for the greater cause.

Didymus didn’t give up on his valiant ride with Merlin Ambrosius, Sarah’s dog, while in the battle of Goblin City. Although he was all over the place without a clear plan of who to conquer, he was doing everything he could to help.

Finally, through his catchy tune “Underground,” Bowie acknowledges that our romantic lives can slap us all in the faces sometimes, the artist himself being no stranger to tainted love. True love, he reassures us, can be found in the underground, or where we least expect it. It’s there, hidden in plain sight. Perhaps when we stop looking for it. So, to all you lonely hearts in your nooks and crannies of the world, don’t give up. David Bowie and I have faith in you.

Labyrinth, a 1986 film with lovable and funny characters, is an allegory filled to the brim with metaphors, hidden Jareth, and life lessons that anyone could take away from. The one thing I would change about it? More screen time for David Bo — I mean, Jareth the Goblin King. ;)