Line #64 YMMV/Labyrinth


1	!![[Film/{{Labyrinth}} The Movie]]
2	* AlternateAesopInterpretation:
3	** Adults don't have to give up fantasy and childish things, we just have to make sure to keep our priorities straight.
4	** As an extension of the growing-up Sarah does over the course of the film, part of what she has to realize is that sometimes, ''it's just not fair''. The situation you're in puts you at a disadvantage, and although you may not be able to change your situation, you ''are'' able to choose how you handle it. To declare "You have no power over me" is directly rejecting Jareth's manipulations and tyranny, and sets the tone for Sarah's independence from her parents.
5	** It can also be interpreted as a direct subversion of the typical coming-of-age moral, because Sarah admits at the end that she still does need her imaginary friends by her side. Growing up doesn't mean rejecting everything you loved as a child just because you were a child when you came to love it, growing up means learning to love those things ''as an adult''.
6	** Communication is important. At the beginning, Sarah is upset because her stepmother didn't check if Sarah had any plans that would interfere with babysitting Toby. Throughout the movie, Sarah falls deeper into the Labyrinth because she takes others' comments at face value without asking for critical details.
7	** Another Aesop could be interpreted from Sarah's attitude to Toby. At the start, she takes out her frustrations from how her parents are treating her on him. But when the baby is put in danger, she realises he's an innocent and he didn't do anything to deserve how she treated him. In the end, she lets him play with her stolen teddy bear, understanding that the baby isn't responsible for how her parents mistreat her. The Aesop here could be that one has no control over how others treat them, but they can control how they respond and react to that, and shouldn't punish innocent people because of it.
8	** Adults (and parents in particular) aren't necessarily any more emotionally mature or responsible than children; if the adults in your life can't or won't guide you when you need it, your imagination and the ideals you pull from the culture around you and from within your own self can guide you in their stead.
9	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
10	** Sarah's father and stepmother. The movie wants us to think that Sarah's just being a brat in need of some growing up, but in her short time on screen the stepmother makes a few insensitive comments that seem to justify Sarah's resentment, and her father seems either oblivious or apathetic to her obvious difficulties (Marvel's comic adaptation portrays her more sympathetically). ''Return to Labyrinth'' seems to go with this in the case of the stepmother, given that the now-teenaged Toby is having his own problems with her.
11	** Is Jareth a tragic villain who wants a family of his own, or is he a ManipulativeBastard who was bored and wanted to mess with Sarah? Or is he just one of the FairFolk, acting according to the BlueAndOrangeMorality of being a faerie king? Or was his villainy just a facade to teach Sarah a lesson?
12	* AngstWhatAngst: Sarah deals with TheReveal that goblins are real, her brother's been kidnapped by them, and Jareth showing up to offer her a deal with remarkable aplomb, and treats solving the labyrinth as a mildly annoying household chore she can't get out of. Either this is [[FridgeBrilliance a brilliant statement on it all being her imagination as she sits around the house bored]], or Jennifer Connelly thought her character should handle it as an UnusuallyUninterestingSight. Alternatively, Sarah is GenreSavvy and knows the story she's got herself into, so she figures she just has to play it out and there's no time for dilly-dallying. ''Alternatively'', it's AllJustADream and she's running with the absurdity the way we all do when we dream.
13	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: In this case, "Best Known For David Bowie's Pants". They probably exaggerate a little, but ''the'' reason most people remember this movie is for Jareth's very tight pants which accentuate his crotch-bulge. Almost any discussion of the movie will include a mention of David Bowie's bulge.
14	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The Fireys' scene (though there was a ''very'' small reference to it beforehand, it was still unimportant to the plot). Alternatively, it is about adolescence -- a VillainSong and HakunaMatata rolled into one. According to the "Making Of" documentary, the scene basically came about because Brian Froud, the guy who designed all the goblins, doodled the Fireys in his sketch book, took a liking to them, and then wanted to see what they could get away with doing using BlueScreen technology.
15	* BrokenBase: Music/DavidBowie's contributions to the film's soundtrack, while beloved by those who grew up with the film, are staunchly divisive among fans of Bowie's usual musical output. Some fans agree with the film's followers and believe that Bowie's songs do much to capture the mood of the film and the nuances of Jareth's character while effectively translating his talents to a family-oriented production. Other fans, meanwhile, pan the songs as a precursor to Bowie's near-unanimously derided album ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' from the following year, which featured a similar reliance on synthesizer bombast that meshed poorly with the rock-oriented songwriting.
16	* CultClassic: The film grossed $12.7 million on a $25 million budget and was savaged by critics, but has since gained this status. David Bowie's presence also contributes.
17	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: There's no shortage of fans who willingly admit that if they were in Sarah's position, they would abandon Toby and accept Jareth's seduction.
18	* DracoInLeatherPants: Jareth stole a baby, tried to bribe his older sister into forgetting about him, and tried to stop her numerous times when she went into the Labyrinth to rescue him, but you'll be hard pressed to find any fangirl who acknowledges that (or, for that matter, anyone who doesn't treat the FoeRomanceSubtext as canonical). He's a DracoInLeatherPants in the movie, too; VERY tight leather pants!
19	* EvilIsCool: The bad guy is played by David Bowie and he has an army of AdorableEvilMinions, what's not to love there??
20	* FanficFuel: How did a handsome RealityWarper like Jareth, who looks for all intents and purposes human, wind up ruling a land of AdorableEvilMinions who steal babies to turn them into more of their kind? The AllThereInTheManual material has no answer, and even the ExpandedUniverse isn't concerned with this question. Alternatively, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwVqOs3Aess the video for the opening song]] suggests that he kinda fell into the job.
21	* {{Fanon}}: [[Fanon/{{Labyrinth}} Now has its own page.]]
22	* FanNickname:
23	** [[UnusualEuphemism The Area]]. Yes, the internet has ''[[ICallHimMisterHappy named]]'' Bowie's crotch.
24	** "Underground" is the name of Jareth's kingdom according to a big part of the fandom, coming from the Bowie song that {{bookends}} the film.
25	* FoeRomanceSubtext: There's some Jareth/Sarah subtext in the movie. By the end, there's not much ''sub''text about it, at least on Jareth's part. StalkerWithACrush indeed:
26	-->"Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave."
27	** In earlier versions, Jareth outright tried to ''kiss'' her at the ball. This was most likely written out when they cast an actual 15 year old as Sarah. According to some reports, Bowie refused to kiss her, finding it inappropriate due to how young she was.
28	* HarsherInHindsight:
29	** Creator/JimHenson was devastated by the movie's lack of success at the box office, because the project was so emotionally close to him. The fact that he never lived to see it become the beloved cult classic it is now only seems to rub salt in the wound. However, it's worth noting that his son did inform him, towards the end of his life, that this and ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' were gaining appreciation in cult status.
30	** Jareth apparently having the hots for 15-year-old Sarah, since, shortly after Bowie's death, accusations of him sleeping with underaged groupies resurfaced.
31	* HilariousInHindsight:
32	** Sarah mistakenly calls Hoggle [[Literature/HarryPotter "Hogwart"]].
33	** At one point Jareth calls Hoggle "Hogger", which can be pretty hilarious to a viewer who's a VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft fan.
34	** Also, the line "The excitement of David Bowie" from the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_xpFZe20A trailer]] takes a whole new meaning now that his crotch has gone [[MemeticMutation memetic]].
35	** George Lucas and the Jim Henson company collaborating on a film, considering fifteen years later ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' would basically be "The Jim Henson Company does the ''Star Wars'' Cantina scene every week", and that it would be evicted from its Australian studios so ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' could be filmed.
36	** An issue of Starlog Magazine which had ''Labyrinth'' as its cover story, also had an article announcing that a sequel to ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' was being planned. The sequel ended up never happening, but the [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 remake came in 2008]] and happened to star Jennifer Connelly.
37	** ''Labyrinth'' came out in the US a few weeks after ''Film/TopGun'', another huge favorite of '80s nostalgia. Three-and-a-half decades later, Jennifer Connelly was cast as Tom Cruise's co-star in ''Film/TopGunMaverick''.
38	* IAmNotShazam:
39	** Jareth's kingdom is not "The Underground", that's just a song. Except for a [[FanNickname big part of the fandom]].
40	** Bizarre variant: A video game for the Nintendo Famicom sees Jareth introduce himself as ''David Bowe'' [sic]. [[TranslationTrainWreck That's the least of the game's problems.]]
41	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Jareth the Goblin King -- who kidnaps a baby and has a creepy attraction to a teenager -- is given the DracoInLeatherPants treatment because he's so attractive, charismatic and entertaining. Sarah's stepmother -- who rudely assumes Sarah will babysit without asking, tries to make her feel bad for not dating and plays the victim when Sarah gets annoyed at this treatment -- is especially disliked.
42	* MagnificentBastard: Jareth the Goblin King is a charismatic, manipulative goblin. First summoned by heroine Sarah, Jareth kidnaps her baby brother to lure her to him, spending the film manipulating the rest of the cast and tricking Sarah into eating an enchanted peach to make her more susceptible to his influence. Jareth shows genuine care for Sarah, even if he is not above ruthlessly manipulating her and everyone else in the film, but never loses his sense of charm, flamboyance and friendliness, even seeming to care for the child he kidnaps after his sister's rash wish.
43	* MemeticMutation:
44	** Every mention of ''Labyrinth'' will almost invariably make mention of "The Area". Including singing adapted lyrics to "Magic Dance" (Pants magic pants! You remind me of the bulge...).
45	** Here's one that predates the Internet: Go into any group of nerds and say;
46	--->'''Jareth:''' You remind me of the babe.\
47	'''Chorus:''' What babe?\
48	'''Jareth:''' The babe with the power.\
49	'''Chorus:''' What power?\
50	'''Jareth:''' The power of Voodoo.\
51	'''Chorus:''' Who do?\
52	'''Jareth:''' You do.\
53	'''Chorus:''' Do what?\
54	'''Jareth:''' Remind me of the babe!
55	** This one is actually OlderThanTheyThink, first appearing in the Cary Grant/Shirley Temple film ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer'' in the form of "You remind me of the man."
56	** [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick "If you have seen Labyrinth, you are not a virgin."]]
57	* {{Narm}}:
58	** Those who aren't turned on by Bowie's costume choices are laughing at it instead. [[TakeaThirdOption Or probably both]].
59	** Sarah's overt, dramatic and sincere invocation for the Goblin King to whisk her baby brother away is such a weirdly specific thing to ask for that she almost has no business being shocked when it works.
60	** Jareth's line, "Nothing, tra la la?" is either this or intentionally funny.
61	** Sarah's line "Come on, feet" when she sets off for the labyrinth. Who says that?
62	** As mentioned in SpecialEffectFailure: Ambrosius is so often an obvious puppet that you have to wonder why they even bothered getting a real dog. It's not like the puppet would have looked at all out of place with the rest of the film.
63	* NoYay: A 15-year-old being romantically pursued (implied by the line "Just let me rule you...") and watched over by a stretchy pants-wearing goblin king (David Bowie at 39) makes some folks squeamish. There may be some disturbing RealitySubtext here, considering the [[https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/i-lost-my-virginity-to-david-bowie reports that Bowie]] [[https://medium.com/@modernistwitch/human-alien-human-6b4a12a3f0a#.gvwgk7tke had an affair]] [[http://www.salon.com/2016/01/13/the_dark_side_of_david_bowie_as_the_mourning_goes_on_we_cant_ignore_his_history_with_underaged_groupies_in_70s/ with a teenager]], although these reports have thankfully been [[https://medium.com/@msullivangates/a-word-on-david-bowie-lori-mattix-and-the-speed-of-information-b38681f24cf4 cast]] [[https://medium.com/@msullivangates/update-pamela-des-barres-memoirs-also-contradicted-lori-maddox-s-story-4d4b4f939141 into]] [[https://johnscottcomedy.com/2016/01/15/david-bowie-sex-offender-a-case-for-concern-over-facts doubt]].
64	* OlderThanTheyThink: The "You remind me of the babe" exchange has long since overshadowed the original "You remind me of the man" exchange from ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer''.
65	* RetroactiveRecognition:
66	** Creator/DannyJohnJules provides the voices of two of the Fireys (the ones operated by Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire).
67	** Sarah's father is played by Creator/ChristopherMalcolm, who would later be best known for playing Justin in ''Series/AbsolutelyFabulous''.
68	** A goblin is voiced by Creator/JohnBluthal, who would later be best known for playing Frank Pickle in ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley''.
69	* SignatureScene:
70	** The "Magic Dance" musical number is one of the most well remembered moments in the film thanks to the catchiness of the song, the elaborate choreography that features heavy use of complex puppetry, and the fact that Music/DavidBowie spends the number dancing around in an '80s-fied version of his GlamRock-era getup (with plenty of flamboyance to match).
71	** The "As The World Falls Down" sequence, particularly Sarah's fancy ballgown.
72	** The climax in the Escher room.
73	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
74	** The scene with the "Fireys"[[note]]which includes the "Chilly Down" number[[/note]] -- ya know, those fuzzy pink things that routinely decapitated and amputated themselves and others for fun -- is notorious for having unusually bad ChromaKey special effects, even for its time. This is weird considering how ''good'' the special effects were in the rest of the movie. Now, wispy fuzzy semi-translucent fringes are about the most difficult possible item to chroma-key, but it hasn't been remedied at all in "remastered" DVD releases. (That said, though they were far from the awesome advances we have now, it's pretty good for a bunch of puppeteers in black velvet suits.)
75	** The child switches from a real baby to a doll a few times in "Magic Dance". [[note]]We should hope so! It gets thrown thirty feet in the air and caught by a puppet![[/note]]
76	** The owl at the beginning may have been a step forward for CGI back then. But it looks terribly laughable nowadays.
77	** During the confrontation with Humongous (the giant robot guarding the entrance to the goblin city) Ambrosius runs off to hide behind a rock and brushes against the "metal" spikes behind the group that sprang up just beforehand. They visibly wobble, indicating they are actually soft rubber.
78	** The film repeatedly alternates between using a real dog and a puppet for Ambrosius; the latter is ''very'' unconvincing, looking more like a stuffed toy than an actual dog.
79	* SoBadItsGood: Not the movie itself, which is a cult classic on its own. But Jennifer Connelly's acting requires either very thick NostalgiaGoggles or an appreciation for the {{camp}} value of her breathless, melodramatic performance. Connelly herself claims to have never watched the film due to how embarrassed she is by it.
80	* UglyCute:
81	** Awwww, how can you hate the lovable little goblins?
82	** Ludo is especially adorable.
83	** The Worm looks like a miniature [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Jabba the Hutt]], but he's so nice and endearing that it's hard not to like him.
84	** The Firey Gang can be adorable if you can get past their grotesqueness and habit of taking themselves apart.
85	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
86	** This is perhaps the most 1980's of 1980's fantasy films: there's the extensive use of special effects techniques (matte paintings, puppets and animatronic costumes, bluescreen, early CGI) that were largely abandoned by Hollywood once CGI became high-quality and commonplace in the next decade, a synthesizer-heavy underscore, and a ''serious'' case of EightiesHair on the villain. Said villain is played by Music/DavidBowie, whose international popularity peaked in this decade, and he also wrote the musical numbers.
87	** The musical numbers themselves probably embody this trope more heavily than anything else Bowie did in his music career, being far more SynthPop-oriented than the pop rock he was putting out everywhere else in the 1980's.
88	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Sarah is intended to be seen as a BrattyTeenageDaughter who's late home and thinks only of herself rather than the baby she's taking care of, and the story is about her redeeming herself for letting Toby be taken away. Except she wasn't asked if she'd babysit Toby; her parents just assumed she would, and they even see no problem violating her privacy by giving one of her toys to the baby without her knowledge. Add that to how her stepmother seems to try to make her feel bad for not dating (at only fifteen!) and some of her supposed 'brattiness' seems quite tame.
89	* VanillaProtagonist: Like a classic fairy tale, this story is less about Sarah and more about the supernatural world she travels through and the supernatural creatures she meets. Notably, while she's got some teen angst at the start of the film, she has her HeelRealization as soon as Toby is taken away -- and the plot is about her navigating the more colourful world.
90	* VindicatedByHistory: A box office failure when it came out, and largely panned by critics over the {{Camp}}, convoluted plot and being all style no substance. Even by the 90s, critics began re-evaluating it. Appreciation for David Bowie's performance, the technical brilliance of the puppetry, the synth pop soundtrack, and a deeper story than it was given credit for has led to ''Labyrinth'' enjoying a better reputation. And of course, there's the nostalgic value for those who watched it when it came out or when it was shown on Nickelodeon frequently in the 2000s.
91	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Despite experiencing shortcomings at times (see SpecialEffectsFailure above), the puppetry holds up fairly well more than three decades later, with special mention going to Hoggle and the Worm.
92	* WTHCostumingDepartment: What is with all of Jareth's costumes? Pragmatism. He's played by Music/DavidBowie. Bear in mind that before ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' shattered the Fantasy Movie Ghetto Age, directors and writers of fantasy movies were desperate for any PeripheryDemographic they could find. {{Squee}}ing {{Fangirl}}s were willing to pay to see David Bowie in tights. Also, it sort of went with David Bowie's style. If you're going to cast David Bowie, may as well use him in a way you know works. Funnily enough, Jareth's outfits were ''tamer'' than Bowie's GlamRock-era stage attire.

Context YMMV / Labyrinth