Review of Labyrinth (2011) by Sarah E — 18 Feb 2011

I think I appreciate this movie more having seen it as an adult. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed it as a child, just that I think it's better when you have some critical thinking skills to tackle it with. Labyrinth has some pretty wicked subtext, and David Bowie gives a killer performance...in skin-tight leather pants, no less.

The protagonist Sarah is a fifteen year old girl with a wild imagination. She doesn't date, has few if any friends, and she spends her days reciting lines she can't quite remember in a park near her house. It's clear she doesn't enjoy her home life: her father has remarried, and there's a new baby for her to watch over, a baby who has, in a way, replaced Sarah, who is herself in a great many ways still a child. Frustrated and angry by his presence during a night of babysitting, Sarah wishes that the goblins would take him away. So they do. Sarah is then given twenty-four hours by the goblin king Jareth to navigate her way through the labyrinth and retrieve her baby brother. If she fails, the baby stays with him and becomes a goblin himself.

There's so few fantasy film that support the independence of their female protagonists. Labyrinth is one of them. The movie isn't about Sarah taking her place as wife and mother, nor is it about her submission to the cruel yet seductive Jareth. In fact, Labyrinth's main source of conflict arises from Sarah ignoring her own power, authority, and strength. It takes her confrontation with the impossibly powerful Jareth to realize just how great her kingdom is and how little sway he holds over her. There's no knight in shining armour to come rescue her, no final submission to contend with. Sarah cultivates her own friendships and embraces her power of imagination, resulting in an extremely satisfying film.