If last week somebody told me I’d be obsessed about Labyrinth and David Bowie, I’d have laughed my head silly. I saw the movie in the previous month. Sure I liked it. I loved it. But it did not leave me feeling depressed and lonely, as I always do whenever I’m in my “obsessed mode.” (I don’t know why but my obsessions tend to leave me feeling full of emotions yet drained of them at the same.)
Something – perhaps my obsession muse annoyed at me for not having a new obsession lately – poked my mind into researching the Labyrinth.” And against my better judgment, I was falling again. Hard, as usual. So I found myself buying me a copy of the film so I could watch it again and again, whenever I feel the need to get obsessed even more.
There are just several reasons I love Labyrinth and David Bowie (and no, it was not DB’s sinfully tight pants that hooked me to him, although they also had their… uhm, shall we say “attractions”? 😉 )
I am not a reliable critique of anything. My reviews are based on my own preferences and opinion. And I do tend to get emotional at times. So what I do or say in a fit of passion tended to be more colorful, or less, depending on the subject. Still, I feel the need to explain myself, if only to rationalize why the movie and the man affect me so much.
First off, Labyrinth, a dark fantasy with romantic undertone (which I hoped had been ended differently) was a masterpiece, which, I’d like to point this out and I hope I won’t be flamed for doing so, cannot be said for some fantasy films. Everything, from the theme, to the plot, to the score, to the cast, to the puppets, to the special effects, was simply great. Even the opening credits was splendid on its own.
Then there was David Bowie – need I say more? Before watching the film, I read reviews of it and most fans commented he was one hot Goblin King. Of course I disagreed. How could I not when he did not look at all that gorgeous on the CD cover? But boy, was I wrong? From his first appearance down to when he was intimidating Sarah into submitting to him, he simply set the screen on fire (and again, I’m not referring to his… uhm, outrageous outfit?). He was an impressive Goblin King; a multi-faceted persona who could turn menacing and intimidating when he needed to, and pull it off convincingly. But he was not entirely evil, though. Remember the times when he held little Toby in his arms? He was not sinister there. He rather looked tender and protective of the baby he promised to turn into a goblin. Those images stayed in my mind and refused to let go. Whose heart would not melt when looking at a man as compelling as David Bowie holding a helpless, fragile baby close to his heart? Not me, I assure you.
Most of the scenes were memorable. It was the masked ball, though, that gave me goose bumps. It was eerily poignant it made me feel it was I who was losing a vital part of my life. It gave me a sense of deja vu, which I did not find entirely crazy as I semi-believe in reincarnation. David Bowie as the Goblin King as usual looked splendid. But it was the expression on his face that did it for me. While he was dancing with Sarah, the look on his face spoke of deep sadness and longing, of pain of an impending loss, of despair, of trying to reach out but was forced to hold back. The music for the ball, As the World Falls Down, was a perfect backdrop. David Bowie’s throaty voice, the lyrics, and the background music unerringly sends out a message so melancholic it made me want to crawl inside a hole and hide there and just cry. The scene in Escher room also plunged a knife in my heart and twisted it cruelly until I’m ready to crawl inside my protective hole again. The look on Jareth’s (the Goblin King) face when Sarah refused what he was offering was just so filled with pain it made me wonder if David Bowie just knew how to portray that emotion perfectly or if he had really been hurt badly before. I knew Sarah was till too young to understand what Jareth was offering. Still, I could not help but hurt with him. He was offering her a fantasy – a man who’ll love her forever and give her her heart’s desire, a man who’ll be gentle with her and protect her with all his power. What woman wouldn’t want that? Not me. Not many women out there. But then again, Sarah was not yet fully a woman. And it was her fantasy, not mine nor other women’s, so she could do whatever she wished with it. Still…
Anyhow, the ending was as perfect as it could get. But romantic sap that I am, I wished for it to have been different. I wanted Jareth to end up with Sarah, for him to not feel that heartache. But maybe too I’m just reacting strongly to David Bowie. I love him as Jareth, and perhaps my opinion was colored by that. Had someone told me a few days ago that he’d become one of my obsessions/crushes/objects of fantasy, I’d have brushed that statement off. But now, I could only agree wholeheartedly and wish I were in that fantasy instead of Sarah. If I were, I would have made a entirely differently and satisfying – to me at least – ending to the story.
fleeting passions 