mis-pensamientos-y-yo

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

'Labyrinth' and how trauma makes us search for escapism

Welcome to 'Mikaela please log off' where i talk and overanalyze movies because i'm unemployed. In today's hell of a post, i'm going to talk about probably my favourite movie and one that has shaped me for my entire life: 1986 'Labyrinth', with musical numbers written and performed by none other than Miss David Bowie himself! SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now i've seen this movie more times than i've seen my own face in the mirror. It's a movie i enjoyed in my childhood and certainly one that has shaped me, with how the puppets have a certain uncanny feel to them almost and how crazy and whimsical the whole movie is. It trully is an amazing movie that can be enjoyed by children, but also by adults as well, with many of the movie's themes and meanings being hidden or something you find with experience or relate to later in life. Because the movie is a very clear reference to fairytales like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, is no surprise to know there are many, many different readings that can be done to it. The firts reading i made of the movie when i rewatched it as an adult was that the movie was a very clear allegory for growing up and maturing, having to leave behind your childhood but also keeping in mind your inner child so that you don't lose yourself in the labyrinth that is life.

While the allegory reading is correct, and i think it's one of the meanings behind the movie and certainly the most obvious theme, it's definetly not the only one. One thing kept me wondering after watching the movie this time: Why is the phrase 'You have no power over me' so important? It's used in the beginning of the film, with Sarah forgetting this line in her book, and by the end, when she's facing Jareth, Sarah remembers the phrase by herself, clearly showing us as viewers the inner power Sarah has over her life. It's obvious this line is meant to represent Sarah's ambition and power, but why is it this phrase? Whi is it You have no power over me and not something else like 'My power lies within me' which could tie to the end of the film, with Bowie's Within you playing? Well, after rewatching it recently, i figured it out: Sarah isn't just talking to Jareth, she's talking to her stepmother.

At the beginning of the film Sarah seems to be, on the surface, a spoiled 15 year old girl who doesn't want to do her chores and just wants to play around, not even wanting to date, something her stepmom wants her to do. Her stepmother wants her to mature and grow, to find love, etc. And Sarah and her obviously do not get along a lot. Two important details appear when Sarah goes back to her room at the beginning after fighting with her stepmother over having to take care of her little brother: her stepmother talks to her dad, telling him 'She treats me like the wicked stepmother of a fairytale', and when Sarah goes to talk to her to her room, he doesn't even bother to open the door or make sure she's okay after the fight. To some people these details seem just normal parent behaviour, but it was very clear to me after the film that Sarah is being emotionally neglected by her father, and possibly made by her stepmother to grow up to fast. Sarah is fifteen and an older sister, and unfortunately is common for older sisters to act as parents for their siblings while also not being taken care of themselves. We see Sarah clinging to her childhood as an escapism from the fact she feels completely neglected, since her dad won't even open the door to talk to her.

When Sarah tells Toby her fairytale, it's a clear depiction of how she feels like: There once was a princess who was basically a slave to her stepmother and she was forced to take her of her baby brother. Sarah takes her rage out on her brother and sends him away with the goblins, and inmediatly regrets it. She's repeating patterns of abuse. She's realizing sending her brother away is the submitting him to the same neglectful behaviour she has struggled with. So she makes a deal with Jareth to get him back.

Jareth poses an interesting character in Sarah's healing journey from her trauma. He's in love with her, in very possessive, clingy way that makes him do anything she asks him too to try to manipulate her to love him, which doesn't work on her, because she's probably used to it. The fact Sarah has a lot of toys and costumes, which makes us feel like she's spoiled, while being simultaneously emotionally neglected, is a very common way a manipulator convinces the victim there's no reason to feel that way. So seeing as she's used to being gifted things, being given 'her dreams', instead of actual emotional support and availability, Sarah is basically inmune to Jareth's advances. This could be read as Sarah's first experience with love outside of her family life, which is also a common thing in the experiences of older sisters: they date men who aren't good for them, repeating the patterns they're used to and being once again emotionally hurt. By the end of the movie, after meeting new friends Sarah loves deeply and grows to appreciate, and by being shown there are people who do care about her and who do love her and respect her, Sarah is able to fight Jareth alone, because she might be phisically alone, but she knows her friends have her back always. The found family trope is used here even until the end when we think Sarah has grown and the people she met in the Labyrinth are gone, and Sarah tells Jareth he has no power over her because she finally has healed, and she knows she deserves better.

By the end, Sarah has matured and learned, not just about herself, but about love and relationships of all kinds. She gives Toby her plushie as a way of showing she doesn't need to desperately cling to her childhood anymore, because she now has people in her life who care about her for real, and also she tucks him in as a way to show she's going to break the cycle, and show him finally the emotional support she didn't get from her parents. She keeps many things in her room, but puts others away, and when her friends from the Labyrinth appear to tell her they'll be there if she needs them, they don't simply say this and go away, but she makes them stay. 'I need you', she tells them, because even if she's healed, her life might still be filled with the remnants of her trauma, and an escapism might be needed. But most importantly, 'I need you', because they're her friends, her found family, the people who have shown her what she deserves in her life.

The movie definetly shows us the many highs and lows in life, particularely in adolescence, and how the journey to being mature can be difficult. But these subtle themes of emotional neglect, trauma, and the struggles of a young girl forced to grow up a little too soon trully give the movie another layer of depth that maybe not everyone might see, but some of us, specially those of us who relate to these struggles, do see and aknowledge, reminding us that we're not alone and that we deserve better, for our trauma has no power over us.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Por qué me aparece tu nombre o tu apellido en muchos lugares? Soy yo llamandote con mi mente? Es el destino ? O simplemente es una coincidencia.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Vivo con la maldición de verte en todas partes aunque al fin y al cabo me hace falta verte más.

Rogi

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Me da miedo ver las fotos que tengo contigo porque es como si te viera en persona y el que me veas a los ojos me pone muy nerviosa.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Es posible que por más que lo intentemos nunca logremos encajar.

Javanaise

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

¿De verdad somos tan distintos o solo es un consuelo que inventé para no sentirme tan mal?

Catarsis

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

A veces simplemente no puedo con todas las cosas que pasan por mi cabeza.

Loquesemeocurraescribo

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

La otra noche tuve un bajon emocional, escuchando una cancion que me recuerda a ti, llore tanto que amaneci con los parpados irritados e hinchados, me senti desepcionada de mi misma porque llore por ti.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Una de las estupidezes que hice por "amor" fue colocarme la trimestral creyendo que tendriamos "acción", pero resulta que volviste con ella y obviamente no me volviste a hablar.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Le pido a Dios que haga que deje de pensar en ti que te quiero liberar, porque te hago daño y más que todo me hago daño a mi.

Escuchó mis suplicas porque ya no eres lo primero que pienso al despertar ni lo último que pienso al dormir.

One day I'm gonna forget your name.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Me duele que no me hables, creo que es mi ego o talvez eres un capricho, pero tengo genuina duda de por qué no me hablas :(, ya no te guste? Soy mucho o poco para ti? En serio la amas? Y yo fui solo tu entretenimiento?

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Mi intuición me dijo que seguias aqui, al principio no le crei pense que solo era paranoia pero luego una amiga y me dijo que todavia no te fuiste de la ciudad.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Justo cuando estoy dejando de pensar en ti, veo a alguien muy parecido a ti y como estoy medio ciega creo que eres tu.

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Parece que a todo lugar donde voy me persiguen sus presencias, ya sea en el coro de la iglesia o en una conversacion con una vieja amiga.

Hasta cuando tendre que sufrir con estas coincidencias de telenovela?

[mis-pensamientos-y-yo]

Estaba bien, dirvirtiendome con mis amigos pero luego de la nada pienso en ti y me puse triste porque pienso que estas mejor que yo y no signifique algo importante para ti.