Has your opinon changed?

[kraisins]

My best friend and I watched it just recently (again) and I found my perception of a lot of things in the movie has really changed. When the movie first came out, I was 15. My best friend (same one as above) and I saw it in theater about 13 times or so. just loved and obsessed with it. In the early nineties, I was in the best Labyrinth online RPG and had tons of memoribilia from ebay.

But now I find I'm viewing the story and characters from a new light. When my son first watched it several years ago, the scene where Toby is taken really scared him. I also remember thinking that Sarah was really pretty awful to Toby who probably just needed a change.

Now I look at Sarah, no longer with the eyes of a girl but with the eyes of a mother. My son is now 13 and I see the tantrums that Sarah threw only in my own home. The over dramatic, "i can't do anything right, can I?" shouts. I did have the urge to send her to her room and ground her from her xbox.

Jareth also took on a whole new persona to me. Now he really is a little bit creepy for being so into a 15 year old girl. His speech at the end which used to thrill me so now seems lifted from the abusive boyfriend manual.

I still love the movie but I think it's interesting how we change our viewpoint as we grow older.

[Bezzo]

Jen, you've finally posted!!! Hooray!!!

The only time my opinion has changed was when I watched it again as a teenager. As a child, I never picked up on the air of romance or sexuality, I was always rooting for Sarah to beat the wicked Goblin King. Obviously, once I hit my teens I was able to see it from a completely different perspective. It was all about Jareth!! I loved the idea of this handsome and mysterious man falling in love with a regular, teenage girl. Even then, though, I was never really a fan of the Jareth/Sarah relationship.

My opinion now is still pretty much the same, although my thoughts on the whole Jareth/Sarah thing has changed. I think in my teens I didn't like the relationship because of jealousy but now I think that it's because I don't believe he actually really loves her. After looking deeper into that final conversation between them, I do think that he only "loves" her because she expects him to.

Helen

[kraisins]

You know Helen, I hadn't thought of that. When she's telling her story to Toby in the beginning, she does say the King had fallen in love with the girl. So it could be that he only loves her because he was just living up to her expectations. That puts Sarah in a rather poor light imo.

[Bezzo]

In the beginning she is a whiny, spoilt and self centred brat so, in her mind, why wouldn't he fall in love with her?! Obviously, her journey through the labyrinth changes her views.

Still don't like her though! hehe

Helen

[telegramsam]

I kind of agree with Bezzo on Jareth and Sarah.

When I first saw the movie, I remember really liking it and thinking the muppets were awesome and Jareth was a bit scary, I don't think I really picked up on the sexual subtext at all but then I was still a kid. I didn't see it again until last summer, and obviously my perceptions of it are a bit more complex these days but I appreciate it more now I think, than I ever did as a kid.

I never really saw any kind of real romance in Jareth and Sarah's encounters though, then or now - as a kid I saw him as a simple threatening villain, now I see him as a threatening villain who is also something of a victim himself, of Sarah's childishness and his confined, scripted role in her quest. I guess it's not so much as a changed opinion as an opinion that's just gotten a few more layers to it. Kids tend to see things at face-value and black-and-white morally, but I think most of us grow out of that (well, some people don't, unfortunately).

[Emerald Ninja]

I have been a very big fan of villains since I was kid. But not bad people or killers, well layered villains like the Wicked Witch of the West, Darth Vader, Murkey and Lurkey etc.

So when I first saw Jareth I was floored. I always thought he was romantic and a little scary, of course cold and cruel as well. But he was still a King, royalty, he just has a twisted way he sees the world.

So when I saw it as an adult I was still amazed. I like the movie even more. Like telegramsam said, "not so much as a changed opinion as an opinion that's just gotten a few more layers to it."

I love showing it to my kids, to see it again through their eyes.

And the songs were wonderful. I really thought I was a fan of Bowie since he sang all the songs, but I tried his other music and just couldn't get into it. Its ok, it's just not Labyrinth.

[Elenna]

Oh, my opinion has definitely changed over the years. I remember seeing the movie as a babe and being frightened of the movie, but when I turned 15, I fell in love with the hidden romance between Jareth and Sarah.

I recently watched it and I'm now looking at the movie in more of it's "morals" and respecting what Jim Henson, George Lucas, and David Bowie created.

As the years continue to go on, I find myself getting in the "Labyrinth" mode every once in a while: times when I want to read LOTS of Jareth/Sarah fanfiction or write it, watching the movie HUNDREDS of times, and buying more memorabilia.

I don't think I'll ever grow out of the whole "Labyrinth" phase, but I think my perception will change even more over the years.