7 life lessons learned from Labyrinth
Posted by staff / August 28, 2014
Aaaah, Labyrinth, the fountain of many a young girl’s (and boy’s) fascination with David Bowie, and as The Mary Sue’s Sara Goodwin points out, a font of life lessons to be learned after one got over wondering if it was truly appropriate for a full-grown man to be wearing those pants in a movie that seemed to be geared for the young.
But we digress…
The next time you catch these classics, see if you come away with the same wisdom, and if you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?
What to do when life isn’t fair.
Sarah frequently exclaims, “It’s not fair!” It isn’t fair that she has to babysit when she would rather cosplay in the park. It isn’t fair that the denizens of the labyrinth keep messing with her to keep her from reaching the Goblin King. It isn’t fair that her parents just don’t understand. Throughout her journey in the labyrinth, Sarah learns that when life isn’t fair, sometimes you just have to suck it up and function. One of my favorite quotes from Jareth, the Goblin King, is when he replies to Sarah’s “It’s not fair!” with, “You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is?” That’s truth, people. Life-changing truth. Later, when she needs Hoggle’s help and takes his shiny things to force his hand, he protests that it isn’t fair, and Sarah says, “No, it isn’t. But that’s the way it is.” She’s grown as a character and is losing her adolescent selfishness and replacing it with resourcefulness and resolve.
It’s okay to cosplay in the park by yourself.
Sometimes, all you want is to put on your princess dress and hit the park. If you feel the urge, do it. Be yourself. It’s possible that Sarah didn’t have friends—that issue is not directly addressed in the movie. It’s equally possible that she did have friends and they also like to cosplay in the park. As a kid watching the movie, I remember this being a pretty big deal. Baby me was all, “I can do that… outside? Where the people are?” And now adult me is like, “Yeah, pumping gas in my steampunk ballgown. Bring it, world!” Sarah was my first concrete example of letting my costume nerd out to the world, and I thank her fictional self for being confident and awesome. And for making me irrationally obsessed with wearing peasant blouses with vests that look like they were shaved off the cushion of a couch. Yes, still. After all of this time? In the words of Professor Severus Snape—always.
Oh, and just to refresh those preteen memories…
Full story at The Mary Sue.
Graphics credit: Canva
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