Comment on Pika-la-Cynique's profile
I want to share a reddit conversation I had, but I lost the link and will recount the conversation by memory.
The post was "What was the weirdest sexual thing you have been asked to do that you agreed to?"
A guy in the thread talked about how his girlfriend would make him act out her erotic fiction about an immortal and arrogant space elf. I responded glibly "Jareth!" before I went to bed, and he sent several replies within the few hours I was asleep asking "What!? How did you know? Did you know her? Do you know me? Who are you?" and had to wait until I logged on after work the next day to get my explanation (he'd seen the movie, but forgotten it and didn't really seem to get the connection.)
Virtual high-five to whoever that girl was, and virtual hug to the dude.
The post was "What was the weirdest sexual thing you have been asked to do that you agreed to?"
A guy in the thread talked about how his girlfriend would make him act out her erotic fiction about an immortal and arrogant space elf. I responded glibly "Jareth!" before I went to bed, and he sent several replies within the few hours I was asleep asking "What!? How did you know? Did you know her? Do you know me? Who are you?" and had to wait until I logged on after work the next day to get my explanation (he'd seen the movie, but forgotten it and didn't really seem to get the connection.)
Virtual high-five to whoever that girl was, and virtual hug to the dude.
Y'know, culturally, we're full into this whole 80s nostalgia, retro remake pandering to grown-up geeks with purchasing power phase, and once we've powered through the obvious (Star Wars, the suburbs of Spielbergia... ) and the boys' toys, I think it is only just starting to show how strongly Labyrinth marked the girls, and how damn many paranormal romance love interests can be directly traced back to the lasting impressions left by one Goblin King. I mean, most women authors, actresses, content creators various, whose work I enjoy, they all know the Magic Dance. The fanfic output is a statistical aberration compared to the usual canon expanse/popularity/age parameters. And mainstream pop-culture awareness may spare a nod for "glitter and cool puppets!" and Crotch jokes, and friendly male ubergeek co-worker will acknowledge it in the great 80s fantasy films lineup, but they totally misunderestimate the undercurrents and female Deep Fandom here.
Admittedly I am biased and this is my major fandom haunt, but.
Admittedly I am biased and this is my major fandom haunt, but.
The archetypes are right there in the movie, when the Goblin king statue shows up next to the music box and we've seen the brief glance in the news clipping at the Bowie face of her mother's new love (who took her away from the family). All of the characters appear in her room as toys and games and...bookends not unlike the farmhands and others show up in Dorothy's Oz in the movie but the connections are never so clearly offered as that conflation of Evil and Sexy elf lord with her mother's escape with Forbidden Fruit to create a demon king... who's as luring as he is scary for a girl teetering on the cusp of womanhood. The subtext in that movie couldn't be clearer if there were subtitles. That movie speaks to young girls with hypnotic a pull as the "boy toys" and male fantasies in the others and it's premise is far more undiluted than similar fare like "Ladyhawk".