Myth in the Movie "Labyrinth" - Kate Bennett

     Over Spring Break, I decided to rewatch one of my favorite movies: Jim Henson's Labyrinth. In the movie, a young girl by the name of Sarah is tasked with navigating through a labyrinth in order to rescue her baby brother, Toby. Toby has been stolen by the Goblin King (David Bowie), who controls the labyrinth and all of the creatures inside of it. The movie goes on to depict Sarah's journey through the labyrinth, in which she encounters a number of 'magical' beings. Early on, Sarah catches sight of a small, female winged creature, presumably a fairy. She is immediately enamored by the creature, exclaiming how cute it was and drawing closer. As she pokes her finger out touch it, however, the creature bites her. When she pulled back and shouted out in pain, Hoggle, a goblin that she had befriended along the way, asserted, "Well they're fairies. What did you expect?" 

    I was instantly reminded of our previous conversations of myth. While the normative view of myth is something juvenile and innocent, authors like Tolkien and Lewis have expressed that this is truly not the case. Fairies, who we once took to be feeble, friendly creatures are actually cunning and mischievous. Similarly, "On Fairy-Stories" taught us that mythical creatures are more indifferent to human interaction than anything. Humanity tends to consider that myth is created solely for the human experience, but it is more so the case that these worlds, and everything inside of them, are individual entities just as we are. This checks out in Labyrinth, considering the fairy seemingly would have preferred to be left alone by Sarah, or else it wouldn't have felt the need to invoke such a violent reaction. Overall, I seem to be developing a different lens for myth as I progress through this class. What once was a simple, whimsical film of my childhood is now overflowing with perspectives of myth that we've discussed in class. It's somewhat of a silly comparison, but I really enjoyed making the connection. 

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