once as a small child i found a VHS of labyrinth at my grandparents house and watched it with my uncles. i became. OBSESSED. so obsessed that my parents got a second copy for our own house. I would watch it over and over all the way through even the "how its made" bit at the end of tape. various quips and quotes became inside jokes amongst my family. i made a friend in highschool when they caught on to the reference i made to the movie. i, too, have the phrase "its only forever, its not long at all" living rent free in my mind.
That's lovely. I think it's interesting how it was critically panned and then actually really loved by a lot of the actual audience - kids. Like gosh, maybe people like Roger Ebert just weren't ready to engage with a kids film on any genuine level. Glad people love it.
앗 저도! 여름방학 때 할머니댁에서 뒹굴거리다 처음 봤어요 TV에서 우연히 본 어린이 영화! 그런데 고블린 왕이 너무 매력적이고 매혹적이고 특별해서 영화를 본 이후로 마음에 오래 남았는데... 나중에 알고 보니 그 왕이 수퍼 록스타 David Bowie였어요!!! OMG!
What a wonderful way to make make friends! ❤ "Labyrinth" has been my favourite film as a child... and later, David Bowie probably became the most important part of the soundtrack of my life!
David Bowie was such a fearless trailblazer. I remember he was also one of the first artists to lend himself to video games. He was also one of the first to dive directly into the internet when it was new. The man knew how to think long term. Brilliant.
I first watched Labyrinth when I was 6, my aunt showed me the movie and I fell head over heels for Jareth. I didn't know he was a real, iconic person named David Bowie so I just called him "Goblin King". The movie crossed my mind and I decided to watch it again as a teenager, and again I fell head over heels. This time I found out David was a singer, but my taste in music was not as open and wide as it is now, so I didn't listen to his stuff. Here I am now, having watched it again with a bunch of friends (who are all crushing on Jareth btw), obsessed with Jareth, Bowie, his music, his characters, his style, all of it. He's so amazing I can't believe I'm barely realizing now, I'm so happy he gave us this iconic piece of history 😭
Tangentially, on the topic of growing up, Toby (the child of the Frouds, the artists who did the design work, who met while working on the Dark Crystal), got into puppetry and fx and has been working in the industry as an adult, having worked on most of the Laika films, Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and the upcoming Del Toro film, Pinocchio. Turns out you really can be an adult without giving up the magic. :)
I heard of this movie while going through a book about the great movies of the century. As soon as I saw Bowie in that costume, I knew I HAD to watch it. My parents gave me the Bowie virus as early as possible and I couldn't believe there was something of him I hadn't seen before. But wouldn't you know it, this movie ain't my parents' cup of tea :( ... Maybe I should show them your video to help them understand? :3
I'm so happy someone analyzed this movie, so brilliantly! Also seeing all the various footage you included I couldn't help shedding a tear. Damn I miss Bowie so much.
I didn't know I needed a detailed discussion of how Bowie's songs contributed to Labyrinth until you made it, but now you have my appreciation for the movie is even greater 😊
*Excellent* video. And as always, the delivery is as great as the info. Fun fact, my sister used to torture me when I was really little with the chant Jennifer Connelly does at the beginning asking the Goblin King to take me away. I was legitimately terrified because I was a dumb child.
28:57 This shot This scene This might be one of my absolute favourites in all of cinema this is when the movie fucking blew my mind as a kid that's when it just goes past all pre-established boundaries i love it
As a new Bowie fan who hadn't seen Labyrinth, or really knows much about Bowie himself beyond his songs, this video was really interesting! I'll definitely have to give the movie a watch, and the broader discussion on how context is manufactured is also really insightful
Welp it's been two years but I finally watched it and yeah Labyrinth is really interesting and good. Surprised to see many critics say the movie is without heart, which is something I pretty strongly disagree with. Unfortunately I couldn't find a UMD so I didn't get the true cinematic experience.@@Transparencyboo
Labyrinth's been SO underappreciated. Not a lot of people know about it. But for instance a lot of people in cgi and vfx fields know and adore it. The practical effects in the film are AMAZING. Ludo is my spirit creature. And sir Didymus... oh my.
This whole video was lovely, and the greatest revelation for me was this: "Chilly Down" hecking SLAPS The Soundtrack version with additional verses makes it even more apparent that these guys are essentially Couch-Surfing Stoner-Bros "When the sun goes down And the bats are back to bed The brothers come 'round I get out of my dirty bed I shake my pretty little head Tap my pretty little feet Feelin' brighter than sunlight Louder than thunder Bouncing like a yo-yo" They really are the embodiment of immature hedonism, and remind me a lot of the self-destructive, devil-may-care attitude of teenagers When the future doesn't matter and you feel like you can live off of the comradarie of your friends alone The Fire Gang scene often gets memed-on as Creepy, Random and Pointless, but I appreciate it so much more now
We're glad to hear that. It has gotten a lot of shit for the things you mentioned, and we just really wanted to add a different perspective to that. We love these furballs and their little act - it's really cool. I think a lot of the problem people have is that they only look at the pretty bad greenscreen effect and focus on it to the point where they can't see anything else. Like yeah, it's a really old greenscreen effect, but gosh listen to the song and look at those rad puppets go!
As someone who knew nothing about Labyrinth and little about David Bowie, you still captured my interest the whole time! Your continued ability to shine light on pieces of media that so many are willing to discard makes me excited for every upload, even ones like this where I have no personal relationship to what youre talking about (and ooh boy am i ready for the balan wonderworld vid. gonna be peak transparency, i feel)
I first saw this movie just 2 months ago. I've heard of it but was never interested in watching it until a few months back. I wanted to see why everyone loved this movie and the singer and now I understand
I LOVE David Bowie. I'm a fan of Labyrinth but I hadn't thought of the themes too much before. Labyrinth definitely stands out as a gem, not just from Bowie's 80's era, but from his whole career. I do believe you're right though about the generational gap, so it seems to get overlooked. Great video!!
I went to a Labyrinth-themed masque ball this last weekend. They have people who dress up as the characters. I got to dance with Jareth a couple times. I have been three times now, it's so awesome!
I remember when I first discovered this movie. I was (and still am) a big Marilyn Manson fan, and when I started watching interviews for his new album, Mechanical Animals, I heard the name "David Bowie" being meantioned a lot. So I googled him and my phone started recommending videos and songs of his. At first I didn't like his music, but as time went on, I found myself listening to Bowie more and more. Eventually, my phone started recommending clips of The Labyrinth. Then, one night, after a Willy Wonka movie marathon with my sister that ended around 3 am, I grogilly told her about this weird movie I heard of about Bowie and a maze. Without taking in consideration what time it was, we put The Labyrinth on and were blown away. We loved it so much that we rewatched it a few days later, along with the behind the scenes video. I even bought a Labyrinth poster and hung it on my wall, which my mother later commented on it and revealed that she was a big Labyrinth fan too! It's such a great movie, and I'm so glad I discovered it!
Hello, thank you for watching the video! If you enjoy it a lot and want to see more from us in the future please consider supporting us on patreon - www.patreon.com/transparens. By doing so you get access to our Discord, a bunch of fun audio companions for the episodes and more! Check it out! UPDATE! So, we just noticed that four names mysteriously got cut from the credits. Very sorry about that, so the next best thing we can do now is add you all in a comment. Tyler Leto Tyler Likes Cookies Zach Zyfi Your names are however mentioned in the audio companion, together with our uncut panicked realization that they disappeared from the video. Hopefully that bit of slapstick comedy can make up for it.
Your points are correct. I was in high school when I saw Labyrinth in theatre and it was my first exposure to the voice, presence, and handsome face of David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King. I Loved It! I went looking for his other songs after. My favourite song from the Labyrinth soundtrack wasn't Magic Dance, it was the heartbreaking, Within You.
My mom and I watch The Labyrinth every now and then. There's a game store in town with 3 storefronts where one of them is a record store. They have a record of the soundtrack there and I'm trying really hard to send a copy to her.
I never actually watched this movie despite looking at countless gifsets of david bowie in his tights on tumblr years ago as a teen... happy to say I will finally watch and enjoy this movie as intended now after your fantastic video, thank you
The peach is indicative of the fact that you can't eat anything in the Fae realm or there will be consequences. Sometimes it's being trapped there forever, and here it's a way to trap Sarah in a fantasy of her own making in order to divert her from her mission to save Toby, immediately followed by the Junk Lady Agnes trying to divert her by making her think she is literally better off piled with material objects that represent her childhood.
I love this video and the movie so much! Thanks for the interesting analysis! I never got how people didn't/don't understand the basic plot and characters of Labyrinth though -- I found it so easy to follow from the first time I rented it from a video store at 7 years old and was hooked. Every time we went back to that store, I'd beg to be able to rent that and something else (previously had been only allowed to rent one at a time). This happened so often that I was gifted DVDs of it from a few different family members a couple Christmases later. It remains my favorite movie and soundtrack to this day.
I think we have come to a conclusion about a lot of misinterpretation and exclamations of things 'not making sense', 'not being about anything' or it simply being 'incomprehensible'. It's pretty straight forward actually. People like Siskel and Ebert didn't pay attention because they didn't actually care enough. It happens all the time - we're not invested enough and suddenly we're not putting enough effort in to engage with a piece of media. It's just then easy to blame the movie or video game for it I suppose.
Such a great and thoughtful analysis, there’s so much mythologising around David Bowie that most of the stuff that he did that wasn’t highly regarded back then is swept under the carpet- it is a shame that his contributions to Labyrinth is not seen with a much positive light! There’s also another oddity in his catalogue that is completely forgotten, and that’s his score to the David Cage (urgh) video game Omikron- but that score is usually tied together to his album Hours even if it doesn’t include all the songs he did for that video game!
@@Transparencyboo indeed! Especially with the resurgence of an in game cutscene with Bowie in it used as a form of meme I think? Either way there’s so much to Bowie and I thank you for opening up my eyes to the magic that is Labyrinth!💕
Glad you enjoyed it! And heck yeah, we hope to be able to destroy our opposition when it comes to Balan Wonderworld, haha. No but really, we are hopeful that we can at least bring a different perspective on the matter that treats it with a bit more positivity.
I found this while looking up "transparency on illustrator" but I pressed enter too early. I saw labyrinth and bowie and I said "... my assignment can wait a little while". I can't rewatch movies because they just make me bored and I just need to walk away but Labyrinth is one of the very very few that I can rewatch day after day. I grew up watching this in my dad's house and we would jam out. Now, I'm college and still load it up from time to time lol!!
Great work, so thoughtful and detailed! So nice to see such deserved appreciation for this movie. As a poor kid I internalized "It's all junk" hard. Anyway, I am so glad that it doesn't have a sequel, this story is over. (There is some manga but meh). It could get a remake of course. If made in a video game format, it could be interesting. I mean, it could happen 20 years down the line or so. Another anyway, the MirrorMask movie is pretty similar, though many regard it as bad. They are wrong, obviously, it's pretty nice. I love the visuals.
I'd rather they just let Labyrinth be. It doesn't need a fancy remake or a sequel. I think a lot of what made it special would be lost in the process of trying to make it more 'modern' anyway. I imagine CGI Hoggle and weep.
Thank you for all of the work and time that you had given this project. I enjoyed watching this video very much. I would, however, like to add a couple of insights into two of the characterizations in the movie. For example, the so called junk lady, Agnes. Sarah is not only carrying the physical stuff that she is hanging onto but also all of her mental and emotional issues. The pain and fear of growing up, of no longer being the baby and only child but also she is in competition with her baby brother for the affection of her dad, she is scared of being abandoned by her dad just like she was abandoned by her mother. The second thing that most people do not understand about the scene in which David sheds his earthly shell to return to the underground. He is in pain and wants to return to the Gobins and only way to do that he needs to let go of his above ground shell.
I love your commentary so much! I've Loved this movie for so long and considered it metaphorical and mythological, but you made puzzle pieces fall into place for me I just thank you so much!
I don't know much about Bowie or Labyrinth but I wanted to watch this because y'all did it, it was a neat time! (I also thought it was universally loved because I know a bunch of people that love it) (also excited for balan wonderworld my partner loved that game despite issues)
Glad you enjoyed it! It's worth giving a watch for sure if you haven't already. Like we said - it seems to be a generation thing. People didn't like it when it came out, our generation loves it, haha. Give your partner a thumbs up from us, people who enjoy Balan Wonderworld are alright in our book, haha.
@@Transparencyboo Just finished it, and I do like it! Very much! It will be in my rotation of vids I re-watch / re-listen to while drawing. Labyrinth is one of the VHS tapes we actually owned an official copy of. Many of our tapes were just movies my parent's friend recorded for us, but my older sister landed a legit copy of Labyrinth and we never looked back. Thanks for all of your hard work on this, and for sticking up for Trevor Jones, I like his work on the film quite a bit!
Fantastic video! When I was a kid I went on a vacation to Florida with my mom and some family friends. I was really bored and someone picked up the Labyrinth VHS for me. I watched the movie multiple times per day for the rest of that trip, and it became a favourite for life.
Who else was conflicted while watching the movie wheather they wanted Sarah to stay in the labyrinth and Jareth's world or find Toby and get back to the real world? I wouldn't have solved the labyrinth. I wouldn't have wanted to leave the labyrinth. Probably still would stay there probably...
so many fans wish she stayed too. growing up and the real world are overrated. anti depressants, her own babies poopy diapers, sleepless nights, stress, worrying about money, other peoples expectations lol the real world sucks. i dont know any fans who where happy to see her go back to the real world.
I love Bowie a lot, mostly his earlier work though like Diamond Dogs and Ziggy - so I’ve never actually seen Labyrinth actually haha. I learned more about it from Defunctland’s series on Henson so cant wait to watch this!
I love how you always use we when referring to your personal conclusions. At first I was thrown off because I didn’t know how the video was made and who exactly was making it, but now that I’ve seen a few videos it always feels like this is a take you’re standing by I feel like when I write I always feel unconfident (not a word) in my takes, but to have your partner who is also passionate about the subject and the analysis to stand by statements with you and I assume have bounced ideas off of each other feels like, “yeah we’re pretty confident in this statement and its easy to stand by” when it was made together.
I've seen 2 or 3 other films that Bowie was in. One was a complete surprise, because it was just a minute or two of him roller skating to Bowie-esque music in the middle of an obscure vampire film.
Another incredible one! I didn't even know this movie was so maligned. Amazing how you unfailingly make me care about stuff I didn't even think about that much before. Also love the bit with the suitcase. I died irl.
Our generation freaking loves this movie, haha. It's kind of funny how the perspective shifted long after the original release. Also about the suitcase bit (if you mean the one with Hoggle) we actually couldn't stop laughing every time we read it. Like every single time.
Is it bad that I keep mixing up this film and Pan's Labyrinth? I'm pretty sure it's the latter that scared me as a kid, and I ended up unfairly associating that fear with this Labyrinth, so clearly I need to watch this film to make amends.
Pan's Labyrinth is the one with the scary monster with eyes in it's palms. Labyrinth has some things that could probably be unsettling for a kid, but I think you should watch it now. Why not. Both are really good movies actually.
I can’t wait for the Balan vid! Also I noticed how your final message right before the teaser is kinda ironic considering what happened to both titles reception wise. Also labyrinth is peak fantasy.
Glad you're looking forward to it! One can only hope Balan Wonderworld will one day be looked back at with at least some kind of fondness. And yes, peak fantasy!
I remember watching a video about labyrinth from Cracked positing that the film is an allegory for Sarah having a sexual awakening. It took a lot of the same beats of this analysis albeit more entrenched in a “haha dick jokes” sentiment. That said, I appreciate your analysis for taking this sentiment and applying the work in a more mature, wholistic manner
It's a very common reading of the movie, even in less joking ways, and we really didn't want to do that to be quite honest. We think our reading can easily fit those kinds of ideas really neatly if you really want them to, but for ourselves we'd rather not go into anything sexual with this movie at all. We actually talk about it a little bit in the audio companion.
As a Bowie fan I think I like this analysis more than some of his 80s albums, nicely done :) I think Starman by Trynka is the only bio endorsed by Bowie himself though I could be misremembering, I wanna say there's a quote along those lines on the backcover or something.
There's no secret about it David Bowie is the only man who could ever play the Goblin King in Labyrinth. So of course it is a David Bowie masterpiece. David Bowie is one of the greatest entertainers of all time. The man is legendary and had great talent. Long Live David Bowie!!! ❤ ❤
got here through tb skyens post. but even if i have seen this movie for 50% on a school day because i was forced to after hearing this and how some of my family talks about it. I am getting intersted. but the movie was not made in my time and still saw was: the never ending stroy. who knows maby thats'is why i love darker fantasy so much. you can thanks skyen for me comming here tho.
@@Transparencyboo still the movie as a child from 2001 around 5 or 7 years old scared me. I going to see the movie again soon and see how it is now for me. I mean it can be one of the movies that got me Into dark fantasie. Oooh Nice use of T BSkyens voice in the video. He does great work to.
@@caromatla5597 I think a lot of these old fantasy movies could be a bit scary for kids, so in a sense they are probably for a bit of an older audience. Possibly earlier teens at the lowest. They are just very creative and present the viewers with a lot of strange and unnerving visuals at times, especially for kids. Oh, and yeah, TB is a blessing to us all!