You Have No Power Over Me

"Give me the child.
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered,
I have fought my way to the castle beyond the goblin city.
My will is as strong as yours... and my kingdom as great."

*checks to see if my memory was accurate*..  Close.




This week marked the 25th anniversary of Jim Henson's movie, Labyrinth.  Oh, I loved this movie as a child.  I can't tell you how many times I watched it... Do you have movies or books that fit that one little spot in your heart?  They embody something precious, and maybe even a little sacred, from your childhood... Something that you can hardly bear to hear criticism about because you feel this almost-protective feeling toward?  That was Labyrinth for me.

I watched it again last night, and I loved it just as much as I ever did. I'm not sure my children were as thrilled with my sudden propensity to recite the lines right along with the characters, though.  There were a few new things I picked up that I don't think I'd ever noticed before.  Like you know the part where she's marking the labyrinth stones with her lipstick, and the little teensy guys are turning the stones over?  One of them says "Your mother was a friggin' aardvark!!"  I don't know why but it totally cracked me up... never noticed it.

I love these characters...  the spoiled petulant girl who sets out to take the mistakes she made, and make them right.  The dwarf who constantly wars between his own self-preserving fears and his growing love for the girl dropped into his life... but mostly a person who just doesn't believe that he is worthy of being loved.  The oh-so-lovable Bluto... he just makes me smile and laugh.  And the brave little... fox(?)... full of honor, full of heart, full of the need to prove his valor... but oh so little sense.  Even Jareth, the Goblin King... ever misguided in his definitions of what love is.

25 years later, I'm still right there along with Sarah as she learns that life isn't fair and that's okay, as she learns the importance of friendship, and I still wait breathlessly as she tells the Goblin King...

"You have no power over me."

Indeed.

(Also, Dance Magic is a totally fun song!)

"You remind me of the babe... what babe...  The babe with the power.  What power?  the power of voodoo.  who do?  You do.  You remind me of the babe!"

Excuse me, I have some dancing to do...