On Childish Things

If you know me, then you know that Labyrinth is my absolute favorite movie of all time. It's got adventure, morals, clear lines of thought and directing, great cinematography, and David Bowie. There isn't much more you can ask for from a flick. Why do I lead this blog in with that? Because two scenes in particular have been in my mind recently.

The first scene is that of the junk lady and Sarah. Long story short, Sarah is brought into her room, and has all of her toys and things piled around and on her, weighing her down, as the Junk Lady tries to make Sarah forget about her purpose there in the Goblin Kingdom. And it works, until Sarah realizes that all these things are just that: things, toys, trifles. And declaring "they're all junk" the entire room begins to collapse into itself, showing the junk that lined it, as she goes on to her quest to save her baby brother.

Obviously, this scene has a lot of important things happening in it, though the one I wanna harp on is the most blatant: the idea of Sarah realizing the worthlessness of her toys and "throwing away" as it were her childish things. This is an interesting scene, as the movie gives a good character view of Sarah through these items in particular, as well as foreshadowing the vast majority of the movie through them, let alone sparks off the conflict that sets up the plot with the Goblin Kingdom through her own love of her toys. It goes so far as having her throw away the lipstick she used earlier in the movie to help solver her way through the labyrinth which ended up being worthless, as the denizens continued to screw with her.

As the junk lady tries to smother and bury Sarah in these items (coincidentally, turning Sarah into a Junk Lady herself), our heroine realizes her folly in caring so much about these things and tosses them aside, and pulls herself out of the pile of junk she had almost buried herself in.

We as watchers can take a certain amount of advice from this obviously: let go and put away your childish things, your games, and books, and toys. It is a step along the road to being an adult. You have to put aside those things so you can focus. You hear messages like this all over the place, especially in circles of advice and foundations of faith, like your parents and churches and elders and what have you.

But this is merely the prelude to my main point. The ending of the film has Sarah, now finished on her Heroic Journey to become an adult, or at least to stop acting like a foolish child, as she is putting things away in her room, letting go of not only those toys and things, but the memories that have been keeping her from enjoying life with her father and step-mother (this is another entirely separate topic, hell the whole movie is really, heh). She then sees the reflection of her friends she made within the Labyrinth. First Ludo, then Sir Didymus, and finally Hoggle, who implores: "...should you need us, for any reason at all ..."

At this, Sarah breaks down. She says that she does, for no reason in particular, but she does need them. All of them. Which leads to a happy dance sequence where friend and foe and imaginary creature alike laugh and have fun, as Jareth (temptation, but again, that is another topic) flies off, not invited.

What does this truely have to do with the previous idea?

We all have items in our lives that are childish. We have our games, our toys, our hobbies, that are not what a self-respecting adult would do. But this is a new age, and we are a new generation, and Sarah reminds us that we NEED these things in our lives. We need to be able to think like a child and have joy like a child sometimes in our adult lives. We cannot remove everything, or else we lose a piece of who we are. It is inexplicable, and highly attested (especially by our parent's generation), though for no reason at all, I am sure everyone can understand this. And agree.

Do not let go of your childish things. Not all of them at least. They are what built you up to where you are. They are a foundation that once chipped away, leaves nothing, and a new building is set where the old one existed. Cling tightly, for no reason at all. Just because you choose to continue to cling.