(no subject)
I had a strange but rather beautiful dream last night. It was obviously about Sarah and Jareth but in the dream, Jareth was much closer to Sarah’s age. He hadn’t grown into cynical manhood as yet and was a rather skinny, callow youth who hadn’t yet learned the graceful management of his own long limbs - rather like a colt.
Anyway, they met in the usual way of young people who are thrown together. It was in some other world that wasn’t this one but wasn’t the Labyrinth either. Their courtship was quite usual although they seemed to love each other with less of the usual selfishness and vanity which can plague all romantic relationships. They got married and lived happily (literally) ever after.
There was no dramatic confrontation across worlds, no mind games, no tests and challenges, no gauntlets thrown down, no defiance, no manipulation, no guardedness and hidden feelings, no attempts at entrapment, no controlling behaviour, no final show-downs and no love left unfulfilled or lost forever. It was Sarah and Jareth having an unusually healthy relationship. It was nice.
As I drifted out of sleep, I remembered the final confrontation in the movie - Sarah’s face as Jareth disappeared into the air amongst the ruins of his castle. I wondered how she would have felt at that moment if she’d known what could have been if things had been different; if she’d seen what I’d seen in my dream. The heartbreak would have been awful for her. Nothing would have ever been the same. Perhaps nothing ever was even having known Jareth as someone twice her age, cynical, impossible to know and as manipulative as hell.
It was a dream that affected my mood for the rest of the day. It’s still with me. The young, gawky, love-struck Jareth was so much more attractive than his older self and Sarah felt so lucky that he even noticed her although she was really so beautiful herself. It was the way things should have been. They really had some great adventures together - as partners rather than antagonists for once. It almost makes me want to write a fic about it.
I don’t understand why this movie still has such a powerful effect on my subconscious. I saw it first when I was 14. At 32, I’m still dreaming new dreams about it. It seems to have become a part of my psyche, almost like a part of myself. It’s weird, I can’t explain it. It runs far deeper than my odd attachment to Snape. (And it’s kind of interesting how Jareth fans are often also Snape fans who are also often Howl fans….)
“Still, she haunts me phantomwise
[Sarah] moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes”
- Lewis Carroll
Anyway, they met in the usual way of young people who are thrown together. It was in some other world that wasn’t this one but wasn’t the Labyrinth either. Their courtship was quite usual although they seemed to love each other with less of the usual selfishness and vanity which can plague all romantic relationships. They got married and lived happily (literally) ever after.
There was no dramatic confrontation across worlds, no mind games, no tests and challenges, no gauntlets thrown down, no defiance, no manipulation, no guardedness and hidden feelings, no attempts at entrapment, no controlling behaviour, no final show-downs and no love left unfulfilled or lost forever. It was Sarah and Jareth having an unusually healthy relationship. It was nice.
As I drifted out of sleep, I remembered the final confrontation in the movie - Sarah’s face as Jareth disappeared into the air amongst the ruins of his castle. I wondered how she would have felt at that moment if she’d known what could have been if things had been different; if she’d seen what I’d seen in my dream. The heartbreak would have been awful for her. Nothing would have ever been the same. Perhaps nothing ever was even having known Jareth as someone twice her age, cynical, impossible to know and as manipulative as hell.
It was a dream that affected my mood for the rest of the day. It’s still with me. The young, gawky, love-struck Jareth was so much more attractive than his older self and Sarah felt so lucky that he even noticed her although she was really so beautiful herself. It was the way things should have been. They really had some great adventures together - as partners rather than antagonists for once. It almost makes me want to write a fic about it.
I don’t understand why this movie still has such a powerful effect on my subconscious. I saw it first when I was 14. At 32, I’m still dreaming new dreams about it. It seems to have become a part of my psyche, almost like a part of myself. It’s weird, I can’t explain it. It runs far deeper than my odd attachment to Snape. (And it’s kind of interesting how Jareth fans are often also Snape fans who are also often Howl fans….)
“Still, she haunts me phantomwise
[Sarah] moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes”
- Lewis Carroll