I got the wonderful opportunity to see Labyrinth on the big screen last week (thank you Fathom Events) and I think this time around really helped me nail down one of the things that makes this movie so special to me: the ending message.
A story with a somewhat childish sixteen-year-old girl who immerses herself in magic and fantasy worlds who goes through a journey and a transformation and comes out the other side more mature could very easily have ended with the message of "Now that the adventure in the fantasy world is over, our heroine has grown and matured enough to leave magic and fantasy behind and become an Adult."
But Labyrinth doesn't do that.
Labyrinth says: "You might grow up a little. You might put away your costumes and your music box and your crown. You might give your teddy bear to your little brother. But that doesn't mean you have to leave it all behind. Every so often in your life, for no reason at all, you might need a little magic back in your life. And your friends in the fantasy world will always be there for you."
“I think, for me, everything had to move the needle in the direction toward the artistry that I really wanted to make. And especially early on in my career, there were a lot of romantic leads. That being said, I have done a romantic lead recently with Anne Hathaway and I really loved the movie. It's a lot of fun. I feel very fulfilled within this romantic lead space. And I have much more agency now to be able to do these roles that I've not been able to do for the last however many years. It is a good feeling.”
Nicholas Galitzine for @THR “Roundtable: Actors” (via GalitzineHQ on twitter)
“You can exist as multiple things. You don’t have to cut off any part of yourself.” - NCUTI GATWA photographed by Daniel Riera for "The Times" (May 11, 2024)
nothing has been more important to my being queer than when i went to my first pride parade, got seperated from my group, had a panic attack about it and was sitting on the side of the road holding a tiny genderfluid flag and freaking out. then this six foot five drag queen in four inch heels appeared from literally nowhere and sat down next to me. i, this scared-shitless trans bi kid at pride for the first time, very nervously told her she looked pretty and i told her my name and that i got lost and didn't feel like i should be at pride and she held my hand and said "oh, honey, everybody deserves to be here, especially you. pride is for everybody who's ever gotten lost, who's been scared of who they are or where they are. you think we never been scared before? pride's for you, honey, because you're scared. you don't have to be proud right now, but you're gonna be one day, honey, i'm sure of it."
i found my group soon after that and i never saw that queen again but to this day i am convinced i met an angel.
so yeah. pride is for you. pride is for all of us.