for those who haven’t had the absolute PLEASURE of watching labyrinth (1986), it’s a movie that’s been analysed to hell and back but the most basic analysis is: it’s a story of a sixteen year-old girl, sarah (played by the amazing jennifer connelly) who’s still clinging to her childhood, and the sudden kidnapping of her little brother by the goblin king (played by the GOD david bowie) makes her go on a quest to realise her own power and defeat the goblin king. on the way she makes friends, gets trapped in a fantasy and has to grow up... but in the end, her friends find her in the real world, a symbol that growing up doesn’t mean letting go of her happiness.
and yes, if this sounds familiar, it’s because her personal narrative is very, very similar to the journey will byers faces in stranger things.
both are children of divorce, comfortable in childhood until an event they can control makes them face the reality of growing up. in the case of sarah, it’s her getting a little brother who she has to care for, while for will it’s being taken to the upside down and possessed by the mind flayer. the rest of the world expects them to grow up, but they’re both desperately holding on to their childhood.
sarah keeps her room full of toys and plays dress-up, idolising her mother and dreaming to be an actress like her. she reads a play at the beginning, and can’t manage to get it right. it’s heavily implied that everything that happens in the movie’s a dream - just like everything that happens in stranger things is set in motion by the dnd games will (and the party) plays.
sarah is forced to travel through the labyrinth, and makes friends along the way who help her and betray her too. but at the end of the labyrinth it’s her alone that has to face the big villain pulling the strings. a villain who understands her and offers her everything she could ever wish for, if she were to stay in the labyrinth (ie. stay in her childhood fantasy).
this is similar to what a lot of people hypothesise the last season will storyline to be. he has to face vecna, for he is his narrative foil (probably in a harry-voldemort kind of way). he has to look out to the future (more of that in this analysis) instead of his past, to defeat vecna. both the movie and stranger things make a big deal out of clocks, and time running out for the heroes. the goblin king even mentions turning the world upside down for sarah.
at the end, sarah realises that she’s the only one with the power to defeat the goblin king, and says the iconic ‘you have no power over me’ line. she finally gets it right. just like will tried and failed to get right the ‘go away’ line in s2. she goes back home with her little brother, and her friends join her for a very 80s dance magic dance. similarly, stranger things will probably end with will finally accepting growing up, but still keeping the childlike creativity and kindness that make him will.
(another point i didn’t mention it’s that a lot of the analysis of labyrinth mention also the fact that it reads as a movie about a young girl coming to terms with her sexuality... so do with that analysis what you will)
