"You have no power over me!"

Though generally not a fan of Jennifer Connelly's one-note performance as Sarah in Labyrinth [where that one note = HUH???], I do love the way she delivers that line. She starts off reciting the little climactic speech from the play that she was struggling with in the beginning.

As she begins, you can see her speaking pro forma, mouthing the words because that's the function of the Protagonist during a Showdown with the Antagonist. Staring into middle distance, not really at Jareth, she goes through the motions necessary to achieve the Climax...

...And then she stalls on "kingdom as great." While she's wracking her brains, Jareth takes the opportunity to butt in with a truly ridiculous show of groveling: the "Do as I say, and I will be your slave" speech that has launched a thousand kinky OTPs.

Sarah continues to try to remember the next Step in the Formulaic Process, but then you can actually see the moment where she stops. She looks up at Jareth and really perceives him for the first time in that scene. You can see her realizing that, for all his bluster, he's terrified of her. You can see her deciding that he's no longer worth it. You can see that weight of terror lifting from her shoulders. You can see her confidence blooming as she looks straight into his eyes, standing up a little taller, even smiling a bit.

At that moment, she's finally full of herself and her own power. You can see her pride and her hope and her determination when she states with calm finality and some amazement, "You have no power over me." Those words happen to be the Next Words in the Spell of Confrontation, but, more importantly, they are the words with which Sarah seizes her own agency after an entire movie of being a whiny, reactive, powerless girl. HURRAY!!!!

While I'm on that subject...

...I will put this in a new entry, so as not to detract from Sarah's triumph. After Sarah says, "You have no power over me!" I just love David Bowie's final facial expression. He looks wrung out, worn down and deflated.  He's not angry at all, just disappointed and hopeless. He knew it was coming; he knew it a long time ago, all the way back in the ballroom in a bubble when Sarah wrenched herself from his arms and escaped. He knew it when she ran after Toby in the stair maze, instead of him. It's the ineluctable trajectory: dude is goin' down.

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I found Willy!

My drag king, previously mentioned here and shown here. This is a pretty rare doll, so I'm quite excited. I love you, Willy! Come back to me!

Dammit...I have all these dolls I want to get RIGHT NOW: Soom Faery Legend Boehm, a 1:6 scale Grim Reaper action figure for the dead version of Isabel...and now Willy. Plus some black T-shirts to make gravestone designs on for Isabel and the dead version of Isabel. Whhhhaaaaaaa!

Chthonic Jareth

I love this piece of fan art, Evil King 2, by MarylinFill on DeviantArt. She accurately captures the menacing underworldly power that emanates from him when he first appears. Reminds me of the Major Arcanum the Magician. Also the kind of air I was trying to evoke with Timonium.