tammy

*Autistically Speaking

8th October 2022

My daughter just watched Labyrinth for the first time yesterday, and all of my feelings about this film and David Bowie and the genius that is Jim Henson have come rushing back.

I remember when I wrote about Labyrinth for my Master’s dissertation on fairy tales and folklore. The chapter that focuses on the film was so much fun to write… it’s like I could geek out to one of my favourite films for an advanced qualification. I guess that’s one of the perks of a degree in English!

“You have no power over me,” Sarah says simply, and with this sudden realisation of her truth, the world of the Goblin King falls apart.

The film and my analysis of it had a profound effect on me, and revisiting it now, with my daughter, is such a delight. We can geek out together! Our shared joy for all that is Labyrinth is having yet another profound effect on me.

Yay!

The main difference between us is that she has no problem resisting the irresistible charms of the Goblin King – he’s the bad guy after all – whereas I don’t think I could truthfully say the words “you have no power over me” to Jareth. My knees would knock together, and I’d start spluttering words all over the place, and he’d smile at me with those wolfish eyes… a cheeky smile that knows just how much power he does have over me.

Ah, what a paradox. A girl can dream, though!

My daughter likes to play “Magic Dance” over and over and over on Alexa, just like I did with “The World Falls Down” music video. That she could love a weird 80s film as much as I do just makes me so happy!

And right at this moment, she’s in bed and supposed to be going to sleep, but “Magic Dance” is playing on loop, so I pause my writing for a moment to join in on our favourite part of the song:

Daughter: You remind me of the babe.

Me: What babe?

Daughter: The babe with the power.

Me: What power?

Daughter: The power of voodoo.

Me: Who do?

Daughter: You do.

Me: Do what?

Daughter: Remind me of the babe.

[Fits of giggles]

How could I be so lucky to have such a cool cat for a daughter – a partner-in-crime, my little chickadee.

“I’m not little,” she says, as she reads my writing.

Of course she’s not. There’s nothing little about her!

[She laughs]

After I told Alexa to stop playing, the conversation took an abrupt turn. We started discussing whether Alexa spies on our conversations, and she seemed to become worried.

Me: Oh, it’s not that she listens to whole conversations. We don’t really know if she listens at all.

Daughter: Alexa, are you a spy?

Alexa: Amazon takes privacy seriously. For more information… [blah, blah, blah]

Daughter: She’s lying! Alexa’s a liar.

Me: I don’t think she really can listen. If anything, she could only pick up parts of our conversation, key words. Like, if I say I need to buy razors, maybe Alexa would pick up the word razor, like a trigger, and adverts for razors could appear on my social media. But not right away.

Daughter: Oh. Well, if an advert for razors shows up on Facebook, then we’ll know. Because we’re talking about razors in front of her.

Me: Yeah, I don’t think she could listen or spy. That would be kind of dystopian. Do you remember watching Hunger Games with me?

Daughter: A bit. I was playing Roblox.

Me: Oh right. Well that film is an example of dystopian, when the government takes complete control and makes everyone poor. Except for the wealthy people.

Daughter: Oh, like Liz Truss.

Me: What?! Oh wow, Daughter! How do you know that about Liz Truss?

Daughter: I just know about her.

Me: Have you read about her?

Daughter: Not read.

Me: Maybe Newsround?

Daughter: Yeah.

Oh, my heart! 💕😍

One thing I adore about her is that she is fully and unapologetically herself… and an absolute goofball!