MovieChat Forums > Labyrinth (1986) Discussion > The crystal balls

The crystal balls

posted 8 years ago by SayMyNameBitches
4 replies | jump to latest

Those things have always confused me. What purpose or effect do they have? most of time its just Bowie playing with them. -(uhuhuhuhu he's playing with his balls uhuhuhuhu)- There are moments where Bowie gives Toby one of those -(here's another confusion. I don't know whether there just one or many balls)- i think we are to assume its a bad thing that he's giving them to him, but do we ever figure out what they do?

Maybe im just an idiot, but never understood those balls.

[–] Weber4278 8 years ago

Jareth said the crystals will 'show you your dreams' , they are basically symbolic for temptation....Sarah's temptation to give into her own desires and forget about her brother.

Notice later on in the film Jareth gives Sarah a twisted version of one of her dreams, he literally whisks her away into one of the crystals (now a bubble) and gives Sarah her own version of the Cinderella Ball....but Jareth twists it so that within the fantasy is the reality (people getting drunk, groping each other) he's mocking Sarah's childish idea of adulthood at the same time he's basically romancing her with a love song (As the World Falls Down).

And that is Jareth's character, he's both her adversary, and her ultimate temptation...a twisted Prince Charming. The bad boy trying to seduce Sarah to forget about her responsibilities, but presented in a way that still fits Sarah's innocent view of men and romance aka fairy tale king.

[–] SayMyNameBitches 8 years ago

thank you for the reply

[–] fiatlux-1 8 years ago

Good reply, Weber4278.

I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

[–] Picnic10 8 years ago

It's brilliant , that ball, like Phantom of the Opera (which came out the same year). In a snow globe, the only pieces usually in flux are always like that (and often just the liquid and tinsel it's in). In that crystal ball , anything can be turned on its head to show that 'romance' isn't necessarily safe. It's really a crude attack on the upper class really, the age old illusion that they are decadent and therefore sexually unsafe.