RedPiggy's Realizations

[Redsonga]

However, the point of the movie is that fantasy can be much deeper than slobbering over some guy's body. Lest we forget, Sarah ... rejects ... that ... concept. She doesn't kiss Jareth. She runs from him.

One could say that that is not the main point of the movie though, it seems to be 'life is hard, just deal with it and leave fantasy behind'. I always got the feeling that Sarah never learnt more about her friends and such ether because we simply weren't shown it, or the world itself did not *want* her to.
It could even be she was giving into what the world of the Labyrinth wanted to force her to do by *not* giving in to Jareth, or at least pretending to at the start. After all the story as she read it was set up from the start to have her reject the goblin king. What if she had had a stronger character or more time to grow who knows (I still think alot of her brathood is linked to having no time to cool down and always living in the moment of IHATEYOU about Toby the whole time since it was not even in a day)? She could have spun the story on its head and it could have been J/S is all I'm saying. Maybe Jareth was not all that crazy about knowing the story meant from him to be the villain period (based just on the movie)

I don't mind the idea that she grows to love him, but the movie is quite clear she had, at best, a shallow fangirl-type attraction to him, which was utterly decimated by having to face him. She "loved" him while he was merely a daydream in her head, but when she finally saw the reality, she wasn't too thrilled. It's like people who worship celebrities. They don't want to see them as real people. Real people can disappoint.

I think a lot of that was the power the story had over the both of them. Who knows, if she had not been already decided by the story that ruled that world (which is just the feeling I've always had) if she would have cast him off given more time, or if he would have shown more depth or emotion given the same...

Toby seems to live, breathe, and eat the fantasy world. He'd much rather be there (well, up to the end, anyway) than his own world. Sarah is more like Ernie: nice to visit, doesn't want to stay.

I think given time she might have changed her mind and learnt something more than the nothing she did is all I mean . And well, Toby was just basically a canon OC they could do anything with since he was a baby last time and meh...I just think its a very lost chance to have made Sarah a better character. I know how the movie really went and all...
Who knows, I might very well be one of those princess authors you are talking about to (I share a lot in common with Sarah and am bratty besides no question), but I really try to do my ideas with all things taken into account. I really do reasearch, I do . As for the porn yes I will admit I do love romance novels, but that's nether here nor there *lol*

Gah maybe I should just bite the bullet and write that J/S Labyrinth fic that has been eating my brain for the last 8 years already

And this is not meant to denigrate the man.

I never thought you were. I just thought the ending of FR was so classic and thoughtful it had to have been planned by him from the start is all .
As for stories repeating themselves, if they did a bit I really felt as if season 4 had some of the best ones ever in how they were handled. Sometimes it is not the plot newness itself that tells a good story but how a story in of itself is told that makes all the difference, I think...
Gah, I have been writing hippies a bit too long *lol* Then again, I was raised by some...

 

[RedPiggy]

I always got the feeling that Sarah never learnt more about her friends and such ether because we simply weren't shown it, or the world itself did not *want* her to.

It's possible, but Jareth seems to WANT a worthy opponent out of Sarah. He constantly nags her about being a spoiled brat. He doesn't really start showing signs of love/admiration until after she rejects him, which shows she has a strong will underneath all the childish narcissism.
And keep in mind that Sarah is a "textbook teen". In other words, I agree with some web reviews that Labyrinth is a good psychological metaphor. Sarah is precisely what psychology says is typical of the adolescent mind. I never thought I was like her. I thought I was deeper than her, but five/ten years later I realized I was only slightly better off than her, at least cognitively. I still would have at least asked my new acquaintances who they are and where they come from or something. Hoggle is baffled that Sarah would call him a friend. "No one's ever called me 'friend' before." Clearly, empathy is not a strong point of that world. It could be that Jareth wanted Sarah to "color outside the lines", so to speak, and his frustration grew because he thought she was being dishonest about her motives, only because he knew little of teen psychology. Textbook Teen Sarah COULDN'T be that empathetic because adolescence is marked by questions of identity and purpose and delusions that everyone is watching them intently for real and imagined flaws.

Who knows, if she had not been already decided by the story that ruled that world (which is just the feeling I've always had) if she would have cast him off given more time, or if he would have shown more depth or emotion given the same...

Yeah, I see what you mean. Though, it makes me scratch my head: If Sarah had (nearly) memorized the story, why is she shocked by the things that happen? She thinks fairies are nice. Didn't her book say otherwise? What did her book say about accepting food from others? That had red flags all over the place. Maybe I just have too much street sense, LOL, but Sarah practically walks into a lot of the traps set for her. You'd think if the world were bound by the book, the little fangirl would be better prepared.

I think given time she might have changed her mind and learnt something more than the nothing she did is all I mean

Well, so do I. That's why I tend to write her as a middle-aged adult. I figure that's enough time to get her head together about what she wants (of course, by putting her in that stage of life, she risks "midlife crises", LOL ... poor kid can't catch a break).

And well, Toby was just basically a canon OC they could do anything with since he was a baby last time and meh...I just think its a very lost chance to have made Sarah a better character.

I can see your point, but I would guess that Jake chose Toby precisely BECAUSE there are no preconceived notions as to his personality. I've read the shippers' flames of RTL. If Sarah had been the main character, there would have been tons more nagging about wedding than there already was.

Sometimes it is not the plot newness itself that tells a good story but how a story in of itself is told that makes all the difference, I think...

Oh, I understand. What gets me, though, is when repeating the themes start messing with continuity, and let's face it, FR tried way harder than most Muppet stuff to have continuity. How Doozers can threaten jail time to Cotterpin AFTER participating in the "kumbaya" Fraggle Duet-a-thon where everyone decides to stop being jerks toward another baffles me. At least when Red mysteriously forgets the moral regarding the dragons she keeps meeting (that you should leave well enough alone), you can at least argue that she was getting carried away trying to prove herself to Matt and Gobo. I have no problems with plot-twisting ... but pick characters that wouldn't mess with what's gone on before. Otherwise you get the impression that everyone's cursed with severe short-term memory loss, LOL.

 

[Redsonga]

It's possible, but Jareth seems to WANT a worthy opponent out of Sarah. He constantly nags her about being a spoiled brat. He doesn't really start showing signs of love/admiration until after she rejects him, which shows she has a strong will underneath all the childish narcissism.

I don't know if it shows she is strong or just how weak she really is against the power play of the story. Maybe that was what Jareth was trying to get her to fight against and the time limit was actually a rule she made up by not answering certain questions right. Perhaps that was what Jareth was trying to make her see and in the end, that was his true form saying the written words but showing the own way he to wanted to be a bit *more*.

Well, so do I. That's why I tend to write her as a middle-aged adult. I figure that's enough time to get her head together about what she wants (of course, by putting her in that stage of life, she risks "midlife crises", LOL ... poor kid can't catch a break).

I really don't think it has to take her that long (it could though). I think what we saw was her in a very bad time of her life with her new step family and that, even at maybe nineteen she would have gotten more emotionally balanced..Really, maybe even at only seventeen. I see it less as a matter of her age (even if she is acting like a stereotype) and more a matter of her just having a short tempter and being emotional as a matter of who she is and that nature of herself being pushed to the limit by things she couldn't control, like getting a new brother. Even new mothers have those times that may last for half a day where they want the baby to shut up, so being a new sister after maybe being an only child? Yeah, that to the tenth power me thinks . But I think a lot can be explored if you split her age and her emotional reactions and the pressure she might be under at that time into different piles. Add to that if the labyrinth was actually real but she was reacting like it wasn't (and Toby wasn't really in danger in her mind because she had the blanket to hold on to of it's just a story acting out) and I think it adds a whole other can of worms, at least story wise...
Middle age could be fun to write about, but in Sarah's case it doesn't do much for me. I guess because I like to try her character stepping a bit above the norm sooner in hindsight from being in the labyrinth ( 2o/20 vision after all) and that being powerful enough in of itself that happenings in her world did not need to help it along. After all, how can you remember something like that, most likely keep it to yourself in hard teenage years, and not have it eat at you? Telling someone else wouldn't do anything to help ether I would think...

I can see your point, but I would guess that Jake chose Toby precisely BECAUSE there are no preconceived notions as to his personality. I've read the shippers' flames of RTL. If Sarah had been the main character, there would have been tons more nagging about wedding than there already was.

I for one wouldn't be nagging. I would just write fanfic :3 It's what I always do, if I
want to say one thing or another. I have not read any of those flames. All the things I think I've pretty much decided on my lonesome with too much time to myself *lol* At least there is that, right?

Yeah, I see what you mean. Though, it makes me scratch my head: If Sarah had (nearly) memorized the story, why is she shocked by the things that happen? She thinks fairies are nice. Didn't her book say otherwise? What did her book say about accepting food from others? That had red flags all over the place. Maybe I just have too much street sense, LOL, but Sarah practically walks into a lot of the traps set for her. You'd think if the world were bound by the book, the little fangirl would be better prepared.

I think the things that she reacted badly to were the ones no actually written in the book. As in, it was a real world, but it was a world not that crazy about the rules of the book that it had, over time, grown beyond , with Jareth maybe being 5th gen king. So although it has to bow to the book, it actually wants to be *more* and those extras were it's magic fighting that...and....Gah, now I have to write this

I have no problems with plot-twisting ... but pick characters that wouldn't mess with what's gone on before. Otherwise you get the impression that everyone's cursed with severe short-term memory loss, LOL.

I think fraggles and the creatures that live with them as a rule don't remember things for long if it doesn't go back at least a few generations, at least as serious lessons go. Maybe that is part of what keeps them seeming carefree, because they sort of are unless something serious is reinforced daily :\

But maybe that is one of the things that makes Labyrinth and FR so timeless, so many people can get so many different realizations from it, and no one is ever truly wrong because of that

 

[minor muppetz]

I guess what I said about Jim Henson "fighting tooth and nail and losing a battle" about Fraggle Rock having a proper ending being different from how we knew him may have been much... I don't know. It seems like most of the people who knew him well constantly say that he never raised his voice, that he rarely got angry (in Jim Henson: The Works Jerry Nelson says that he only saw Jim get angry twice), that he was more laid-back and rarely showed criticism.

But I guess it's not too far-fetched that he might have had network problems. We all know that he had creative controll over The Muppet Show (as it was a syndicated series), but did he have the same creative controll over Fraggle Rock, Muppet Babies, The Jim Henson Hour, and other shows he was invovled with? It is a surprise to hear about Jim Henson creatively "losing the battle". Then again, it seems like he did fight against including the Sesame Street Muppet as part of his deal with Disney. Street Gang mentions during that time that he did show some unusual anger whenever Michael Eisner mentioned Sesame Street as if Disney was going to get the rights to the characters.

 

[Redsonga]

I would think his fighting tooth and claw might be a lot nicer on the whole than anyone elses version of doing the same :3. At least if an ending did happen it seemed on a higher level than many series and movies...

 

[RedPiggy]

MAYBE IT’S NOT TOO LATE AFTER ALL

Believing in a dream is part and parcel of Kermit the Frog and Jim Henson. They wanted to make their dreams reality. It wasn’t enough for them to sit on the couch (or half-rotten log) and just think about what they’d like to do with their lives. It was all about chasing that dream and showing others just how wide, how far, and how real the universe really is.

In Muppet Babies, the characters use their imaginations quite a bit. Now, they’re toddlers, so play acting isn’t in itself a strange idea. However, the show has some elements to it that will repeat in other ways. The closet door in the nursery is usually the home to many a sight gag, usually some clip of some movie or show. But when one considers other projects of Henson, it can be even more.

In the Muppet Family Christmas, Robin the Frog reminds Kermit of a story the elder told the younger regarding Fraggle holes. What if Kermit knew of them from his younger years, or at least the location? The nursery closet that represents an opening to different worlds would provide just such a reason for Kermit to be perfectly fine with the idea that a mere hole in the wall would lead to a particular extra-dimensional location.

But what leads one to find such a thing, this opening that magically appears seemingly arbitrarily?

You know, it’s a shame that the Kingdom Hearts series haven’t really addressed the muppetverse, but with all its talk about hearts and connecting worlds, let’s be honest, the concept is tailor made for the works of Henson.

In Fraggle Rock, Gobo Fraggle has many maps of many tunnels. He made some himself while inheriting others from his ancestors. On the other hand, the location itself can never truly be mapped. The tunnels are apparently given life by Ditzies, little sparkles of light that live within. They’re more than just illumination, however. Whenever someone’s heart needs to connect … new tunnels inexplicably appear. Uncle Matt felt purposeless in his explorations. The entry to a near-infinite tunnel-filled room appeared before him. Red wanted to live out her dreams of being a warrior princess. The same room revealed itself to her. Gobo Fraggle wanted to find Doc (the human who lived in a workshop in our world). A tunnel that spanned basically across the entire United States yet was walkable in a few minutes appeared to help him in his quest.

Meanwhile, in the movie Labyrinth, Sarah wanted to live out her dreams of fantasy and adventure, despite the fact she wasn’t mature enough to decide firmly to do so. Her attempts to connect to the magic allowed Jareth to show her a way, through her parents’ balcony. Later, in the comic sequel, Return to Labyrinth, a goblin slips through what tends to homage a Fraggle Hole, with a teenaged Toby following closely behind. Both were dissatisfied with their lives as they were and wanted new ones.

On a related note, in the movie Mirrormask, the heroine also dreams of more. Her drawings become the portal that leads to a pocket universe. When she accepts herself and her family and her life, as well as mastering the universe in which she’s thrown, she returns to her world and, like Sarah, finds connections to that other world after the journey is over.

In Sesame Street, there is something a bit like this, although I’m not perfect and have never really seen the episodes where this kind of thing occurs. However, Oscar’s trash can is a portal to a much larger dimension as well. It’s the reason he can store lots of trash, other belongings, and even an entire menagerie in one simple-looking can. And while I am not familiar with why anyone would go through that trash can to Grouchland, I do smirk at the thought of Oscar’s cameo in Night at the Museum 2. Think about it: the plots of these movies are about fake beings given life. More importantly, though, the villains are out to restore meaning to their lives after having been forgotten for so long, both elderly real human villains and the mannequin of a brother of a Pharoah who seemed more powerful. Darth Vader would merely have been there to increase his power, but the brother of the Pharoah merely dismisses Oscar outright without thought that Oscar’s CAN is certainly a powerful object worth exploring.

Even Farscape could be argued to have this very same magical mechanism, though it is definitely given a more sci-fi bent. John wants to be a famous astronaut. He dreams of following in his father’s footsteps, making him a lot like Gobo Fraggle, in a way. And while the show explains the wormhole that flings him across the universe is from a particular set of solar flares and such, the fact remains his heart was reaching out to a dream, and the universe answered him. He ends up loving those he met (some more so than others). Even when tempted with going back home, his spirit has really chosen its home … all over the universe.

The main theme, when taking these particular properties together, seems to be that if you dream it hard enough, you’ll get there … even if you’re not really getting what you wanted, you’ll certainly get what you needed. However, it does seem to be arbitrary, doesn’t it? Why can Sarah or Gobo or John link to other worlds while others try very hard to find their purpose and don’t’ succeed?

Will we learn in the newest Muppet movie? The plot is about a young whatnot-like muppet (in other words, a stock-like character instead of easily recognizable famous Muppets) who dreams of joining and saving the Muppets from yet another threat to their dream. Will we get more hints as to how this dream-chasing works?

After all, lots of folks work hard for their dreams, with varying levels of success. Had Gobo been wishing to get to Doc in the Workshop instead of in the tunnels of Fraggle Rock – would a tunnel leading him to the correct location have appeared? Why didn’t Jareth take Sarah while she was LARPing in the park?

It seems to suggest an idea also brought up in The Princess and the Frog by Disney: you can wish on that magic star, but it takes both hard work and a little “right place, right time” luck as well. The United States loves to perpetuate the Great American Myth that all it takes is hard work to succeed. And yet if you were to really delve into famous rich people’s lives, a lot of them inherited their fortunes, lucked out without much thought, or downright oppressed others to make a buck.

Does this make dream chasing inappropriate?

I don’t think so.

If John had stayed in bed instead of suiting up, he’d never have met all those creatures from all over the universe.

If Sarah had decided to take up, say, accounting instead of theater, what would Jareth work with?

I feel it’s worth it to believe in a dream. I feel it’s worth it to try to make them realities.

But when the World Falls Down, maybe it’s also worth it to take a step back and see if that dream is really what we need.

 

[The Count]

Yeah, it's a nice dream... But everybody just came along because they believed in me.
: No, they came because they believed in you and the dream. Don't you believe in the dream too?
Yes, but...
: Well then?
I guess it's good to believe in a dream like that that connects everybody... But we never promised anybody anything.
: Didn't you?
Mmm, yeah, I sorta promised myself. And as long as we believe in that dream, it'll never be just a dream, it'll be something worth chasing worth thinking about worth making true.

KH serves as a good example of the underlying unifying quality to the Hensonian productions/realms... Connecting dimensions by means of somewhat magical portals generated by the mere belief of the inhabitants hearts to a central core. Then again, that's why we all gravitate towards Kermit's words to Hopper...
:I've made a bunch of friends who share the same dream I have..." which serve to make the dream all the stronger.

And then there's the final lines of his signature song...
"Keep believing, keep pretending.
Life's like a movie, write your own ending.
We've done just what we set out to do."

Good article, thanks for posting this.

 

[RedPiggy]

In the interest of promoting fan works, and because I need to read some fics and look at pretty pictures to vote for the upcoming awards I didn't manage to vote for yet, RedPiggy's Realizations will feature articles based on characters, settings, or themes. However, instead of character profiles you can copy/paste off a Wiki-page, my idea is to feature characters and such AS THEY ARE RELATED BY FANS. I want to do articles on things that fans have given their own spin on, especially when it's stuff there's not a lot of canon stuff to go on. How do fans interpret The Electric Mayhem, or Elmo, or Jareth, or Chamberlain, etc? I feel this run will not only lead people to some good stories and art, but also will give us fans a greater appreciation for how deep some things can actually be.

 

[Slackbot]

I'd be very interested in reading this, RedPiggy. I always like to see people's views and interpretations of fan creativity.

 

[RedPiggy]

THAT’S THE ART OF THE COUNT

Handsome Vampire

Cute Couple

Down Boy

Everybody Needs a Friend

The art above starts us off with a look at Sesame Street’s Count von Count. If taken altogether, these pictures almost tell a story. Count von Count starts off on this list alone, yet very confident in his expression. The second brings us to a sign of the Count expressing his tender love toward the Countess. You definitely feel an intimacy of two characters who adore each other without pandering to some of the, uh, more explicit sensibilities of those on the internet. However, with Barkley glomping Count in the next picture, we start to see a frown. This is a character who seems to have it all: wealth, power, love … yet he can’t deal with an over-exuberant puppy. Finally, an angry, sulking Count is met by Ernie and Bert, with Bert holding his hand out in friendship. While the Count leans away, as though he distrusts the others, one can’t help but notice the Count’s eyes are locked on Bert. So, what happened? Did something happen with the Countess? We’ll never know from these pictures, but they definitely lend one to use one’s imagination.

The Count

The Count – H2O589

The Count Colored

Here are some nice shots of smexy Count, again letting attitude taking precedence over nastiness.

You know … there are a LOT of Twilight references. Here are a few:

Mr Cullen is a bloody sucker
Heck, even other vampires get in the act of mocking Mr. Sparkly, LOL.

Falcon
This awesome action-oriented piece is where I’ll stop. As much as I love to see the references, this is about all I can take.

This does transition well to my next point, that quite a few people like their Count von Count physically aggressive. Here are some pics where Count is involved in fights. Even if you don’t agree with this, keep in mind he WAS relatively more aggressive in his early appearances. He certainly couldn’t be called a brawler, but a guy who’s willing to hypnotize and stun his opponents can be just as fearful.

Puppet Angel vs The Count

The Count
Here the Count attacks Ernie and Bert. Ernie has crossed out eyes, as though he was scared to death.

Tonight Sesame Street Runs Red
Not really a lot of fighting, but the “Zero Survivors” written in what looks like blood definitely gets the point (ahem) across.

Count Me Out
Count takes out Ernie YET AGAIN, with bloody messages scrawled over the walls of the room.

So, there you have it … a brief look at some phenomenal renderings of the Count. More? Count on it!