1) In the start of the film, Sarah is very possessive over her toys, specifically the stuffed bear, Lancelot. She becomes furious to see that the bear was taken from her collection, declaring “I hate it! I hate you!” when she finds the bear in Toby’s room. She cares more about her things than her little brother.
While in the Labyrinth, Sarah is repeatedly tempted to abandon her quest. When she is dropped in a garbage dump after eating a poisoned peach, the trash goblin there gives Sarah a re-creation of her beloved stuffed bear, Lancelot, and the option to stay inside a perfect copy of her bedroom. She can have all her beautiful things forever, as long as she gives up Toby. Sarah, forgetful from the peach, is swayed at first, but soon realizes it’s a trick, shouting “it’s all junk! I have to save Toby!”
At the end of the film, she tucks Lancelot in next to the sleeping Toby, reinforcing that she has realized her brother is more important than her things.
2) When first entering the Labyrinth, Sarah has many presumptions about how things were supposed to work; fairies are sweet and kind and grant wishes, walls don’t move, door are obvious, and there’s no need to ask questions.
However, as the adventure goes on, Sarah chooses to approach things with an open mind. When she hears Ludo roaring, she says “things aren’t what they seem” and takes the risk to approach what sounds like a terrible monster. In the end, she gets a dear friend.
(This can be argued as tying back to her behavior with her father, stepmother, and little brother, all of whom she assumed the worst of.)
3) Relating to the above, Sarah spends much of the early film declaring “that’s not fair!” to life’s inconveniences, Jareth’s challenges, and the Labyrinth’s weirdness.
When she takes Hoggle’s jewels in retaliation for tricking her, he yells “thems my rightful property! It’s not fair!” She says “no, it isn’t” and you can see understanding hit her as she continues “but that’s the way it is”. The world isn’t always going to conform to her needs and expectations, and she’s been making things harder on herself by refusing to accept that.
4) When we’re first introduced to Sarah’s room we’re given a long, slow pan of her many fantasy-themed belongings. This shot serves two purposes.
The first is to hint at the fantastical things coming; many of the creature and events in the Labyrinth are reflected in Sarah’s books, toys, and pictures.
The second is to establish how Sarah retreats into fantasy to avoid her problems; a point emphasized when the camera swings to Sarah and we see her doing her makeup while quoting from a fairytale, despite having just had an argument with her stepmother.
In the ending scenes of the film, Sarah is putting away her books and makeup and toys. She’s experienced an actual fantasy world and found it not a haven, but even more perilous than the real world. She’s become disillusioned. After a bit, though, the images of the friends she made in that world come to her and remind her that they’re still there, if she needs them. She’s matured and learned to face her problems better, but she doesn’t have to give up all her fantasies in the process.
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