Jareth's Labyrinth is a totalitarian state. Here's why.
A totalitarian government is a government in which a single party (or person) is in control of everything from the military to the economy to all means of communication. A totalitarian leader controls their people through the use of terror.
And if you squint, itās whatās happening in the labyrinth.
Letās first look at what we observe from how the labyrinthās denizens act.
Theyāre terrified of their king and the many creative ways he can punish them. They seem to be used to being ordered about, hit, kicked, or tossed, or having threats lobbed at them several times an hour. While the goblins seem to take it in stride, they are also relatively quick to obey orders. The āwell, laugh?ā scene comes to mind.
Hoggle, especially, is terrified of his King, outright stating so a few times within the film and cowering whenever he appears. Disobeying Jarethās orders has (almost) disastrous effects for Hoggle and itās shown that Jarethās threats towards him arenāt empty.
And Jareth himself seems comfortable giving orders. In fact, itās all he does all through the film! He barks demands at his goblins, commands his army, and even tries to get Sarah to cede to his will in the twelfth hour. Thereās no doubt that he is very comfortable with his crown, and Sarah seems to be the first person to tell him no.
That was not good for his image.
And speaking of his image: itās everywhere! Itās a pretty well known āsecretā at this point that the film crew his Bowieās face on a lot of the sets. Why did they do this? The Doylist perspective is that, well, itās David Bowie and this is an 80s film. Of course his face is going to be plastered everywhere someone can get away with it.
The intradiegetic or Watsonian reading of all these faces is a littleā¦darker.
Totalitarian heads of state are known (aside from violence) for also sticking their face wherever they can put it. Itās propaganda, and one of the oldest examples.
Jarethās ever-present visage is a reminder to his citizens that he is watching, and he is aware of what theyāre doing. Always.
On the other hand, the faces might not be there all the time. They might only show up when Sarah is being spied on, as a subtle visual reminder that Sarah is meant to also be completely within Jarethās view and control at all times.
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