Okay, okay, I know the glasses are somewhat controversial, but when I saw this first sketch of Sarah in 2005, it seemed just right to me.
Anyway, Sarah’s presence has been quite limited in volumes 1-3, but rest assured you’ll be seeing a lot more of her in volume 4 (and here on gobblin.net) soon enough!
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I like the glasses, actually.
The outrage over the glasses always struck me as really silly. I like them, even if they fall under the “making the cute chick look frumpy by adding glasses” school of character design.
Same here. Love it when heroines have glasses, especially because it’s so rare. And they suit her…
I honestly can’t remember how I felt about Sarah with glasses when I read the first volume (Although I can tell you they were certainly unexpected, I didn’t recognize her at first!).
I think the glasses are a nice touch though, they not only signify that Sarah is older, but they also act as a way of masking herself from the world. Clark Kent wears glasses to distance herself from Superman, and I think Sarah having glasses is almost a subconcious way of distancing herself from her childhood, a way of shielding herself from others.
So it’s a nice way to sort of hint that Sarah is hiding from something, that she’s changed and evolved from the Sarah we know from the film, into someone older and more secluded.
That, or Chris just has a thing for girls in glasses (I kid, I kid).
Whoops, just noticed that I referred to Clark Kent as ‘Herself”
If I mysteriously stop posting after today then somebody notify the Justice League.
Oh, these are nice.
And I like the glasses. Nothing wrong with a character having less-than-perfect eyesight.
Although the expression on her face in the first picture kind of makes me feel like she’s about to eat my soul.
I don’t know why so many people whine about the glasses. It’s realistic. It’s been over ten years. Not everyone maintains perfect eye sight. Davi Bowie wears glasses now. I think she’s kind of cute in glasses.
I think people upset about the glasses wanted her to remain fifteen-years-old forever and just can’t adapt to change. People change.
I actually like her outfit here most of all. It very trendy compared to the outfit she wears in volume 1. And I always thought the glasses were a way of symbolizing that she is no longer blinded by fantasy, and that she sees only reality now. And these glasses are a bit cuter too.
I think they work as a good real-world parallel to Moppet’s mask.
I agree this outfit is way cooler but doesn’t seem to suit someone who’s about thirty. This outfit makes her seem younger.
Hey, us “about thirty” people dress hella cool!
In volume 1 I didn’t even know it was Sarah until he called her Sarah. I thought she was a guy at first glance.
I never even noticed the parallelism of Sarah’s glasses to Moppet’s mask. She does always have them on when Moppet has on her mask… I just noticed how Sarah put her glasses back on when Jareth arrived and Moppet put on a new mask during their discussion about Jareth’s lies. Wow, whoever picked up on that is a genious…
…ner…. don’t flame me for this or anything, I just don’t like the glasses, and I do have a reason for this. Yes they make her look older and more sophisticated, yes that all good and such but my problem is she doesn’t have a semblance of jenny left to her and I really I don’t think they fit her. As for the story, I wouldn’t mind if this was just her way to make a mask for herself in order to show how her dreams kind of faded away, but I think if she remembers the glasses wouldn’t fit her character anymore. Although I will say this, looking at the picture up there, I actually like that style of her better than how she’s drawn in the book.
Glasses are rarely worn for the sake of fashion so to say they don’t ‘fit her’ is like saying someone with a leg brace is being tacky. Just because Jennifer Connelly has perfect eye sight does not mean her characters would. Seems to me you have a slight thing against the notion that Sarah might have developed version problems. As if she’d have a choice in the matter. Remember, she’s mortal. Things could happen.
By the way, I’m twenty seven and dress like that. I didn’t realize there was an age limit on when we can look good, Samantha. I think you offended about ninety percent of the Labyrinth fan base (women in their late twenties and early thirties) by standardizing how our age group needs to dress.
I’m trying to limit how offended I am but umm… What is ‘wrong’ with how she’s dressed in regard to her age?! I’m twenty seven. Should I be wearing a Victorian period dress or an ankle length skirt and turtleneck sweatshirt? I like velvet, leggings, silk and things of a Gothic style.
Also as someone WITH vision problems (I have optic atrophy) I am personally insulted by Jenny’s post implying that wearing glasses ‘doesn’t fit’ her and ’show how her dreams kind of faded away, but I think if she remembers the glasses wouldn’t fit her character anymore’
What…?!?
So dreamers can’t wear glasses?! Quick, someone tell J. K. Rowling!
I’m blind in my left eye. I wear non-perscription reading glasses when reading manga. I guess I don’t have imagination!
I’m sick of the stereotype that those in glasses are the serious, stuffy shirt typed. Why can’t the dreamers wear glasses? This isn’t an eighties cartoon where only Egon Spangler in the Ghostbusters or Simon in Alvin and the Chipmunks wears glasses. It’s an unrealistic and insulting stereotype. The fact that you think in terms of this stereotype disturb me.
Go walk up to David Bowie and tell him he’s uncreative and that the glasses don’t suit him. He has prescription reading glasses, depth perception about equal to my own, and keeps his lyrics in a large print book he carries with him to all his concerts.
Sorry if I’m over reacting, it just really bothers me on a personal level when glasses are associated with such horrible stereotypes. That and I feel like my taste in fashion and physical limitations have been been insulted here.
To quote a friend just as angry as myself…
(in a shrill child voice) ‘You get your dreams back and you’ll have 20/20 vision!’
Excuse me while I regain my sense of sanity…
I have glasses, so they never bothered me..
Okay, I AM thirty and I think I missed the memo that we had a dress code and we couldn’t dress cool. Also, as a thirty year old that does wear glasses and sometimes contacts, I PREFER glasses. I am sorry, but she IS Sarah. Dreams have NOTHING to do with whether not you can see with perfect vision. I am completely insulted by this idea. Jake, I like the way you are going with Sarah and if the glasses come off because she has dreams, I will not see any of the manga as canon.
I have to agree with Sarah. As much as I love this manga if Sarah (the character) abruptly has perfect eye sight because she regains her dreams I will be very bothered.
In regard to Sarah’s cothes being ‘too cool’ for a thirty year old…
When David Bowie was thirty he was walking around with orange and yellow hair, bell bottoms, fadora and belly shirt. Think someone should break it to the multibillionaire he broke the dress code.
To drill home my point I have attached a picture of David Bowie at age sixty. if I ever run into the guy I’ll be sure and tell him he needs to wear slacks and a pocket protector now. ..
Johnny Depp is forty seven-ish. Have you seen how he dresses?
What about James Marsters in his trademark leather jacket? or Harry Dresden in the Dresden Files (age thirty five).
Is it different for guys?
Juliet Landou was in her thirties when playing Drucilla on Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Joanna Kelly is thirty and playing Myka in Warehouse 13 with similar fashion sense to this.
Did you never see how Elizabeth Montgummary Dressed as Samantha in Bewitched? She wore tight tops and bell bottoms and she was in her mid-to-late thirties on that show.
I think your outrage is a little disproportionate to the comments in question. I agree with most of your points, but try not to take things too personally as I’m sure no insult was intended and now this comments thread feels antagonistic. All right?
Of course creative people can wear glasses, if anything I’d say that artists, writers, graphic designers, and other people in a creative field of work, are MORE likely to wear glasses as their work requires them to focus their eyes for long periods of time (which would lead to strain), and that doesn’t include any number of other reasons a person might wear them.
I disagree with the comment that glasses are rarely worn for fashion, I have been living in Japan for 2 years now and fashion glasses are a lot more common here. However, I can see how in North America is would be considered more rare.
Reading Jenny C’s comments makes me think her ideas are misguided, but I don’t find them offensive. While I agree with your reasons against what shesaid that are listed here (fashion is a hugely personal thing there is no age limit on it, and with the huge increase in computer use etc in our modern day the stereotype of only so called ‘boring’/studious peope [tradionally, however right or wrongly, considered uncreative] no longer applies, if it ever did) I think the anger it has invoked in these responses is a little overdone. She was only stating an opinion after all, and I don;t think she was intentionally levelling that idea at anyone, but at her idea of the character of Sarah, a character she most strongly assosiated as a teenager.
In short, I’m with Jake.
I’m sorry, Jake. It just bothers me that something as personal as taste in fashion (which is meant to be an expression of the individual) could have a designated age limit or that glasses would be a ’sign that her dreams are gone.’ Those sort of stereotypes about people with glasses have hurt children with visual problems for decades, possibly even centuries when you think about it. I’m sorry for over reacting.
Perforce, what I said about glasses and fashion, I know frames and lense shape can be selected for aesthetic reasons and often are but when you are prescribed glasses the reason is not because you think it would make a cool accessory for this or that jacket (though it can be made to work as a fashion). My eyes don’t adjust to light well so I wear sunglasses out doors and I have quite a few pairs I only wear because I know how I look in them.
Oh, I understood what you meant, but here in Japan you can buy glasses with clear panes instead of prescriptions from hyakuen shops, that some of my students wear on and off just because they like how it looks. However, I do recognise that the practice is less common in North America.
Ah, I get it now. I’ve never seen glasses worn strictly for fashion (save for some sunglasses or Harry Potter glasses at book premieres). Usually there’s some occular improvement purpose. And as I’ve said, I feel Sarah looks fine.
The only time I truly hated the aging effect on a character was with Ariel in The Little Mermaid 2. All they did was put her hair up in a bun to signify she had aged ten years. At age twenty-six they had The Little Mermaid dressing and acting in the cliche of an elderly mother.
Young minds are impressionable. I play in online RP communities. And an eighteen-year-old girl whom I’ll call Jewel, wanted to prove her character was maturing. So she had her show up wearing her hair tied up in a bun and wearing very conformed, conservative clothes. I never realized being mature meant you had to be a librarian.
Speaking of character evolution, I just saw an article about Disney revamping Tinkerbell’s look. Anyone here see that new look for Disney’s Tinkerbell? It’s cute but not what I’d call Tinkerbell-esque. I love the look but I’d want it for a new faery.
If I wanted to be pedantic I could start on about how you’ve just assumed that being a librarian means you put your hair up in a bun and wear conservative clothes, but I actually agree with the point your making. I think the idea is actually left over from older time periods where young girls would wear their hair down (in braids etc), and it wasn’t until you were ‘out’/had had your debut that you would wear your hair up and have skirts to the floor (younger girls could get away with above ankles because of their age). For that reason having your hair up was considered more sophisticated and would legitimately be shown as a sign of maturity or aging. Again, it’s not really relevant today, but the idea remains embedded in some areas today, particularly in things like Disney where stereotypes are rife at the best of times.
Oh lordy, I’m glad I got my comment in before the kerfuffle started. Not really sure how it escalated so quickly.
I don’t think Jenny meant any ill towards people who wear glasses (I wear them myself, I have since grade 6). I think she was just trying to say that she didn’t like Sarah with glasses, because it’s not what she pictures when she thinks of the adult Sarah.
Jenny never mentioned anything about how dreamers can’t wear glasses…She only spoke about how if the glasses are being used as a symbolic representation of a mask, that when Sarah recovers her lost dreams that, thematically, the glasses would no longer be needed (As why would she need her ‘mask’ if she were no longer hiding herself?)
Gotta love how Jenny’s first sentence was “Please don’t flame me for this” and that’s just what everyone did. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but I just wanted to throw my two-bits in.
Listen I’m just gonna post up a follow up comment to what Kritsi O said. Yes I made comment but it wasn’t ment to start whole firey debate. I love the story regardless of what I say. But isn’t the point of things like this to share ones opinion. It wasn’t ment to insult people with glasses, heck my best freind has glasses and she looks great. As for how they represent her it was just an evaluation of something not meant to be at all something serious. The last thing I’m gonna say on this topic is that I’m sorry it got to be like this, I wish it hadn’t, all I had wanted to do was get my 2 cents worth in. Thats all. Now I agree with Jake about changing the subject. i didn’t mean any harm, sorry jake.
No offense taken, and no need to appoligize, Jenny. You didn’t do anything wrong. I want to make sure that gobblin.net is a place where readers can share their honest opinions without things getting heated.
Thank you, I whole heartedly agree. Btw Seen the newest sneak peak for Vol 4I luff hana so I was super excited, I can’t wait till it comes out.
Thanks, guys, for calming down the flames. I know that Jareth/Sarah posts always spark the most heated responses. Everything’s fine here, but just a heads up that in the future, I will delete posts that are confrontational to other visitors.
Jake, have you ever heard of a Unicorn Chaser? In blogging terms when you make a post that gets people riled up (Typically done by posting something gross or creepy) the next post is something sparkly and fun (Usually a Unicorn) to get people’s minds off the previous post (Thus, Unicorn Chaser)
After all the hubbub generated with this post I think Gobblin.net should start up it’s own version of the Unicorn Chaser. Any utterly cute Labyrinth related items you have handy to post?
By coincidence, I just twittered about Unicorns randomly a couple of hours ago (as you can see on the handy new twitter widget to the right), but no, I’m not familiar with that phrase. I do have a cute NEW piece of art ready that’ll be up shortly.
What I said wasn’t intended as flaming. A flame war to me typically is an attack on a person on a personal level or lacking in basis. ‘You’re an idiot!’ ‘Well, you’re a moron!’ ect…
I wrote out a detailed response trying to explain why I strongly disagree with her. It was never intended as overly aggressive and not at all meant as flaming. Flaming, to me, is when you go to a youtube video and find half the comments are two guys calling each other various insults for no real reason except perhaps one of them thought Wolverine was the X-man with blue fur.
It was this line in Jenny’s post that bothers me. ‘I wouldn’t mind if this was just her way to make a mask for herself in order to show how her dreams kind of faded away, but I think if she remembers the glasses wouldn’t fit her character anymore.’
Moppet may be trying to hide but it could partly be a subconscious connection to Sarah wearing something on her own face. To me it doesn’t seem plausible that a matured character would wear glasses without a legitimate visual purpose. I don’t think the character of Sarah is Clark Kent or a Japanese school girl following a trend that doesn’t quite exist in the US of wearing clear glass specks for no other purpose but to wear them.
Perforce, what i said about librarians wasn’t about literal librarians but based on the stereotype ‘librarian look.’
*sigh*
… and yet you don’t think that using the assumptions that stereotypes do (in your case that all librarians have their hair up in a bun and wear conservative clothes) in order to speak out against those assumptions to be at all self-defeating?
I don’t care what people say about librarians, but in the Music Man, Marian the Librarian was pretty hot, and the song about her was the best in the movie.
heh, I’m picking up on subtle hints that Jake would like to change the subject and not have us start an(other) argument. Fair enough.
Okay, to clear the semantic. I yield. What I should have said up there was ‘cliche idea of librarian.’
As for hot Librarian… Give me Anthony Head.
I’m so sorry I pissed off so many people I’m only 18, and don’t know that many thirty year old’s. I think I should clarify what I ment it doesn’t suit someone like Sarah who is trying to act more mature than she actually is. Again I’m sorry about acidently offending some of you guys.
Don’t sweat it, Samantha! You didn’t say anything inappropriate. No offense taken here (only mind amusement.
).
When I was 18, I was so fashion inept — my poorly assembled wardrobe was closer what I’d now generalize as “boring grown up clothes” than what I wear now. As Baby Boomer cultural dominance wanes, I think American fashion tastes are definitely changing so that style and self-expression are more important for more people longer.
Thanks that makes me feel better
Shouldn’t flame up too bad. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and you can’t always make them understand the way you view things.
Please note, I’m not knocking anything. I have been a fan of the Labyrinth since the first time I watched it, and it has always been and always will be one of my top favorites. I liked the picture, think it gives some class myself. (I’ve only just recently learned about Return to Labyrinth myself, so I haven’t read it) And I am 27 and like to dress up.
But there are those out there who just don’t have the “dreamers” perspective in them, OR their ideals are just too…shall I say “grown up” to understand why those of us, who just like to express our interests in things, and like to enjoy things in life that are a bit so-called below our age level (which is a load of nonsense). But in my experience getting all upset over something written by someone who is just as entitled to their opinions just adds stress to this already stressful life.
That said KUDOS! to the imaginations behind the Labyrinth and everything like it! Puts me in a wonderful world outside of this one, and i find it relaxing and exciting!
To be honest, when I first picked up RtL volume 1 at the store, I flipped through the whole thing looking for Sarah. My first thought was that the girl with glasses was Toby’s girlfriend or something and that Sarah wasn’t going to be in the story at all. Just shows you have to read the text before you make assumptions ^_^;
First thing I did this morning when I logged on was check this website…. Heh, I’ve been chuckling all morning. An ironic thing to read on the day I picked up new spectacles for myself.
Sexy librarians…. Rupert Giles, maybe? Haven’t ever heard of Anthony Head. What series is he in?
Rupert Giles is way sexier than Tony Head (the actor who plays him
) but Wesley Wyndam-Price has the both beat, although technically he’s not a librarian (although he did meet his true love via a library).
…By Giles, you mean the one from buffy right? I luved him, hehe wesley was funny.
Durh. Serious brain-glitch.
One of my favorite librarians is the Librarian of Unseen University. He’s hilarious.
‘Sexy librarians…. Rupert Giles, maybe? Haven’t ever heard of Anthony Head. What series is he in?’
Anthony Head is the actor who played Giles. When he was on Buffy he went by the name Anthony Stewart Head. Now he’s just Anthony Head.
I just call him Tony. We’re tight.
Jake, if you like Anthony Head as an actor (even if you don’t find him sexy
) I don’t really recommend his role in Merlin. It’s kind of muddled. It’s hard to tell what direction they want to take him and I don’t think he’s sure. However if you like horror and musicals go check out Repo! The Genetic opera. He plays a Sweeney Todd type of character. It’s on DVD.