Stardust, Thin White Dukes and Labyrinths

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n“What I’m doing is theater and only theater, what you see onnstage isn’t sinister, it’s pure clown. I’m using myself as a canvas and tryingnto paint our time on it.” – David Bowie

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nLike the rest of the world and like anybody who cares aboutnmusic and rock and roll in general, I still mourn David Bowie’s death. He wasn’tnjust any regular Joe, he was special kind of human being, he was different and henreveled in the fact that he was like no other. He certainly shook the notionsnof a few conservatives, thankfully he also shook the pillars of heaven for allnthose rock and rollers out there, myself included. Bowie was a consummatenartist and performer, always creating; be it through his music or through hisnmany performances as an actor. Not only that, he was like Freddy Mercury, leadnsinger of Queen. With just the right lyrics and the according, perfectly chosennfour cords, both of these singers could “get to you”; they could slither theirnway into your soul. For years, David Bowie portrayed himself as ‘Ziggy Stardust’,nan being from another world who played with a band called ‘The Spiders fromnMars’. Together they toured earth, collecting data on our behavior. Theninformation Ziggy gathered would filter into his songs, songs that in turn spokenof who we are. Bowie was an observer of humanity, looking at us, like an alienn“floating in a tin can” in space. He distanced himself from chaotic humanity,ntroubling themselves with rules and regulations. Bowie created his own uniquenpersona so he could live by his own rules, Ziggy Stardust was a symbol of thenunique, the different, it was alsona response to the Glam Rock phase rock and roll through went through the 70’snwith bands like KISS, The New York Dolls, The Sweet and T. Rex amongst manynothers.

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nDespite the fact that he played an alien on stage, Bowie wasna very human entity. Sure he turned into a rock and roll god, but he wasn’t anperfect one. After Ziggy, Bowie would go on to live through some very darknpassages in his life story. In 1976, after he’d squeezed the life out of his ZiggynStardust persona, he transformed once again, becoming this time ‘The Thin WhitenDuke’, a far more sinister version of Bowie. According to Bowie himself, he’snwas a chameleon, acquiring, like some sort of mimicker, a hodgepodge ofnpersonalities. You see, Bowie, like most of us, was on a continuous journey ofnexploration, he wasn’t exempt from trying to find himself and in doing so, manyna persona emerged. The Thin White Duke had pale skin, orange hair and alwaysndressed in black and white, partially based on Thomas Jerome Newton, the aliennhe played on Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976). At this point,nsome accused Bowie of being “pro-fascist”. These accusations came from somencomments he made about Hitler, and a picture they took of him that looked likenhe was giving a “Hail Hitler!” salute. He stated that America needed fascism ton“sweep everything off its feet and tidy everything up” he also stated that henbelieved “very strongly in fascism” and that he thought that Hitler was “one ofnthe first rock stars”. He later refuted all that, chalking it all up tontheatrics, a reflection of humanity, He went on to clearly state he was not anfascist.  

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nAt first glance, The Thin White Duke seemed, at least fromnan aesthetic point of view, like a “normal” persona when contrasted with thenflamboyant, glam of Ziggy Stardust. But in reality, The Thin White Duke was thenpersona that almost killed Bowie. Bowie would call these years “the darkestnyears of my life.” During those years, Bowie was dangerously close to the edge,nHe’d turned into a coke fiend that spoke and acted in nonsensical ways, this isnprobably why Bowie described the Thin White Duke as an “amoral zombie”, sonthose fascist comments were probably a byproduct of his monstrous cocainenaddiction. He admitted that during that time, he was out of his mind, totallyncrazed. For proof of this, just type ‘Bowie on Cocaine’ on YouTube, you’ll bentreated to an interview in which Bowie is coked up out of his mind and a videonwhere you can clearly see him partaking backstage. Thankfully he evolved yetnagain and left this dangerous creation of his behind, The Thin White Dukennearly killed Bowie, but before that happened, Bowie killed the Duke at a rehabnclinic, accompanied by the one and only Iggy Pop. Thankfully, Bowie realizednthe folly of his ways and emerged a far more “normal” individual; I guess wencould call it ‘the real Bowie’. He wasn’t playing any character, he was justnhimself. Funny part is that during all these transformations and selfnexplorations, he never stopped acting or making records, art was imitating lifenand to Bowie, life was one big theater.

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nI came to know of Bowie when I was about eleven years old,nthat first time I saw Labyrinth (1986). Back then I knew he was some sort ofnrock persona, but I had no idea. In fact, if I remember correctly, my Christiannfamily had problems with me watching Labyrinth because to them Bowie wasnthe lead singer of a satanic rock band! I always ignored these comments andnwatched Labyrinth more times than I can remember because it was just too coolnof a movie not to see it and I found Bowies songs so addictive. I still saynthat if I ever get married, I’m dancing ‘As the World Falls Down’ with my wife.nI place Labyrinth on my top five favorite Fantasy films from the 80’s.

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nLabyrinth is a coming age story about a young girl thatnlearns that in life things aren’t always the way we’d like them to be.nLabyrinth taught me many things, among them that the unexpected can happen and thatnwhen it does, there’s no time to complain, you just have to deal with it. It taughtnme that the world is full of lies and distractions and that we have to siftnthrough them, searching for the truth. It taught me that we should focus on ourngoals and never give up on them, not even when we reach a terrible blacknoubliette. Labyrinth was the movie that taught me that “nothing is what it seemsnin this place” and that I “shouldn’t take anything for granted”. It taught menthat we can go up against impossible odds and that we can win if we only stayntrue to ourselves and surround ourselves with true friends. It taught me thatnwe should become masters of our own destiny, that we should take responsibilitynfor our actions. It’s a film about evil wanting to corrupt purity, innocencenand goodness, only that in the world of Labyrinth, goodness has the courage andnthe will to fight back! “You have no power over me!” says Sarah to Jareth, innthis way teaching us that should we choose to do so, we could lead our lives innthe direction we choose. Throughout the film, Sarah becomes an adult, leavingnthe things of childhood behind, but does this mean she’ll forget entirely aboutnher beloved childhood? One thing I always liked about this film is that itndoesn’t tell us to completely eradicate childlike innocence from our lives.nInstead, it taught us that that innocence, that sense of wonder should alwaysnbe there for us should we ever need it. 

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nLabyrinth is an amazing accomplishment on many levels, it’snan impressive production, but then again, no one should expect anything lessnthan awesome with the talent involved in the making of this film. First off,nJim Henson himself directed this magical tale. Yes, THAT Jim Henson, quitenliterally, the master of puppets! Staying true to his title, Jim Henson andncrew made sure this film was populated by a plethora of puppets. Literallynevery nook and cranny of this world is filled with a puppet of some kind. Thenway they made this film, entire sets were built above ground so that thenpuppeteers could stand below, maneuvering the creatures. No one makes filmsnlike this anymore, it takes special individuals to propel this type ofnproduction, and it seems no one is picking up Jim Henson’s reins, which makesnmovies like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal (1982) all the more special. If theynremade Labyrinth now, I’m sure it would be populated with lots of CGIncreatures. What Hollywood doesn’t understand or chooses to ignore is that whatnmade these movies so magical were the puppets and the sets and the artisticntalent involved. Labyrinth might be a fantastic tale about goblins and fairies,nbut behind it all was that human touch. We know there’s puppeteers pulling thenstrings and that makes the film a million times more special, it adds thatnhuman touch to it that is so sorely missing from today’s films. 

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nTo top things off, Bowie’s songs are so freaking memorable.nSometimes when artists do songs for a film, they’ll do throwaways that theynwon’t even sing in their own concerts, but not with Labyrinth. On this shownBowie produced and performed tunes that were just as good as his regularnrecords.’ Dance Magic Dance’, ‘As the World Falls Down’ and ‘Underground’ arenall amazing. For a while there Bowie’s Labyrinth soundtrack was all I knew ofnthe artist. Even then as a child, knowing nothing else about Bowie, I connectednwith those Labyrinth songs. I guess, even as a child I recognized greatness. WhennI reached my late twenties I decided to reconnect and explore the rest of hisnwork. A whole new world opened up for me. I was immediately blown away by thencoolness, the purely rock and roll aspect of Bowie. I loved the fact that Bowienreveled in his exoticness; he was a wild one as are most of us during ournyounger years, when we think we’re going to live forever, when we think we arenindestructible. But time passes, and death and decease will eventually catch upnwith all of us, as it did with Bowie who died of cancer on Juanuary 10^thn2016. Bowie was an artist to the very end and beyond, as he was working on anfinal album before he died, that album was ‘Blackstar’. He was such an artist,nthat he wrote a whole song, and filmed an amazing video, precisely to benreleased after he died. The chilling song is called ‘Lazarus’, a song in whichnhe reviews his entire life as a rock and roll superstar, musing about it all with longing in his voice. It’s a song performed by an artist who lived a truly rich life. Leave it to Bowie tonsend shivers down our spines even from beyond the grave. Speaking of which, as I sit hear in front of my computer, musing on how to finish this article, Life on Mars? started playing on my phone randomly…I can’t help getting an eerie feeling and remembering those lyrics from Lazarus “Look up here…I’m in heaven…” Perhaps there is Life on Mars after all! 

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