It's Only Forever
Labyrinth
by Jes Battis
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Book Presentation:
A wild, intimate, and political deep dive into Jim Henson’s 1986 classic starring David Bowie and its cast of lovable, gender-defying goblins.
In the 40 years since Labyrinth’s release, Jim Henson’s cult classic starring a menagerie of goblin puppets, the conversation about it has only grown louder. Fans are still holding viewing parties and masquerade balls, and creating memes inspired by David Bowie’s sardonic and sexy goblin king, numerous Etsy crafts, and even a Japanese video game. But what makes the film so enduring, beyond its technical mastery and clever script, is how it presents childhood as something dangerous, heroic, and even queer.
It's Only Forever explores Labyrinth as an ’80s time capsule that both reflects and challenges its era, offering its young audience an alternative to conservatism and soulless economics, at a time when U.S. president Ronald Reagan ignored the HIV/AIDS crisis, pushing queerness further into the shadows. As Sarah, played by a teenaged Jennifer Connelly, faces down the king and his destructive whims, she exclaims, “You have no power over me,” and in that moment she is everyone who has ever felt marginalized, who has instead turned to the goblins over social and political toxicity every single time.
From the costuming to the twisting plot, this classic example of 1980s fantasy shows us that the magic and comfort of childhood never need to be discarded as we are forced to enter a world that may very well seek to destroy us. Instead, Labyrinth reveals a universal and beautiful truth: that our strength comes from what we have always known ourselves to be — beastly, loving, and wildly joyful.
About the Author:
Jes Battis is a queer autistic writer and teacher, and the author of The Winter Knight, the Occult Special Investigator series, and the Parallel Parks series (as Bailey Cunningham). Their work has been shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award and a Sunburst Award, as well as the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize. The Winter Knight was featured in the Canada Reads 2024 competition and won both an Independent Publisher's Award and an Indie Foreword Award. Battis teaches queer and trans studies, medieval literature, and representations of disability/neurodiversity in pop culture at the University of Regina. They live in Regina and spend time with family in Vancouver.
Press Reviews:
"Jes Battis takes readers on a nostalgia-laced tour of Henson’s classic film filtered through queer, neurodivergent, and othered lenses. Embrace your inner goblin and dance the magic dance!" — Joe Lipsett, film critic and podcaster
"It’s Only Forever is a tender and beautiful ode to the interwoven cultural touchstones that contribute to the portrait of a life." — Niko Stratis, author of The Dad Rock that Made Me a Woman
"It’s Only Forever is my favorite kind of book, one that leaves me both giggling and sniffling, highlighting the most impactful lines. Readers will be pulled in by Jes Battis’s quick wit and hilarious prose and will find themselves swirling about in truths so heavy and clear that they will become lost in their own labyrinths of nostalgia and critical reflection. Luckily, unlike many a creature in the film, Battis doesn’t leave you on your own without instructions, but instead carefully unravels the complexity of Jim Henson’s iconic film through a mix of academic readings, nostalgic pop culture considerations, and little windows into their own life. For all the weird kids out there, this book will feel like coming home." — Cassandra Ozog, co-editor of "You’re Muted": Performance, Precarity, and the Logic of Zoom
"I thought I’d seen Labyrinth from every angle, but Jes Battis’s thoughtful meditation has uncovered new pathways into the film. Like Sarah’s journey, this book is a reexamination of the ever-shifting nature of dreams, sexual impulses, and the goblins who pursue us, or the goblins we secretly long to join. As a work of art, Labyrinth has always been generous in offering plenty of room for interpretation, and Battis accepts the film’s invitation with vulnerability and insight, drawing on personal memories that shed new light on the importance of exploring mazes. Analytical, intimate, and queer in every sense of the word, this book feels like a natural extension of the nostalgic mental roaming that fans of the film have been happily indulging in for the last forty years." — Matt Baume, author of Hi Honey, I’m Homo! Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture
See the publisher website: ECW Press
See Labyrinth (1986) on IMDB ...
> On a related topic:
The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson (2012)
Essays on His Work and Legacy Beyond The Muppet Show and Sesame Street
Dir. Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham
Subject: Director > Jim Henson
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