My siblings and cousins rented it for movie night when it first came out.

My first impressions as a child:

• I loved it - instant rewatchable favorite. Was already a big fan of Henson and Dark Crystal, muppets etc.

• I was very intrigued by Jareth/Bowie. Didn’t know who Bowie was at the time and the gender-bending style had me convinced he was a woman for the first half of the movie. To be fair in the 80s I was also gender-confused regarding Michael Jackson (thought he was she) and the Bangles (thought they were he, because all the other hair bands were men). lol

• I loved all the music

• I thought Jennifer Connelly was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen

• I especially loved: the “helping hands”; the hand juggling; ludo; the fireys; the worm

• the bog of eternal stench was HILARIOUS and continued to be so for years of future rewatches

• I thought baby Toby was annoying and stepmom was mean. Didn’t see Sarah as selfish in the least, from my child pov

• I was entirely confused by the dynamic between Jareth and Sarah, as a child. Jareth was threatening, so why was he also seductive? Why was he acting like he was in love with her in some scenes while bullying her in others? And especially in the end, why did he say “love me, do as I say and I will be your slave” - what did that even mean, it didn’t make sense?

Many years later as an adult, and after a few destructive relationships, on rewatch i saw it in a completely different light. Sarah was a naive child, over-confident in the beginning; she falls under the spell of a seductive and manipulative man who upends her sheltered perspectives - she thinks she’s getting smarter and smarter as she navigates through his world, but it’s all an illusion to strip her of any of her own agency. He’s just power tripping over her and toying with her, trying to convince her it’s all for her own good. Just like an abusive partner or manipulative boss or cult leader. She only breaks the spell after she realizes: “you have no power over me.”

Tl;dr now I see the movie as a metaphor about leaving abusive relationships/situations.