David Bowie In the Movies

Hi I'm Sarah or Movie and TV Mistress.  I like to write reviews of movies and TV shows, in this article I will be looking a couple of movies from the past 40 years of David Bowie's career on the silver screen.

40 years ago this year David stared in the classic Sci Fi drama "The Man Who Fell To Earth" I watched this for the first time a year ago and it is a strange and interesting film with so many ideas that you're not quite sure if he is an alien or just crazy, but one thing can be said about David is that as well as being a brilliant musician and artist he was a great actor.

This film is a hard watch at times as it is nothing like the sci-fi blockbusters which just wash over you. This requires you to pay attention and to use your imagination to fill in the blanks in the story yourself.

When I watched it I had to sit and contemplate what I had seen and the story of this poor man who had lost his family and was alone in the world.  The story is a tragic one, but there are so many funny parts of the story and David plays it all straight.  He was perfect for that role.

Another role that he was perfect for was Jerath the Goblin King from "Labyrinth".  This film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.  It nearly went to Michael Jackson, I don't think it would be the same film, there wouldn't have been the same sexual chemistry that David and Jennifer had during this film.

I know it seems wrong to say that there is sexual chemistry in a family film, where the heroine is 16 and the Goblin King is a mature man.  This film is all about the girls sexual awaking and becoming a woman, not physically sexual but metaphorically, as she works her way through a labyrinth in search of her baby brother, to eventually stand up to the Goblin King and realise she is stronger than any man. 

It is possible to read much more into the relationship and I'm sure many film theorists have, I could discuss the meaning of the relationships of the characters David Bowie played in each film at length.   For now I will give you my short version; what I see is a coming of age film and a teenager realising her selfish nature is hurting others, when she is shown how selfish she is and obsessed with material things, she gains the wisdom to fight against her selfish nature which shows it's self in the form of Jareth the Goblin King.

The thing about films is that you can always read different things into them, I always say each person should make their own mind up about what the films and journeys mean to them.  Sometimes you may just see an interesting or fun film, no matter what try to experience different films, you never know what you'll find.