Jen did nothing wrong.

If you grew up in the 80s, like I did, you could not avoid Jim Henson. His work was everywhere, the Muppet Show, Labyrinth, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock... The list goes on and on. 

So when, in 1982, a new movie by Henson began to be advertised, every parent in the small Oregon town we were living in bought tickets. The theater was booked for over a week solid. And every member of my grade school got to see it...

Once...

Every child that went to see the movie was inspired. There were arguments about who would be a Gelfling or a Skeksis or a Podling. There were even a few that wanted to be Mystics. As an adult, I wish I was still in touch with those last ones, but not the point.

The reason we only got to see it once is that none of the parents would buy tickets for a second showing. Think of how that felt for a minute, every one of your friends, enemies, bullies, every kid wanted to see it again, and the adults who had bought tickets without even pausing said no.

Now in case you are not familiar with the film, let me give you a short description of the trailer and the movie.

I will admit I don't remember the trailer clearly, but I do remember that it felt like a rather typical adventure. Exciting, deep, and beautifully made as only Henson could, yes, but nothing in the trailer felt significantly different in the over all story. You had a hero, villains, and interesting characters, but it would not feel substantially different from Star Wars, or the Hobbit.

And as a plot, it is not even structured different from any other Hero's Journey.^tm^

Jen appears to be the last Gelfling, as his master, Greatest of the Mystics, lies dying he finally tells Jen of his destiny, sending him out into the world. Jen travels to find Aughra, a wizen and argumentative woman, who starts to tell him of his destiny before her home is destroyed by the Garthim, insect soldiers of the Skeksis. He meets a lone female Gelfing by chance, the only other Gelfing as far as we know. The figure out what is going on, and head out to destroy the Skeksis in their dark abode. This culminates in a final scene unlike anything else in cinema, either before or after.

I have come to believe that that scene is the entire reason that we never got to go back to the theater. Let me describe it:

Jen is sitting atop the Dark Crystal, shoving the broken Shard of the Crystal back into the hole made by its absence, when he is thrown to the ground by the energy emanating from the Crystal. In the moment, the Skeksis begin fleeing, running in panic from what is happening, as the Mystics enter slowly enter the Crystal Chamber, their hunched figures walking with purpose to surround the Crystal, taking positions facing outward. Suddenly, they are each struck by a beam of light, a beam that refracts through them, each striking a single Skeksis. In this moment, the Skeksis are pulled backwards into the Mystics, as the Mystics themselves rise almost painfully into an upright position. They do not destroy the Skeksis, but embrace them, as the 2 beings merge into one. A form not seen before in the movie. 

At this moment, one of these creatures tells Gen that they long ago broke the Crystal of Truth, an act that shattered their very forms into the creatures that Gen was familiar with, the Skeksis and the Mystics. An act that the creature calls 'arrogance.' An act that it obviously regrets and is thankful that has been undone.

In this moment, Henson was telling children, in a scene that would live in their hearts forever, that in order to be whole you must accept the darker aspects of yourself. A sentiment I would later read again in the works of Carl Jung, not that I needed to read it, Jim had taught us all what that meant.

But the adults could not see that. To them dark is evil, and should be resisted by any means necessary. 

You see, it wasn't the children that were made uncomfortable by this message, but the adults around them. I knew kids who had to sneak out 4 years later to see Labyrinth because their parents would not let them watch another Henson film.

Now, I had heard Loki in my thoughts long before this. Something I was always scared about. I was also taught the evil and darkness were the same thing. In an instant, I was shown a truth far more powerful.

Darkness is within us all. Fighting it does no good. Running does no good. Even reasoning with it does no good.

To defeat the dark, you must embrace it.