‘If she had kept going down that way, she would’ve gone straight to that castle!’: Labyrinth, the Gothic body of David Bowie and the education of desire

Journal article

Goodrum, M. 2025. ‘If she had kept going down that way, she would’ve gone straight to that castle!’: Labyrinth, the Gothic body of David Bowie and the education of desire. European Journal of American Culture. 44 (1), pp. 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1386/ejac_00135_1
AuthorsGoodrum, M.
AbstractThis article investigates Labyrinth as a Gothic narrative; it positions the films as an attempt to ‘educate desire’ into normative channels within the context of the late Cold War and the Culture Wars of the 1980s. Particular attention is paid to the body and performance of David Bowie as Jareth and the way this engages with classic Gothic tropes of the dangerous older man. Sarah is also considered as a liminal adolescent coming to occupy a position defined by desire in a historical moment riven by anxieties around ‘acceptable choices’ amid the AIDS crisis and the activism of conservative pressure groups such as Moral Majority. Ultimately, Labyrinth is shown to be a productive space for the working through of issues of desire, both in its original context and, through the mapping of fan activities, throughout the 40 years since its release.
KeywordsDavid Bowie; Gothic; Labyrinth (film); Desire; Culture wars; 1980s
Year2025
JournalEuropean Journal of American Culture
Journal citation44 (1), pp. 19-39
PublisherIntellect
ISSN1466-0407
1758-9118
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1386/ejac_00135_1
Official URLhttps://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ejac_00135_1
Publication dates
Online19 Feb 2025
Print01 Mar 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted24 Oct 2023
Deposited23 Jan 2025
Accepted author manuscript
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Open
Output statusPublished
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