This year marks both the 40th anniversary of the release of Labyrinth, and ten years since the death of its star, David Bowie.

The film – a vibrant musical fantasy – has long been cherished by those who saw it as children when it originally hit the silver screen or on media subsequently. Bowie fans of his 1970s periods, however, tend not to be so impressed.

This talk uses the philosophy of Deleuze to elevate Labyrinth – movie as well as music – to be equal to any of the artist’s best work.

Or at least, that is the intention…

I’ll be presenting this talk at Gloucestershire Philosophical Society as part of their wonderful 2026 Spring Programme.

The GPS has been running since the mid-1980’s and hold meetings on a variety of topics, providing a forum for debate on issues of current interest alongside informative lectures from specialists in many areas of philosophical, political, social, scientific and artistic thought. The meetings are open to both the academic and wider community – and they warmly welcome new members, so why not come along?

The GPS is a local partner of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and these events are funded by a grant from them. The society is also supported by the University of Gloucestershire and staff and students of the RPE course.

You can check out the full overview of my talk – as well as the other events as part of the 2026 Spring Programme – on the GPS website: https://glosphilsoc.net/about/. My thanks to Will Large (Associate Professor of Continental Philosophy, University of Gloucestershire) for the invite to speak at the GPS.

‘The Labyrinth Solution: the world of David Bowie & the film-philosophy of Gilles Deleuze’. A Talk by David Deamer. Gloucestershire Philosophical Society (2026).
11 March – 7.00 pm to 8: 30 pm – Room HC203, Francis Close Hall, University of Gloucestershire, Swindon Road, Cheltenham. Free.

You can also check out my abstract and more details on the event here: https://www.daviddeamer.com/the-labyrinth-solution-the-world-of-david-bowie-the-film-philosophy-of-gilles-deleuze/