1 Fairy Tales and Freud: A Genre Analysis of Labyrinth By Katie Gill In 2009, as part of the travelling exhibit titled “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World,” the Mississippi Museum of Art hosted an interactive screening of Labyrinth (1986), a film that Henson directed. Much like modern showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), this screening invited audience members to sing along with the songs and to mimic actions done by actors in the film. For instance, when main character Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) bites into a peach, audience members would eat a gummy fruit, or during the celebration scene at the end, audience members put on party hats and blew party horns. I had the privilege of attending this event, and I had fun from start to finish. The screening was packed and everyone there had a blast. Despite coming alone, I soon gained a rapport with the twenty-something sitting next to me, both of us bonding over our love of this film. For both of us, Labyrinth was more than just a fun film: it became a way to bond with a total stranger. The fact that twenty years after it came out, a friendship could be formed over this film speaks to the staying power of Labyrinth. Starring Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a teenage girl whisked away to a strange land to save her brother, and David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King and her brother’s captor, Labyrinth is an imaginative tour de force. Along the way, Sarah meets three puppets that help her on her journey: the duplicitous Hoggle, the gentle Ludo, and the chivalrous Sir Didymus. Though panned critically at the time, Labyrinth is a wonderful example of a coming of age story, chronicling Sarah’s journey from teenage life into adulthood. Labyrinth effectively uses aspects of the fairy tale genre in order to explore Sarah’s personality and growth, going from girl to woman.