Spinning Bodies into Gold: Thread, Labor, and Choice in Karen Russell’s “Reeling for the Empire” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread

Authors

Amy Greenhough, Falmouth University

Abstract

This article uses the tale of “Rumpelstiltskin” as a framing device to explore Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature film Phantom Thread (2017) and Karen Russell’s short story “Reeling for the Empire” (2013) as contemporary fairy tales that illuminate the relationship thread, production, and bodies have to exploitation, specifically in relation to gender. It argues that Anderson and Russell both draw on fairy tale to examine the murky exchanges embedded in advanced capitalist modes of production.

Recommended Citation

Greenhough, Amy. "Spinning Bodies into Gold: Thread, Labor, and Choice in Karen Russell’s “Reeling for the Empire” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread." Marvels & Tales 38.2 (2025). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol38/iss2/4>.