The Tyranny of Things: Gothic Thing Theory and Consumerism in In Fabric (2019)

This article explores the relationship between Thing Theory and late capitalism through the gothic trope of the haunted object in the British horror-comedy film In Fabric (2019). It argues that Thing Theory's methodological approach to fiction has an inherent risk of obscuring the material networks of things, leaving social injustices of exploitative labour unexamined. Importantly, In Fabric's portrayal of the garment industry highlights the unregulated and precarious conditions that workers endure. Through object-oriented criticism, the article suggests that the Gothic mode can mediate the fraught relationship between commodity fetishism and Thing Theory. The trope of the haunted object demonstrates both the agential quality of matter and its dark, dangerous production. The spectral capacity of the object reveals the dead, hidden labour found within all things that is often ignored under consumer capitalism. It also explores how humans can be objectified under late capitalism, as characters develop an ‘object-envy’ as they are incessantly dehumanised by their labour and desire to become objects themselves.