On Feb.13, “Wuthering Heights” was released in theaters. The film, directed by Emerald Fennel, is explained as a modern take on the eponymous 1847 novel by Emily Bronte.
The book and film couldn’t be any more different. Fennell’s film is a Wattpad teenage fanfiction remake, with only the names and location being accurate in the story. It seems like so many plot lines, characters and events have simply disappeared in the new remade story.
Specifically, the different things in the film compared to the book is drastic. The most obvious change is Heathcliff being white in the film while in the book he is depicted as a person of color. This has been the biggest controversy with the film.
In the book because of Heathcliff’s skin color and background this causes him to be a victim of abuse and a social outcast, which later he repeats the cycle of abuse to others. In the film he is not as abusive and seems more possessive and manipulative, making his character more likeable in the film compared to the book.
In the book, the main characters’ names are the same but the roles of the side characters in the film have been moved around or completely deleted. Hindley Earnshaw who is the main character, Catherine Earnshaw’s brother is wiped from the film. Hindley is the abuser to Heathcliff in the book but in the film it is Mr. Earnshaw the father who saved Heathcliff from the streets. Mr. Earnshaw is abusive and a drunk in the film.
Even so far as getting rid of the second generation of children of the two families Catherine and her husband and Heathcliff and his wife that end up repeating the cycle of Catherine and Heathcliff. The second half of the book with the children and the haunting of Catherine’s ghost is nonexistent in the film.
Another major change is the ages in the characters of the film. In the book Catherine is 16 when most of the events of the books occur but actress Margot Robbie, 35, for these moments where the character is supposed to be much younger and it shows in her choices and maturity. While the film does not depict her age, it is obvious that the actress cannot pass for 16. The decisions and actions of Catherine in the film doesn’t translate as well because of the visibly older age of Margot Robbie. It comes off as selfish and spoiled, not young and naive.
In the film, there is a long affair between Catherine and Heathcliff for a good part of the movie which simply did not occur in the book. In the book, Catherine and Heathcliff only ever kiss on her deathbed. In trailers for the film it’s promoted as a spicy love story but this ignores the original plot and important messages in the book.
“I think it’s a lot of things but I think that primarily because the book means so much to me and it means so, so much to so many people…But the thing for me is that you can’t adapt a book as dense and complicated and difficult as this book. I can’t say I’m making ‘Wuthering Heights.’ It’s not possible. What I can say is I’m making a version of it. There’s a version that I remember reading. That isn’t quite real. And there’s a version that I wanted stuff to happen that never happened. And so it is ‘Wuthering Heights’ and it isn’t. But really, I’d say that any adaptation of a novel, especially a novel like this, should have, you know, quotation marks around it.” said Fennell in an interview with Fandango.
One such change is casting Jacob Elordi, an Australian actor who is not a person of color, in the lead role of Heathcliff.
Reading this book through the lens of white privilege so the racism, abuse and discrimination of Heathcliff experiences did not exist to the director. Fennell made what she wanted to happen in the novel not really what actually happened so it was easier to digest for the audience who didn’t understand the complexities of the novel.
The Hollywood Reporter, in an in person interview, asked Fennell about the controversy around casting a non-person of color for the role of Heathcliff. Fennell is not incapable of understanding “Wuthering Heights”, she chose not to.
“I think that thing is everyone who loves this book has such a personal connection to it and so you can only ever kind of make that movie that you sort of imagined yourself when you read it and then you can,” said Fennel. “I don’t know, I think I was sort of focusing on a kind of sadomasochistic elements of it. And so, but that’s the great thing about this movie is it, it could be made every year and it would still be so moving and so interesting. There are so many different takes. So, you know, I just, I just welcome every, I think every year we should have a new one.”
In fact, the only film adaptation of the book where Heathcliff is actually a person of color is “Wuthering Heights 2011” directed by Andrea Arnold starring James Howson and Kaya Scodelario.
Being a white woman, reading this and missing everything in the plot of the book — purposely ignoring key texts in the novel describing what Healthcliff ’s background is and instead whitewashing the film.
These are not hard to miss in the book, which directly states things like: “Who knows but your father was Emperor of China, and your mother an Indian queen;” “if you were a regular black;” and “I wish I had light hair and a fair skin.”
Creating the side characters who are essentially standing in the way of Catherine and Heathcliff and making them the only people of color in the film. Villainizing them and creating this version where they are obstacles in the way of a white love story.
Fennell went as far as to change other strong female leads like Isabella Linton, a character in the novel love interest for Heathcliff — and domestic violence victim — who is turned into a joke and complicit with the actions of Heathcliff in the movie. Fennell’s adaptation makes Linton’s character a young fool who is sexually trapped, but is there by choice, even going so far as to help Heathcliff in trying to win back the affection of Catherine Earnshaw.
The trailer and imagery of this film is appealing in clips of montages and music videos — which is what Fennell should stick to instead of adapting books. It was stylish but it’s a smooth-brained version that lacks the hardship and darkness of the original book.
While the trailer and imagery of this film is very appealing in clips for montages and music videos. Something Fennell should just stick to instead of adapting books into films. It was stylish but it’s a smooth-brained version. It lacks the hardship and darkness of the plot of the original book.
This film created this way it was stripped away shows that media literacy is dead. Films are made to please pop culture and to become a Tiktok clip to get the most views. While the book had so much substance to draw from, it is much more style over substance.
Fennell should have created her own original film and plot, because this film was completely different from the book. There was no need to name it after the classic if it was going to be nothing alike but in name.
