Why the new adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' makes us feel so bad

Since production began Wuthering Heights (the new adaptation by Emerald Fennel , director of Saltburn and Promising Young Woman ) the controversy seemed to be served (at least on social media), both by the choice of the main actors ( Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi ) and by the choice of wardrobe (in the leaked photograph, Robbie could be seen wearing an off-the-shoulder wedding dress, which did not correspond at all with the period, something that now seems to be common in Hollywood productions ). The trailer, which came out last Friday, has only made things worse.

Why? The reasons are many and varied. For starters, Margot Robbie isn't the right age to play the character ( Catherine dies at 18 in Bronte 's novel, while the Australian actress is already 35), nor is Jacob Elordi a Roma ( Heathcliff's race or ethnicity is never stated outright in the book, but due to his humble origins it's intuited that he's not white, and this was a perfect opportunity for unforced inclusion), and, most importantly, the novel's gothic tone has been completely lost in favor of an eroticization that isn't so clearly observed in the original.

" Emily Brontë is going to turn in her grave because her work has been turned into a Fifty Shades of Cathy and Heathcliff ", " Wuthering Heights with a 35-year-old Catherine, a white Heathcliff and original music by Charli XCX . Emily Brontë didn't die for this shit to be made", are just some of the examples that can be seen if one takes a short stroll through social networks. It has been a reaction quite similar to what happened when the first images of Nolan 's Odyssey were leaked (in that case we don't even have a trailer), when historians were shocked because neither Matt Damon's costumes seemed appropriate nor the areas chosen for filming were the ideal ones to do justice to the work.

"The trailer's approach is certainly strange," Julio San Román Cazorla, a literature professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and a writer, tells this newspaper. "At first, it offers a vision of Wuthering Heights that could have come from the novel, but little by little, you see that the film is moving in a different direction; you can see it in the change of colors, the costumes, and the clear sexualization of the main couple . In the specific case of the costumes, there are scenes that seem more Renaissance in atmosphere and others more nineteenth-century. It's true that in the novel there is a time jump, but it's only three years, and in the trailer, things appear that don't fit, like the turquoise interiors, in contrast with the typical filth of the English moors."

While costumes tend to be the weak point of many blockbusters, this isn't the first time that deliberate anachronism has been chosen to portray a specific era. From Sofia Coppola 's Marie Antoinette to the recent (very exaggerated) Bridgerton , and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet , more and more films are opting for a mishmash of eras to create a more original atmosphere. But in the case of Wuthering Heights , it seems that the criticism is more about a poor understanding of the novel.

"A 35-year-old Catherine, a white Heathcliff, and original music by Charli XCX? Emily Brontë didn't die for this shit to happen."

" The key is the eroticization ," says San Román Cazorla. " Wuthering Heights is a love story in quotation marks, because it is very violent. The relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine is what today we would define as toxic: they express love, but they don't know how to express it in a healthy way. It is a novel that belongs to the Romanticism of the 19th century , a dark and violent Romanticism. Catherine is intellectually violent (she loves him, but treats him with contempt), Heathcliff is physically violent, and there is also the issue of them belonging to different social classes. In the trailer, on the other hand, there is an eroticization of that relationship, which clashes with Heathcliff's rudeness and violent movements, as well as with the wild character he had in the play."

The professor believes the idea of ​​simplifying the work has a clear promotional intention. " Ultimately, a film has to appeal to the public . Many people understand Wuthering Heights as a love story, and it's easier to turn it into a classic or erotic romance than to introduce all the complex nuances of the work."

"Many people see it as a love story, and it's easier to turn it into a classic romance than to introduce the complex nuances of the work."

But can we really get an idea of ​​what a film wants to tell us from watching just a two-minute trailer ? "There are many theories about this adaptation, to begin with because the title of the work itself is written with quotation marks, which can lead one to think that it is not a direct adaptation. One of the ideas that have been put forward is that Margot Robbie is playing a woman who reads Wuthering Heights and imagines herself inside the story. It could fit with the director's previous works, and it also goes a bit with something that she really likes and already mentioned in Saltburn : the theme of repressed women or the class struggle. And maybe after all it is a free adaptation, not literal, (like a fanfic )."

"Regarding extreme reactions, social media is key. Before, you only saw the trailer at the cinema and little was said about it. Now, everyone has their say on Twitter or TikTok , even without training in literature or fashion, and the algorithms amplify especially the negative reviews. Hence, rejection is already generated before the premiere. In addition, the sexualization has been very bothersome. The original work had a sexual context, but nuanced: it was the 19th century and sex couldn't be discussed openly. Today, adaptations are adapted to the present, and the director may have sought a trailer that would get people talking. And she certainly succeeded: months before the premiere, it's already controversial. The problem is that now it seems necessary to speak negatively about something to give it publicity. We should reflect: Why not comment on the interesting things in the trailer instead of just the negative things ?"