6th November 2023
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Following the recent announcement of the new film adaptation of Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, some fans of the original novel have been outraged by the trailer, given some of the creative choices made by the director, Emerald Fennell. Because of the difference between this film trailer and the original plot, many are questioning the real motivation behind the decision to create this film.
Although the classic novel is largely a romance narrative between the characters Cathy and Heathcliff, the book also heavily concentrates on themes of class and race in the Victorian period. However, Fennell’s version seems to be mainly advertised as a romance film, especially due its release date being on Valentine’s Day. This sparks negative views towards the film due to its ignorance of important themes in the original text.
Emerald Fennell, perhaps after the positive reaction by fans to the 2023 movie ‘Saltburn’, decided to cast Jacob Elordi in the upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights, alongside actress Margot Robbie. But why does the world need yet another adaptation of this classic novel by Emily Bronte? After 15 adaptations of this same film since the publication of the novel, why do we need to see another version of it?
The casting director’s decision to hire Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie brings into question the purpose of this film adaptation and whether it has perhaps been made to encourage younger audiences to read such classic novels. Jacob Elordi has become a hugely popular actor, particularly with more gen-z audiences after his roles in ‘The Kissing Booth’, ‘Euphoria’, ‘Saltburn’, ‘Priscilla’ and the latest release of the new adaptation of ‘Frankenstein’. The decision to cast Jacob Elordi in such a timeless, classic story may not be solely due to his incredible acting skills, but also his popularity amongst younger audiences, specifically teenagers, in attempt to engage them more in classical literature. Many people often discuss the ‘JacobElordi-fication’ of certain books/films, however his appearance in such films may be engaging a new type of audience that didn’t typically watch such films before.
The importance of Charli XCX’s music in the film is also relevant in bringing in a wider audience. Singer Charli XCX, who’s song ‘Everything is Romantic’ features in the trailer for the adaptation, recently announced her new album titled ‘Wuthering Heights’ written specifically for Emerald Fennell’s film. For fans of both Charli XCX and the classic novel itself, this may seem like an interesting choice given her previous albums. Her 2024 album ‘brat’ has many songs that are often played in nightclubs and bars, given the energy she created within the album and what is suggested in the lyrics. For Charli to make such a drastic change in terms of the stylistic focus of the albums, may lead more and more people questioning what this new ‘Wuthering Heights’ is really about.
This brings me to question the accuracy of this film adaptation and whether viewers are going to be witnessing a retelling of the original story, or Fennell is giving us a completely new plot. The quotation marks around the title of the film suggests that perhaps this is not the original text we know, but is perhaps a female character, much alike Cathy in Bronte’s novel, who has fallen in love with a man (played by Jacob Elordi) and begins to imagine herself in a romance story which in her head she names ‘Wuthering Heights’. So perhaps this adaptation isnt something for diehard fans of the novel to be enraged by, and this is a clever take on the original plot.
Overall, the upcoming release of this new adaptation of ‘Wuthering Heights’ sparks both excitement and disappointment, however I, along with many others are intrigued to watch this new release in February 2026.
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