Another year, another film adaptation of a classic novel hoping to bring a bygone era to the modern age. As a self-proclaimed BrontĂ« sisters aficionado, the news of Emerald Fennellâs upcoming adaptation sparked my initial interest. Of course, her work is often controversial. Saltburn (2023) either completely shocked and bewildered viewers, or left them puzzled and frustrated at the class dynamics and âplot-twistâ of the film. But, there is no doubt that the visual elements of Fennellâs filmography are at least interesting and at most stunning, so with an already-established, beloved story to follow, what could possibly go wrong?Â
Well, despite the fact that the film hasnât even been released yet, it turns out a lot could go wrong. When the casting of Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff was announced, both I and the rest of the âclassic-novel-enthusiastâ side of the internet took it to be some kind of joke. When the reality sunk in that this really wasnât a joke, it was more a feeling of complete confusion. A lot of the criticism of this casting has been emphasised over and over again. Two fully-grown Hollywood stars playing wild, untamed teenagers residing in the Yorkshire moors? Was this really the right decision? Now although I am just as confused at this casting as others, I do think it would be unfair to judge the film and its performances before actually viewing it. Some have theorised that there will be some great twist that completely shifts our viewing experience (after all, this is an Emerald Fennell film). Maybe that is just one way of coping with the bizarreness, or maybe there really will be some twist to turn things around. Regardless, one key element of casting is what really earned the biggest groans from online communities: after countless adaptations making the same mistake time and time again, Heathcliff is still white.Â
Emily BrontĂ« never explicitly tells us Heathcliffâs race, but it is clear that he possesses a darker complexion of skin and non-Eurocentric features. As a young boy he is described as âa dirty, ragged, black-haired childâ with skin âdark almost as if it came from the devilâ and as an adult he is described as a âdark-skinned gipsy in aspectâ. So, he may be Roma, South Asian, Middle Eastern, black, but overall, he is notably non-white. Of course, itâs important to remember the harsh and racist language surrounding Heathcliff is problematic to our contemporary understanding of race. His descriptions pertain to the Victorian belief in physiognomy (being able to judge a personâs character from their appearance). And of course, the theory of physiognomy just so happened to excuse colonisation by thinking of other races as lesser. In fact, physiognomy and heredity is central to how Heathcliff is treated, judged and isolated by other characters in the novel and why his love for Catherine cannot be followed through.Â
Admittedly, I havenât seen every single Wuthering Heights adaptation ever made, but from what I have seen, and by looking at posters from the varying cheap made-for-tv BBC adaptations, Heathcliff is always a handsome Byronic hero with dark hair and bushy eyebrows. Tom Hardy, Ralph Fiennes and Laurence Olivier have all played the part at some point, and while they may capture the mysterious and brooding nature, they donât possess this key aspect of Heathcliffâs character. Itâs easy to excuse these adaptations by accepting that they were made in the past when race representation and accuracy hadnât been so discussed. But now itâs 2025 – soon to be 2026 – and yet some things never change.
So, why is it that Emily BrontĂ« (writing in the 1840s) can depict a love story between a white woman and a non-white man and yet films made 170 years into the future cannot? After the success of Bridgerton and a growing interest in both queer and non-white retelling of historical fiction, Emerald Fennell really had plenty of room to shine. Perhaps itâs simply that itâs still so hard to imagine people of colour in these camp, dramatic classics or possessing intense romantic desire. Perhaps itâs just that Jacob Elordi is âin demandâ right now – a new Hollywood heartthrob, and thatâs what gets audiences into cinemas.
The only adaptation I have seen which casts Heathcliff as black is Andrea Arnoldâs 2011 film. Solomon Glave and James Howson portray Heathcliff at different stages of his life. Arnold abandons the dramatic, camp excess of emotion for her signature gritty social realism, perhaps suggesting that non-white people cannot exist alongside the drama and romance of the past. Nevertheless, I appreciate Arnoldâs adaptation and actually viewing a more accurate Heathcliff on screen just seems to make so much more sense. It also makes sense that the cast of the film consists of unknown Yorkshire actors getting their big break, especially as the fatigue of rotating Hollywood actors seems to be becoming more tedious. Her casting made a refreshing change. I do find it frustrating that, like many other adaptations, Arnoldâs film completely abandons the second half of the book in which much of the grit, grudges and enduring love take place, but thatâs a whole different article to be written.Â
Once again, the film hasnât even been released yet and maybe when it is, this article will be completely meaningless. Perhaps there will be some eventual justification for the casting choices made, or maybe not. Perhaps Iâm mourning what Fennelâs Wuthering Heights could have meant in our contemporary political climate. A gothic Victorian novel centred around two lovers, one an outcast for his race and the other an outcast for her passivity towards social codes, whose relationship is broken down by the snobbiness and propriety of the upper class. There is a growing trend of popular political film at the moment, reflecting our cultureâs strange, fractured and urgent relationship to politics. To ignore the political and social context of Wuthering Heights at this moment in time is absurd.Â