This summer has proved to be a thrilling few months for both film fanatics and classic literature lovers alike, with teasers dropping for not one, but two new gothic adaptations: Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Predictably, the trailers sparked a swift outpouring of opinions online. While Del Toro’s trailer has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with viewers expressing excitement for the upcoming adaptation, Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” teaser has not seen such a positive reception.
So, what makes a good book-to-movie adaptation? When taking on a novel as classic as Wuthering Heights or Frankenstein, it’s important that a director captures the essence of their source material. While audiences will often allow for slight deviations from the text, straying too far is a recipe for disapproval. Directors need to nail the visuals, from the setting to the costumes, to truly transport us.
Additionally, casting is vital to the success of any classic literature adaptation. If we can’t connect with our favorite characters, the film is likely to go down in history as yet another failed adaptation.
Based on the trailer, Del Toro’s Frankenstein seems to hit most, if not all, of these markers of success. The teaser opens to a scene in the arctic, a major element of Mary Shelley’s novel that is often excluded from film adaptations. As the trailer progresses, it depicts Victor’s journey through university to his creation of the monster, embodying a distinct gothic atmosphere in both the costuming and settings and making the viewer feel like they’re stepping right into Shelley’s world.
The film also, perhaps most importantly, appears to have remained faithful to the character descriptions given in the novel. Oscar Isaac is set to play Victor Frankenstein, a young university student during the time he creates his monster. While aging the character up slightly, the decision to cast Isaac strays away from the precedent set by Hollywood in which Victor is depicted as a cliché archetype of the mad scientist.
Although we only get a few limited glimpses of Jacob Elordi as Frankenstein’s monster, it seems that Del Toro is committed to maintaining the integrity of the source material through his portrayal of his main characters.
It is clear that Del Toro’s passion for Shelley’s novel has driven his direction of the film, making no attempts to reinvent the wheel in this new adaptation. He creates a trailer that is faithful to the source rather than strife with risky creative liberties, and it is this precision of adaptation that has led to such positive feedback following the release of the teaser. Only time will tell if the success of the trailer will translate into the success of the film’s global release on November 7th.
On the other hand, the release of Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” teaser has already been met with harsh criticism, already being labeled an injustice to Emily Brontë’s original novel. For starters, the trailer takes on a distinctly erotic tone, seemingly more focused on the romance between Catherine and Heathcliff than the darker themes of Brontë’s novel.
The costuming, too, reflects a decision to appeal to modern sexuality rather than period accuracy. Certain reviews of the trailer have looked specifically at Catherine’s wedding dress—a focal point of the teaser—noting that the style appears less reminiscent of the early 19th century and more like a prom dress from the 1980s.
As if people weren’t concerned already, the film’s casting director, Kharmel Cochrane, hinted at a ‘shocking’ set design, as well as a dog collar being incorporated into the film. In one interview, she specifically stated that, ‘There’s definitely going to be some English Lit fans that are not going to be happy.’ Considering that a significant portion of the film’s prospective audience are English Lit fans, this is certainly a bold choice.
Still more controversial than the costuming or visuals, however, is the casting of Fennell’s adaptation. Margot Robbie portrays Catherine, who is a young girl at the beginning of the novel and lives to be just 19-years-old. Fans have expressed skepticism at a 35-year-old Robbie’s ability to successfully depict a teenage girl. Interestingly, however, there has been a noticeable lack of criticism over the similar age gap between Oscar Issac and his character, Victor Frankenstein.
But the biggest issue? The decision to cast Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. Much of the novel’s conflict hinges on the mistreatment and alienation of Heathcliff as a young boy. This mistreatment stems from the fact that Heathcliff is described as being a person of color. While his exact ethnicity is unclear, Brontë provides distinct imagery of his character, describing him as a ‘dark-skinned gipsy.’
Audiences believe that in casting Elordi as Heathcliff, Fennell is whitewashing the narrative and removing the grit and soul from a novel that explores issues of class and race, producing instead a romance that relies on its shock value to entice audiences.
So, here we have two classic Gothic novels getting a new life on the big screen. One director is playing it safe and sticking to the script, while the other seems to be taking some risky creative liberties. It looks like we’ll just have to wait and see if Fennell’s gambles pay off when “Wuthering Heights” hits theaters on February 13, or if Del Toro made the wiser decision in remaining faithful to his source material. Either way, I’ll be ready with my popcorn.