The Backlash
Ever since it was announced that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi had been cast as Catherine and Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s third film, an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel, Wuthering Heights, people have voiced many criticisms. The casting, press tour, soundtrack, trailer and presumed tone have faced an excessive amount of backlash. Is the hate just another example of vicious netizens spewing unnecessary negativity, or is the flak warranted?
The Casting
Wuthering Heights is a dark story of obsession, revenge and hierarchy set on the English Moors in the nineteenth century. It follows two well-off families and focuses on Catherine and an orphan boy her father took in named Heathcliff. Catherine and Heathcliff fall in love but aren’t allowed to be together due to Heathcliff’s social status. A huge part of why Heathcliff is looked down upon by those around him is because of his different, but unspecified, race. Brontë describes Heathcliff as having “dark” features and is assumed by many readers to be Romani because of the offensive terms that other characters call him throughout the novel. Heathcliff’s race plays a large role in explaining why he is as mistreated by other characters as he is and is integral to his development throughout the story. That’s why when book-lovers found out that Jacob Elordi, a white man, was playing him, they took issue. It would be one thing if Heathcliff’s race had no effect on the story, but it does. When asked about the casting choices, Fennel stated that the adaptation was more based on the feeling she got while reading the novel, as opposed to actual adherence to the story. She mentioned that Elordi looked how she had imagined Heathcliff while reading and said to BBC News that Elordi, “looked exactly like the illustration of Heathcliff in the first book that I read.” Despite different theories on the character’s race, most readers agree that Jacob Elordi was a questionable casting choice at best.
While Heathcliff’s casting was the main point of controversy when the film was first announced, the casting of Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw was also seen as a bad choice. Catherine Earnshaw is supposed to be a teenager when the story takes place, but Margot Robbie is 35. While Robbie is quite a capable actress and I’d like to say that she could nail every role she gets, I think it’s safe to say that she aged out of this one about a decade ago.
The Press Tour
Emerald Fennell is an Oscar-winning director. As someone who adored her first movie, Promising Young Woman, and appreciated her massively successful follow-up Saltburn, I assumed that she had built up enough credibility with movie-goers and Hollywood producers to sell a movie without having to resort to cheap PR stunts. When your leading actors are well-respected, talented Oscar-nominees, it’s unlikely that you’ll have to rely on PR strategies to garner public attention, but in the case of “Wuthering Heights,” you do.
In 2023, Anyone But You, also a romantic adaptation of a classic literary work (Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing), came out. During the press tour, rumors about the movie’s two romantic leads, Sydney Sweeney and Glenn Powell, swirled. Despite both actors being in relationships while shooting the movie, many fans speculated that their chemistry during the film might’ve carried over into real-life. The gossip about a potential affair having occurred on set helped the movie garner public interest and monumentally increased ticket sales. It seems that “Wuthering Heights” is trying to recreate the momentum by having Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi speak about one another in flirtatious and odd ways.
Despite Margot Robbie being married to one of the producers of “Wuthering Heights,” she continuously makes public statements insinuating a more-than-friendly and less-than-professional relationship with her co-star. Robbie recently told People Magazine that she became ‘codependent’ with Jacob Elordi while making “Wuthering Heights” and recounted when Elordi surprised her on Valentine’s Day by filling her dressing room with roses, saying that she couldn’t help but think he’d make “a very good boyfriend.” Elordi has made similar statements about Robbie, praising her to no end whenever given the chance. He recently said that he was ‘enamored’ with the actress and said she was ‘a pure source of energy’ for him. While some people think these comments are just a testament to how much chemistry the two have, others have accused the movie of using “affair-bait” in order to get people talking. I tend to fall into the more cynical group and see their flirtatious remarks and hints at an affair as a tawdry method of promoting what is likely a subpar movie.
The Book
At the time I’m writing this, “Wuthering Heights” has yet to be released, so all of my criticisms of the adaptation are coming from promotional materials. That being said, the trailer and marketing of this movie seem to bastardize the original story and its themes. Promo posters and teaser trailers frame the movie as some hot period piece romance when, in actuality, the story it’s adapted from couldn’t be further from that. The official trailer makes a story akin to Nosferatu in its gothic themes and tragic ending seem like a poor man’s Pride and Prejudice. The TikToks put out by the promotional team (which I cannot seem to get off of my For You page) show brief clips with phrases like “For The Jealousy Trope Lovers” as if the movie is some AO3 fanfic with its tropes tagged. The official Warner Brothers TikTok page made a post calling “Wuthering Heights” an “epic love story,” which would be all good and well if the novel framed Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship as a passionate romance instead of an obsession ending in tragedy. Heathcliff isn’t supposed to be the tall, dark and handsome hunk that it looks like Fennel is trying to portray; he’s cruel and narcissistic, as well as both the victim and perpetrator of abuse. This part of Heathcliff’s character has been entirely left out of all of the buzz surrounding the movie. Maybe Fennell’s perceived misunderstanding of the novel is an intentional choice; it could be that she wants to change the genre of the story and turn it into a romantic fantasy of hers, which would explain why her adaptation’s title has “quotes” around it. As of now, though, Fennell has yet to make any statement indicating this.
The Costumes
On top of the obvious narrative differences between the movie and its source, the set and outfits are not only not period-accurate but also don’t fit the gothic aesthetic of the novel. The costuming was another reason that the film garnered so much hate before being released. Margot Robbie is seen wearing silhouettes that wouldn’t have come into style for at least a century after the character’s death. The costume designer mixes some elements of 1800s British fashion with modern pieces and materials. While I’m not a stickler for historical accuracy, it’s kind of ridiculous to see Catherine Earnshaw walking around in a latex skirt. The first picture on set released by production was of Margot Robbie as Catherine in her wedding dress, which was so ridiculous for the character that some netizens claimed they thought it was a joke. If these creative liberties added meaning to the story or were used to help immerse the viewer into the gloomy, gothic moors described by Brontë, but there is currently no indicator that they do anything of the sort.
Is It Worth a Watch?
As previously stated, I have yet to actually see the film; only once I do can I definitively say if the criticisms I’ve covered are valid. In a review published on February 9th, The Guardian gave the movie only two out of five stars, calling it “too hot, too greedy” and saying it, “guarantees bad dreams in the night.” Personally, I plan on seeing it, primarily out of morbid curiosity and in the hopes that Emerald Fennell proves me wrong.