Many fans love the 1847 classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Set on the wild Yorkshire moors, the novel is famous for its dark and tumultuous story of revenge, obsession, and the passionate love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. The novel explores this plot about how the extremely destructive power of their ongoing, intense, thwarted relationship caused extremely devastating consequences for the main characters and their families. The film uses a complex narrative and gothic elements that Brontë incorporated consistently throughout the novel.
However, in late January 2025, director Emerald Fennell thought it would be an amazing idea to turn this classic novel into a film adaptation. But why is the film adaptation of this classic period romance and gothic novel considered to be controversial to the viewers and individuals who are fans of the novel?
The leading man, Heathcliff, according to the novel, was described as a darkskinned, black-haired, and dark eyed romani man, or as the novel says, a “lascar”. This is old terminology used to describe South Asian sailors during the 19th century, which makes him a racially ambiguous South Asian character. Fennell wanted the film adaptation to be a success at the box office and get excellent ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, so she decided to cast the well-known Australian actor, Jacob Elordi. Jacob Elordi is a white Australian man who does not accurately fit the novel description of the character Heathcliff, although I do think that Elordi is an amazing actor and did an amazing job with his own interpretation of the character Heathcliff.
However, I do believe that he should not have been cast, and the role of Heathcliff should have gone to a South Asian male. It would have allowed for many more opportunities within Hollywood and prevented leading roles from going to the same actors. Many fans of the novel, and viewers of the film, including myself, began to criticize Fennell’s film adaptation due to the whitewashing of the character Heathcliff, which ignores the description that was described in the novel. I also think that the film focused way too much on the characters’ relationship to make the film “more marketable” to the viewers, despite the criticism it received after the initial release of the film.
There are more serious themes that were explored throughout the novel, such as the psychological and social aspects. In my opinion, the plot divergence is extremely disrespectful towards the original work. The film also overlooked the abuse and toxicity that were prevalent within the relationship, which I believe to be extremely out of touch and very disrespectful on the director’s behalf, although she read the novel and chose to overlook those serious themes that were explored. I also feel as though the use of whitewashing in films should be talked about more and should be brought up, since it is still an ongoing issue in Hollywood. The acting industry still faces issues with directors lacking diversity in their characters to make their films “more marketable and profitable.”