More Punk than Gothic

The Daily Mail echoes the appeal of the Haworth Parich Church to raise money for the much-needed repairs of the building. The Yorkshire Post also talks about the threat of the massive housing plans in Haworth which we discussed yesterday.

The Grand Rapids Press lists the best movies of the year and Jane Eyre 2011 gets an honorable mention:

A fresh and creepy re-telling of the literary classic, with shining performances by Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska. (John Serba)

The Times compiles a list of 50 films:

33. Jane Eyre
Mia Wasikowska made for a Jane with an Eyre of greatness – an unashamedly modern and cinematic take on Brontë that was gorgeous to watch. Not least, the mesmerising Michael Fassbender.
47. Wuthering Heights 
Another successful take on a Brontë classic, Andrea Arnold’s daring adaptation set in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, was more punk than Gothic. (Kate Muir, Kevin Maher and Wendy Ide)

Guy Lodge on HitFix also posts his personal top 20:

10. Wuthering Heights

"Love is a force of nature" ran the tagline for Andrea Arnold's uncompromising new take on the Emily Brontë chestnut -- the year's second Brontë adaptation to use simple, literal fresh air to resuscitate a text, though to markedly more aggressive effect. It may have been stolen from "Brokeback Mountain," but it wears well on a film that exposes the primal nature of Heathcliff and Cathy's truthfully unromantic romance by equating them with the elements: breathtakingly shot in the Academy ratio by Robbie Ryan, this is the rare literary film that finds a new visual and aural turn of phrase, buffeted by a howling Yorkshire wind, for the source's every word.16. Jane Eyre
Contemporary cinema wasn't exactly crying out for another adaptation of Charlotte Brontë proto-feminist Gothic romance, even if the last major go-round, the 1996 Franco Zeffirelli-Charlotte Gainsbourg edition, left room for improvement. Wisely, then, Fukunaga's airily traditional take aimed to be definitive rather than subversive, and squarely hit its target with bang-on casting (Mia Wasikowska's just-askew beauty is ideal, while Michael Fassbender's rough dourness balances his sexed-up taked on Rochester), astute rejigging of the familiar narrative and Adriano Goldman's exquisite pastel-and-gold lensing, its embrace of natural light keeping it fresher than any postmodern tinkering might have. 

Michael O'Connor has been nominated to Best Costume Design in the 17th Critics Choice Awards. Scott Feinberg continues his Oscar forecast in The Hollywood Reporter. Concerning Jane Eyre 2011, Will Hughes-Jones (Best Art Direction) is just a possibility, Dario Marianelli (Best Soundtrack) is a major threat to the frontrunners and Michael O'Connor is, obviously, a frontrunner.

Los Angeles Times talks about anonymity in literature:

Men wrote some books "by a lady," and the Victorian-era cases of George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and the Bell brothers — that is, the Brontë sisters — remind us that the situation is reversible. Perhaps the question of anonymity should be turned on its head, and we should ask rather why any authors ever signed their names to books in those days. (Robert Folkenflik)

What is a Brontë-esque case of assumption?:

Consultants like to call it “agility” or “adaptability” or “Steve Jobs”. I think it’s the cure for the Brontë-esque cases of Assumption that plague marketers everywhere. (Elizabeth Williams in Business 2 Community)

 Cristina Odone in The Telegraph goes a bit too far when she says:

A bad state school condemns children to think seven sevens are 68, that T.S Eliot wrote Wuthering Heights and knives are part of the school uniform.

Stacked posts a twitterview with Eve Marie Mont, author of the upcoming novel (March 2012) A Breath of Eyre:

Pitch your book in 140 characters:
A girl gets transported into Jane Eyre, falls in love, and must decide whether her destiny lies in the pages of Jane’s story or in the unwritten chapters of her own.
Who will this book appeal to?
Fans of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, literary retellings, Victorian manners, dramatic weather, brooding men, thwarted love, lush romance. (...)
What are your top three favorite books?
Jane Eyre (of course), The Secret Garden, and A.S. Byatt’s Possession.

Fotos e Livros (in Portuguese), Asgard (in Spanish) and Books, my ego and entropy review Jane Eyre (in Portuguese); Kristi Loves Books reviews Villette.