Why is it so hard?

Prospect Magazine is not happy with the artistic licenses that Emily takes with the actual facts in Emily Brontë's life:

Why is it so hard to find the real Emily Brontë?

A new biographical film about one of Britain’s most renowned writers just goes to show how often we let historical accuracy take a backseat.

In Frances O’Connor’s new biographical film about Emily Brontë, simply titled Emily, the 19th-century English novelist is rarely seen actually writing. Although we know Brontë’s name today because of her extraordinary novel Wuthering Heights, in this film she spends most of her time running across moors in the rain, hanging out with her brother or taking French lessons from a hot curate. She is an angsty young woman who doesn’t want to grow up, seems to have no interest in socialising and wears her hair down in a very 2022 way. Is this person really Emily Brontë, or is she an imagined heroine moulded to fit the shape of a modern coming-of-age story?

Of course, this isn’t a documentary. Like any biopic, Emily fills some historical gaps to create a narrative that is more enjoyable to watch. But most attempts to depict the lives of Emily, Anne and Charlotte Brontë with any semblance of “accuracy” often turn into acts of mythmaking. In fact, they became myth as soon as they had all died, their cultural meaning surpassing their actual historical existence on the Yorkshire moors. (...)

Emily might be a beautiful film, but fundamentally it’s not a biopic: the problem is that it might not even be trying to be one. Rather, it’s an imaginary retelling of a famous woman that O’Connor wants us to find relatable. (...)

 Do we really care about discovering the nuances of the historical record to find the “real” Emily within it—or would we prefer artistic license to make her more understandable, more relatable to the way we live now? Those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive. It should be possible to do both—but only if we first understand that “relatability” does not have to come at the expense of history. (Eliza Goodpasture)

Gulf News covers the recent META Film Fest in Dubai, where Emily was screened:

An excited Frances O’Connor, Director of Emily, said, “It’s lovely to have Emily screened all the way out in Dubai. It’s a kind of a culture I am not very familiar with. This film helped me to interact with a new culture. I hope the audiences have an emotional experience during the movie Emily. I hope it helps them try to feel things and may be this movie will make the audiences read Wuthering Heights. That will be amazing.

Pipe Dream and female rage:

 Female rage in media has existed for millennia. The eponymous protagonist of Euripides’ play, “Medea,” for instance, murders her lothario husband and their children in an act of revenge. Other female characters, such as Catherine Earnshaw in Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, “Wuthering Heights,” rage with much less justification — Catherine shrieks, pulls hair and makes wild accusations — even on her deathbed. (...)

While female rage is nothing new, critics have theorized that the ongoing wave of female rage in media is a consequence of the #MeToo era and of a gradual accumulation of resentment toward the patriarchy. BBC writer Miriam Balanescu suggests that “female violence on screen is depicted as a means of dispelling still-entrenched notions around women’s fragility and weakness by portraying them as anything but.” Like the juxtaposition between Brontë’s wild heroines and Patmore’s “Angel of the House,” there is a juxtaposition between female rage in contemporary media and current social standards for women. (Kathryn Lee)

Scenestr interviews Sarah McLeod, the composer of the shake & stir production of Jane Eyre touring Australia: 

This is a retelling of a classic piece of English literature. Why do you think bringing these stories back to life can be so powerful?

The origins of the message in the story (one of the first feminist novels), in which Jane Eyre fights her battles against patriarchal, class and religious structures, is still really relevant today. Just the other day, Julian Garner (one of the actors in the play) spoke about his character Brocklehurst as being like one of those ‘moral police’ agents in Iran responsible for the repression of women in that country. It would be very interesting to see an Iranian production put on there now and see the response. I'm sure it would be quite a rebellious thing to do – if they were even allowed to do it! It's incredible that in 2022, it remains a powerful, relevant and important story to tell. (...)

And what do you think is the most relevant theme throughout this particular production of ‘Jane Eyre’?

The theme of love is always a major player in any production of 'Jane Eyre'. The lack of love, the desire for love, the expression of love, are all present throughout the book and form major points of conflict and joy in our production also.

Garden & Gun interviews costume designer Janie Bryant:

Justin Heckert: You’ve said that as a kid, you were influenced by and obsessed with the clothing in old movies.
J.B.: My mom loves old movies. And so the first movie that she took us to at the Tivoli Theatre [in Chattanooga] was Wuthering Heights, with Lawrence Olivier. It’s so beautiful.

Literary Hub discusses how the housing crisis is impacting horror films:

In the latest horror flick about a house rental gone wrong, Jane Eyre makes a surprise cameo. Barbarian (2022) begins when Tess (Georgina Campbell), a young Black woman visiting Detroit for a job interview, arrives at the doorstep of her pristine Airbnb, only to make an unwelcome discovery: her rental has been doubled booked, and she’s stranded in an apocalyptically decimated neighborhood.

Tess is highly suspicious, but she nervously accepts the invitation from the other tenant, Keith (Bill Skarsgård), to come inside. When she wakes in the morning, Keith has already left for the day, leaving behind a well-worn copy of Charlotte Brontë’s feminist classic.

[Well... we have seen the film and we think that the Jane Eyre thing appears much later.]

Jane Eyre also makes an uncanny a
ppearance in the Netflix series remake of Shirley Jackson’s novel, The Haunting of Hill House (2018). In this ten-part series, a picture-perfect family moves into an abandoned country estate with the hope of “flipping it.” Things soon go wildly off course, however, as they slowly find themselves “digested” by the dilapidated house’s mysterious “Red Room.” Notably, this phantom appendage to the haunted house was the result of creative license taken by the series writers. It is also an unmistakable reference to the notorious “red room” in which a young and orphaned Jane is first confined by her cruel aunt. (Mia Florin-Sefton) 

LondonTheatre1 reviews a performance of Mad Women in my Attic! by Monica Salvi: 

Monica Salvi is touring her re-vamped production of Mad Women in my Attic! This included two intimate nights at London’s premier Cabaret Venue Crazy Coqs, part of Bar Zedel. I was fortunate enough to attend her second date. (...)

With a nod to both Brontë’s Mrs Rochester (Jane Eyre) and the mandatory ‘treatment’ of mad women in the late 19th and early 20th century in the show’s title. Salvi gives her audience, her fellow inmates, a deep dive into the headspace (attic) of a musical theatre performer who has been typecasted throughout her whole career as the mad woman instead of the aspirational leading lady! (Faye Stockley)

Main Line Times & Suburban interviews local student Miriam Knutson:

Bruce Adams: Can you share with us your favorite poem?
Miriam Knutson: “No Coward Soul is Mine” by Emily Brontë has always been a favorite. I love the resilience and simple, genuine honesty that Brontë exemplifies here. Her capacity for questioning and solidifying her own beliefs, despite her own difficult circumstances, is an endless source of inspiration for me.

Things to do if you quit Instagram in The Teen Magazine:

I even indulged myself in reading a book— Wuthering Heights— that had been on my TBR forever. (Khyati N.)

Noticias de Navarra (Spain) (or rather the family Arroyo Arto) recommends Wuthering Heights:

Dicen que del amor al odio hay un paso, y los personajes de esta novela tienen una forma cruel y espléndida de demostrarlo. Catherine y Heathcliff son los protagonistas de la historia de amor que la señora Dean le cuenta al nuevo inquilino de 'Cumbres Borrascosas', el señor Lockwood. (...)

'Cumbres borrascosas' es uno de los libros más importantes de la literatura inglesa gracias a su estructura narrativa y a la forma cruda de relatar esa realidad de la sociedad inglesa donde la venganza y las pasiones mueven el mundo. Esta novela, la única que Emily Brontë llegó a escribir, es una buena lectura para cualquiera que ponga sus ojos en ella. Además, su hermana Charlotte editó una segunda edición póstuma. Su éxito ha dado lugar a muchas adaptaciones, incluyendo varias películas, dramatizaciones radiofónicas y televisivas, un musical, telenovelas y canciones. (Luzia Intxaurrondo) (Translation)

Bjelovar Live (Croatia) asks the writer Marijana Dragičević to recommend Halloween readings:

Orkanski visovi – Emily Brontë
Iako je ovo prvenstveno ljubić, odabrala sam je zbog sumornosti okoliša gdje se odvija. I ljubavna priča sama po sebi jer savršena za Noć vještica jer pokazuje kako nas duhovi voljenih mogu mučiti. (Translation)

More genre readings in Diari de Tarragona (Spain):

Recuerdo perfectamente aquellas primeras lecturas del género. Libros que rondaban por las estanterías de casa. El encuentro transcurrió seguramente a la salida del colegio. Las hermanas Brönte(sic),  Cumbres borrascosas, sí, pero, en mi caso, Jane Eyre. Y, no, no pongan esa cara. Las Brönte (sic) son puro terror. Empecé a leer fascinada por esa geografía extraña. Recuerdo aún el impacto de la palabra «páramo». Algo húmedo, mojado y frío. Jane Eyre vagando por el páramo, toda esperanza perdida y la voz de Mr. Rochester llamándola desde otra realidad. El maltrato, la injusticia, la aleatoriedad de la autoridad, eso es el terror. Por primera vez la literatura me provocaba algo físico, el libro que te habla directo al corazón. (Natàlia Rodríguez) (Translation)

The Mancunion also has some seasonal reads for us such as Rebecca:

Mrs De Winter as the endearing narrator recounts the story and her surroundings with intricate detail. It creates a hauntingly atmospheric novel, that although written in the 1930s, is an easily accessible read. With elements from other works like Jane Eyre, Rebecca is an important novel that has become essential within the gothic genre. (Jacob Folkard, Alice Mcquail, Bethan Watkins, Hannah Mcquinn and Molly Wilkinson)

Nicky Bray, chief underwriter at Zurich UK recommends Jane Eyre in Cover Magazine. AnneBrontë.org posts about Halloween Tales Of Brontë Sisters Hauntings.