On not having actually read Wuthering Heights (again)

Even a professor speaking candidly about his experience is now deemed controversial. From The Mary Sue:

At one point, Dames laments that his first-year students now commonly list Percy Jackson as their favorite book, whereas past students would list Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. While some readers also lamented the phenomenon, others questioned whether students enjoying Percy Jackson was genuinely problematic. [...]

While The Atlantic article highlighted some genuinely concerning details about reading comprehension in college students, social media users are likely correct that liking Percy Jackson may not be substantial proof of these issues. Perhaps some of the concern is about appearances rather than the book itself. Dames mentioned his previous students hailing Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as their favorite books, but there’s no evidence he asked these students for proof that they ever even read the books. What if these students just listed these books to keep up the appearance of “elite college students”? Perhaps students today are just getting more honest than students of the past and feel less of a need to present themselves as sophisticated, cultured intellectuals just to prove they belong in an Ivy League college. [...]

There does seem to be a shift in reading preferences and comprehension, but not all of these shifts have to be negative. These changes could reflect readers feeling more freedom to read for fun and more confident in establishing their own likes and interests instead of feeling pressure to appear well-read to their peers. Ultimately, writing off students for not sharing one’s sophisticated taste in literature sounds far more detrimental to students’ reading performance than a first-year student liking Percy Jackson. (Rachel Ulatowski)

We thought it was scary the other day. The fact that we have an article defending the fact that a college student's best ever read was Percy Jackson (of which we have no proof either as the columnist says of students in the past) is terrifying.

Business Post contrinues to lament the so-called 'missed opportunity' in the casting of Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights.

In a cultural context where colour-blind casting remains a sensitive issue (see the ongoing hoo-ha around Amazon Prime’s The Lord of the Rings, whose final series has just been released), Fennell’s critics point out that it seems bizarre to cast a white actor (Elordi) in a role that, on paper, is arguably a person of colour.

It would have probably been impossible to cast a black actor in the role of Catherine Earnshaw without a backlash: Catherine represents the Victorian landed gentry at a particular point in British history. But Heathcliff, who we meet as a “dark-skinned gipsy” rescued by the Earnshaws from the Liverpool docks – then the centre of the English slave trade – is very clearly a racially ambiguous character.

He is Catherine’s love interest, yes, but his treatment throughout the book – the constant othering, the continual speculation about his origins: “[his] father was Emperor of China, and [his] mother an Indian queen”, one character says, another: calls him “a little Lascar, or an American or Spanish castaway” – is also representative of imperialist attitudes of the time.

Their competing cultural heritage is an important part of why Catherine and Heathcliff’s love affair is doomed.

Of course, casting decisions also reflect contemporary attitudes, as a brief survey of previous film adaptations of Bronte’s book confirms. In the five English-language film adaptations of Wuthering Heights (there are French, Spanish, Japanese and several Bollywood versions too), Heathcliff has been typically played by famous white men of clear social privilege: Milton Rosmer, Laurence Olivier, Timothy Dalton, Ralph Fiennes.

In an infamously awful “musical-comedy” from 1996, Cliff Richard also cast himself as the tortured hero. The exception to this was the 2011 adaptation by Andrea Arnold, in which black actor James Howson was cast as Heathcliff, opening up a long conversation about representation and bias in the British film industry.

Critics accusing Arnold of giving the book an inappropriate “race-lift” were drowned out by supporters, who proved their case about the period piece by drawing on textual and historical evidence that Heathcliff was clearly not Caucasian at all.

In this context, then, Fennell’s casting can be seen as a step backwards, repatriating a character of colour to a problematic whitewashed tradition. But let’s remember: the film hasn’t started shooting, Fennell and her actors have made no public comment; the adaptation may, like her previous films, shed classic inspiration to offer something very different to what an audience might expect.

Even so, it is hard to imagine that reviews, when they come, will not mention the missed opportunity to add a more authentic and inclusive version to the history of this seminal British story. (Sara Keating)

Interesting how an Irish news site won't even contemplate the fact that Heathcliff could be Irish and simply goes with what everyone's saying.

Thought Catalog recommends '7 Gothic Romance Movies That Will Make You Shudder And Sigh'. Wuthering Heights 2011 is given as a bonus recommendation with a bit of secondhand opinion on the side:

I never thought I would write this sentence, but there is unrest in the Gothic romance fan community this week. The famously tall Jacob Elordi has been cast as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Wuthering Heights; however, Heathcliff is described as dark-skinned and of average height in Emily Brontë’s original novel. Guess which part of this is making people mad. (It’s not the height difference.) Also, I thought Elordi was canceled after assaulting that radio producer in February, but maybe the police were just dazzled by his incredible tallness or something because he’s clearly fine. 

Anyway, if y’all want to watch a movie version of Wuthering Heights, then you should just watch the 2011 version in which Heathcliff is actually black, since Emerald Fennell already has enough money. Or you can just watch these seven other gothic romances instead. 

Jane Eyre (2011)

Speaking of the Brontë sisters, Wuthering Heights is not the only adaptation of a Brontë novel that came out in 2011. There was also Jane Eyre, which starred Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska as Edward Rochester and the titular Jane in a misty English landscape populated by exquisite shadows. Elegant, clever, haunting, and – importantly – romantic, the movie did its source novel justice. It will make you alternately swoon and shudder. (Evan E. Lambert)

Wait, what? You're recommending a film on which Bertha is played by an Italian actress when nowhere in the book does it say that she was Italian? Tut-tut, how very disappointing.

Qué Ver (Argentina) recommends an adaptation with a white Heathcliff because it's good.

La novela Cumbres borrascosas (Wuthering Heights) de Emily Brontë es una historia que ha resistido el paso del tiempo. Desde su publicación en 1847, este clásico de la literatura ha sido llevado a la pantalla grande más de una decena de veces, entre la pantalla grande y la televisión. En los próximos años los fanáticos serán testigos de una nueva adaptación que será dirigida por Emerald Fennell, y que contará con las actuaciones de Margot Robbie y Jacob Elordi.

A pesar de la multiplicidad de adaptaciones, es cierto que cada una de ellas destaca por algo en particular, pero es la versión de 1970 dirigida por Robert Fuest, la que ha logrado trascender el paso del tiempo y a menudo es considerada una de las más fieles de la novela de Brontë.

Protagonizada por Anna Calder-Marshall y Timothy Dalton, esta adaptación nos sumerge en un mundo de desatadas pasiones, venganza y amores imposibles. [...]

Fuest y su equipo construyeron un universo visual que sumerge al espectador en la atmósfera opresiva y salvaje de los páramos de Yorkshire. La fotografía de John Coquillon, marcada por contrastes dramáticos y una paleta cromática sombría, refleja la turbulencia interior de los personajes. La mansión de Cumbres Borrascosas, con su arquitectura gótica y sus interiores cargados de simbolismo, se erige como un personaje más, un reflejo de la complejidad psicológica de sus habitantes.

La fidelidad de la película al texto original es otro de los pilares de esta adaptación. Fuest respeta la estructura narrativa de la novela, los diálogos y los temas centrales. Sin embargo, el director logra imprimirle un sello personal, dotando a la historia de una dimensión visual y sonora que la enriquece.

La banda sonora, compuesta por Michel Legrand, es otro de los puntos fuertes del filme, que recibió una nominación al Globo de Oro. Asimismo, la recepción crítica y comercial de la película superó todas las expectativas de la época, convirtiéndose en un verdadero éxito. Sin lugar a dudas, una adaptación que logró capturar a la perfección la esencia de la obra de Emily Brontë, con grandes actuaciones y una historia que continúa más vigente que nunca. (Magela Muzio) (Translation)

Zenda (Spain) has an article on the novel and many related things besides.

The Almanac features local writer Amanda Glaze.

Glaze said she never expected to become an author, but she does have a long history of loving books. A self-described “theater kid” growing up, the Los Altos High School grad loved doing plays with Los Altos Youth Theater. Perhaps not surprisingly, “my favorite ones were all the literary ones,” she said, as she recalled playing heroines such as Jo March, Mary Lennox, Jane Eyre and Anne Shirley. “Obviously the book writer was already coming out, I just didn’t know it yet,” she said. “I eventually got to play all of my favorite book characters.” (Karla Kane)