'She’s an absolute genius, and I just can’t wait for people to see it'

According to a contributor to Baylor Lariat, 'Hollywood is butchering the classics and calling it ‘art’'. It is of course about Wuthering Heights 2026 and not having seen the actual film yet.

It’s one thing to reinterpret a classic. It’s another to strip it of its moral core, fill it with empty provocation and brand it as “visionary cinema.” What we’re witnessing in today’s adaptations of literary masterpieces isn’t reimagination — it’s exploitation. The latest victim is Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” [...]

Brontë’s singular novel is not, and never was, a love story in the modern, marketable sense. It is a psychological exploration of obsession, revenge and the cruelty that reverberates across generations. Yet the trailer for this adaptation turned a thoughtful and complex storyline into something of a plate of mundanity with a side of artsy. In one sequence, a romantic moment between Cathy and Heathcliff is intercut with an image of a dead fish’s mouth. In another, they stagger through the moors like models in a perfume ad — all intensity, no substance.

The visual choices aren’t merely odd. They’re grotesque, and not in the hauntingly Gothic sense Brontë intended. While one recent article in The Swarthmore Phoenix defends the trailer’s “horrifically gothic” approach, what’s missing is any meaningful engagement with the text’s actual spirit. This isn’t depth. It’s a distortion.

This seems to be a growing trend, particularly from certain directors who mistake depravity for depth. The filmmaker in question, Emerald Fennell, previously known for “Saltburn,” specializes in shock value. His content is so nakedly debased that its setting in a classic, timeless world feels not artistic, but ironic. [...]

Though Brontë did seek to challenge the norms of Victorian fiction, she didn’t write in a protective manner. She wrote with fire, not to glamorize moral ruin, but to portray its cost. The characters’ pain, rage and longing were never glorified. And, no, Catherine and Heathcliff do not engage in physical intimacy in the book. Their relationship is fueled by spiritual obsession, not sensual indulgence. Marriage mattered. Boundaries existed. And Brontë’s work respected them, even as it bent others.

Hollywood’s approach today often takes the opposite path. What’s at stake is more than literary faithfulness. The classics are not sacred because they are old. They are sacred because they still speak. They confront human brokenness, challenge cultural decay and uphold moral inquiry. “A Tale of Two Cities” teaches about sacrifice. “Jane Eyre” wrestles with integrity. Even “Wuthering Heights,” bleak as it is, warns us about what happens when love is twisted into control.

The classics are not sacred because they are old — they are sacred because they still speak and instruct us in the present. When we turn them into a canvas for stylized sin without substance, we don’t “modernize” them; we mock them. And worse, we lose what made them worth remembering in the first place. (O’Connor Daniel)

Most of all, the classics need to be taken down from their glass cases and shown to new readers, whether that is done reverentially or dragging them through the mud is not that relevant to them.

Elle interviews Alison Oliver, who plays Isabella Linton in the film.

Well, I’m glad we’ll be able to see you onscreen again, because Wuthering Heights is coming up in February and the trailer just dropped. What was your experience working on that set? What can you tell us about Emerald Fennell’s vision and her take on this iconic story?

I have no idea what I’m allowed to say. But what I will say is it was such a gift and an honor to work with her again. She’s an absolute genius, and I just can’t wait for people to see it. She’s amazing.

Anything you can reveal about Margot and Jacob?

Just that they’re amazing. Getting to watch them—I mean, they’re both such talented and incredible actors, so I just felt so lucky to be there. (Erica Gonzales)

The New Yorker features the quest to find the world's oldest story.

Spurred by Casaubon’s failed ambition, I set out on my own hunt for patterns after returning from Indonesia. With a colleague, I began building a new database and delved into a century’s worth of comparative analyses. Of the many patterns I found, my favorite was the triumphant orphan, a figure who shows up everywhere: in Eurasian folktales (Cinderella, Snow White), Victorian novels (Pip, Jane Eyre), Disney movies (Simba, Elsa), modern fantasy (Harry Potter, Jon Snow), and in stories from the Igbo of Nigeria to the Karen of Myanmar. (Manvir Singh)

The Chosun Daily discusses how 'Charlotte Brontë's Contrasting Portrayals Highlight Human Complexity'.

Evaluations of Charlotte Brontë, the author of *Jane Eyre*, have always been divided. Some remember her as an independent and resilient woman like the protagonist of *Jane Eyre*, hailing her as a pioneer of feminist literature who wrote the first female coming-of-age novel. Others view her as a cold-hearted figure who envied her siblings’ talents and monopolized fame. In particular, critics have pointed to the similarities between *Agnes Grey*, written by her youngest sister Anne based on her own experiences, and *Jane Eyre*, accusing Charlotte of stealing her sister’s ideas and even blocking the republication of Anne’s posthumous works, labeling her a ruthless sister.

It is fascinating that such contrasting assessments of a single person can coexist. The recent play *Underdog* and the currently running musical *Wasted* both depict these opposing facets of Charlotte. In *Underdog*, Charlotte is portrayed as a character tainted by ambition and jealousy, while in *Wasted*, she appears as someone who empathizes and stands in solidarity with her sisters. The two works contrast like the shadow and light of a single individual. What emerges from this contrast is not “who is right,” but the recognition of how multifaceted a person can be. Indeed, Charlotte was said to be a human being entangled with jealousy, love, pride, and fear.

People often want to define someone in a single sentence. Yet humans cannot be summarized in a single line. Like Charlotte, humans are contradictory beings. Only when we understand this complexity does the real story begin. Therefore, debating which of the two Charlottes is closer to the truth is perhaps meaningless. What matters more is the attitude we take when faced with these conflicting evaluations. Instead of hastily judging someone based on one narrative, pausing to observe them, imagining even their hesitations and fears—that is where understanding begins.

Reflecting on the two stories of Charlotte that coincidentally appeared on stage simultaneously, I realize: I, too, have often judged people hastily, making careless assumptions. To avoid defining someone solely by their visible appearance, one must make the effort to listen to their circumstances and inner selves. Striving to understand Charlotte’s contradictions ultimately became a reflection on my own narrow perspective. (Kim Il-song)

Far Out Magazine has an article on Haworth as 'the cinematic village haunted by the ghost of unbridled creativity'.

There is no better time than the cold chill of October to immerse yourself in one of Yorkshire’s most culturally rich villages: Haworth.

With streets and buildings that are so autumn-coded, Haworth has a slightly haunted fucking quality to it that makes you feel as though you’re separated from the outside world, with only the surrounding windy moors – the very location that inspired Wuthering Heights – for company.

Haworth is best known for being the residence of the Brontë sisters, who lived in the village for most of their rather short lives, writing novels like Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from the parsonage that you can now step inside. When you arrive in Haworth, the presence of these literary sisters immediately becomes apparent (not just because of the plaques that mark the places where they posted their manuscripts or bought their writing supplies – in other words, markers of greatness). With a gorgeous church at the top of a long street studded with independent shops, there’s a distinctively gothic atmosphere that feels inherently cinematic.

Walking through the graveyard and looking out onto the stretches of scenery is impressive enough to experience today, but put yourself in the mindset of Emily Brontë, gathering inspiration for her work, and you suddenly feel a sense of connection to a world we can otherwise only read about. It makes sense, then, that Haworth has become a popular filming location over the years (directors obviously lap that shit up). Steeped in Brontë legacy, you can feel the pangs of intense creative desire and obsession as you wander the narrow cobbled streets and visit the very schoolroom where the sisters taught pupils and Charlotte was even married.

Perhaps it’s the ghosts of the Brontë sisters (and Branwell, of course) which inspire such a vivid sense of creativity when you enter Haworth. It has even attracted huge names like Patti Smith, who performed in the school room as part of her lifelong quest to visit the homes of artists she holds dearest.

The punk poet has long recognised the effect that the village and harsh surroundings of the bleak moors (the ones Kate Bush brings to life in ‘Wuthering Heights’, no less) would have had on the Brontës. Writing for the Independent about the chapbook of poems by 13-year-old Charlotte, which has recently been published, Smith described just how important those wily, windy moors were in shaping the creative mind of the burgeoning young writer.

“Again, I picture her sitting, the parsonage bleak, the night ominous, warmed by her own creative impulse. In the last precious scraps, she returns to the rich tapestry of her boundless imagination. In the centre of December, with frost obscuring the view, and the wild wind causing the heart to tremble, she writes of dead winter mystically transformed. But Charlotte, as if rudely awakened from her own spell, produces her last words in ‘Autumn Song’, stunned by the reality of the harshness of decay, nature’s waning day.”

Of course, various Brontë-related films and television series have chosen Haworth as a filming location, including To Walk Invisible and several Wuthering Heights adaptations, such as the 1920 silent version. Where else would you want to shoot a film so intrinsically fucking linked to Haworth? There’s nothing quite like watching something and knowing that the very location actually inspired the story, allowing a closer understanding of the narrative to emerge. [...]

Haworth is evidently a hub of artistic brilliance, and it bleeds with the hum of creativity, which lingers among every street, where old bookshops and cafés resembling the titles of Brontë books welcome eager readers. There is something about being in a place where the Brontës spent so much time that truly inspires a sense of goddamn awe as you explore the village, which is even greater when the sun starts to set and the expansive moors become even more fucking oppressive. (Aimee Ferrier)

The Nerd Daily recommends 'Five Wuthering Heights-Inspired Novels To Add To Your TBR', The Daily Mississippian includes Wuthering Heights on a 'cozy booklist for this fall' and RTVE (Spain) lists Paulina Spucches's Brontëana as one of several graphic novels about women writers worth reading. The Brussels Brontë Blog features a recent talk by writer Bella Ellis on her Brontë-inspired mysteries.