The Brontës and Egyptian Cienma

A new scholarly study on the influence of the Brontës novels in Egyptian cinema:

Film Criticism: The Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in Egyptian Arab Cinema

by Shatha Ghazi Alajmi, Department of English Language and Literature, College of Languages and Translation, Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia.(M.A.Thesis)

Arab World English Journal (ID Number: 322)  January, 2026: 1-84

This study examines the cross-cultural adaptation of classic English novels into mid-twentieth-century Egyptian film, specifically analyzing Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as reinterpreted in Hatha Al-Rajol Ohebboh (1962) and Al-Ghareeb (1956), respectively. This study, rooted in adaptation theory, film criticism, and reception studies, examines the transformation of these literary materials to embody Egyptian cultural values, religious sensibilities, and cinematic norms. This study examines the narrative, thematic, and ideological transformations that transpire in the transition from text to film, utilizing Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation as both a product and a process, Dudley Andrew’s notions of cinematic metamorphosis, and Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model. It also integrates Hans Robert Jauss’s concept of the “horizon of expectations” as a supporting reference for the primary theoretical framework, analyzing how Egyptian audiences interpreted and responded to these adaptations from the 1940s to the 1960s. The study employs meticulous textual and visual study to illustrate how the films diverge from their British origins to express regionally relevant issues, including familial honor, moral decency, and emotional restraint. These adaptations are not simple replicas but rather efforts of cultural adaptation that contextualize Western narratives inside Arab social and moral contexts.  The study emphasizes adaptation as a dynamic, dialogic process co-created by filmmakers and audiences through an examination of production and reception.  This work enhances global adaptation discourse, especially in non-Western contexts, and promotes increased academic focus on Arab film as a venue for cultural negotiation, reinterpretation, and narrative agency.