The best tribute of all

A contributor to Honi Soit is also concerned about the Wuthering Heights trailer.

Whilst I’ve always revered the work of the Brontë sisters, Wuthering Heights has never been a novel I’ve held close to my heart. I am a Charlotte Brontë advocate over Anne and Emily, and for the few passable adaptations of Jane Eyre I’ve seen, I’ve previously dedicated time to sharing my discontented views to my regular Letterboxd audience of 6. That being said, I have never seen a trailer that has so appallingly disgraced the source material that I felt immediately inclined to defend a book I don’t like. [...]

I would’ve liked to see Emerald Fennell adapt Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary with similar themes and a similar cast – as Madame Bovery [sic] canonically contains the overtly sexual themes that Fennell is seeking to draw out of Wuthering Heights. Ergo, this may permit Fennell to stay true to her affinity for grotesquely romantic stylisation – without capitalising on a politically important text whilst simultaneously depriving it of any of its political inherence. A novel that explores social class, race, mental and physical cruelty does not make it an appropriate plot to ultimately distastefully capitalise for the box office. Particularly for those in Hollywood who want to see something that ‘challenges their biases’ whilst simultaneously reaffirming their partiality to the mainstream. It contributes to an undercurrent of discontent for modern literary adaptations, and the inability of filmmakers to produce original works that captivate audiences on their own accord, without the use of the literary canon for financial endorsement. 

What deeply concerns me about the attention this trailer has grasped, and the inevitable millions it will make at the box office, is that the prevalence of style-over-substance modern literary adaptations encourage a new age of unimaginative creative work. This, in addition to the rise of AI and lack of cognitive creativity, contributes to the stark irony of the literary world ‘coming undone,’ in the box office. (Emmanuelle Cushway)

Nothing disgraces the source material, appallingly or otherwise. Again, what's truly concerning here is that some people feel they are entitled to control another person's creative work just because it doesn't suit their own tastes or ideas or expectations. 

A contributor to The Cornell Daily Sun makes a similar point to the contributor above.

What we see happening with Wuthering Heights is just one drop in the ever-expanding pool of warped classic literature. It happened in 2022, with the release of Netflix’s version of Persuasion, loudly proclaimed as one of the worst Austen adaptations in history. That movie, as with the Wuthering Heights trailer, reduced a wonderful novel into drivel and meaningless romance. If we want to end this frightening trend toward nihilistic reimaginings of thoughtful books we all should cherish, we must deny Wuthering Heights the one thing it seeks: our money. Come Valentine’s Day of 2026, find a more sincere way to spend your time, and leave the Wuthering Heights film to become dust in the wind. (Jane Locke)

This Wuthering Heights also wants attention, and it's getting it all the time. Suggesting that prejudices based on a 90-second trailer are enough to give a film a miss (and encouraging readers to do so as well) is rather ghastly. Sales of the actual book of Wuthering Heights are up, and a new generation of readers--and fans--of the novel may be in the making as we speak. However much you cherish the novel, you will never do for it what Emerald Fennell has already done. There's a thought.

Trill understands.

But really, none of this should come as a surprise. With Fennell at the helm, there is reason to believe this adaptation will keep surprising audiences until way after the credits roll. Maybe that’s exactly what Hollywood needs right now. A movie that gets people talking. It might not be the most accurate remake, but bringing Brontë’s words into current discourse may be the best tribute of all. (Meghan Boucher)

Washington Post reviews Jane Hamilton's novel The Phoebe Variations.

Phoebe hatches a serious escape plan.

Sharing and shaping it is Phoebe's best friend, the equally gifted Luna Barker, child of wealth and privilege but also (initially) a shrewd, loyal, sisterly ally. The girls first bonded at age 12, rapturously, reaching for the same copy of “Jane Eyre” in the local library. (Joan Frank)