Even toxic masculinity disguised as passionate love

The Guardian reviews Bebe Cave's multicharacter comedy Swoon.

Giving us a Victorian-era Tyra Banks as well as the Brontë sisters, Swoon is a highly impressive and creative feat of physical comedy, with an intelligent throughline that never takes away from the more slapstick and silly elements. The show has a wealth of jokes that rely on the audience having some knowledge of art history, but even without this, the message is clear: ridiculous men with pompous attitudes are forever contributing to the erasure of women. (Arusa Qureshi)

Just Watch lists 'The 6 Most Controversial Literary Adaptations Of The Last 5 Years' and one of them is

Wuthering Heights 2026

Wuthering Heights (2026) is the most recent adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel. However, the film garnered a lot of criticism before hitting theaters, with the most prominent being the casting of Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, a typically non-white role in the novel.

But that’s not all; there was even more controversy surrounding the film, from the casting of Margot Robbie as Catherine, who was considered too old for the role, to the more sensual direction of the film. Abandoning the themes of the book, it had also been stated that this film was focusing more on the teenage romanticism young readers got when they read the book, which undermined the core values of the story. (Nicholas Brooks)

Couch Soup also lists Wuthering Heights as one of '3 Books to Read with Screen Adaptations Worth Watching'.

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Brontë in 1847, is about the tumultuous love story between Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff. It explores themes such as forbidden love, jealousy and even toxic masculinity disguised as passionate love.

For me, the movie was slightly better than the book, though both seem problematic. Heathcliff is driven solely by his lust for Cathy and the jealousy he feels knowing she is with someone else. Each character has their own motives that drive them in their decisions. What I liked about the movie was the stylization of the film, especially Margot Robbie's stunning, though contemporary, looks. Robbie's chemistry with Jacob Elordi's Heathcliff was palpable. The book is more gentle to its characters and readers, but the dark nature of the story remains between both mediums. (Jasmyn Spann)

El diario montañés (Spain) interviews writer Aixa de la Cruz about the subject of her recent talk on Wuthering Heights. 

-¿Por qué 'Cumbres borrascosas' ?

-Todos tenemos al menos un libro que nos persigue, que hemos leído en diferentes momentos de la vida y que, en cada momento, nos ha devuelto, como un espejo, una imagen distinta de quiénes éramos, y para mí ese libro sin duda es 'Cumbres borrascosas'.

-¿En qué medida es una novela moderna, actual, o imperecedera?

-Creo que basta con entrar en Goodreads (comunidad virtual de catalogación de lecturas) y ver los comentarios apasionados o directamente encendidos que suscita para entender que hay algo en este texto que sigue siendo inasible, excesivo, capaz de enfrentarnos a nuestras idealizaciones y nuestras sombras. Tiene también muchas grietas, contradicciones internas que animan la conversación en torno a la misma, la posibilidad inagotable de la exégesis. [...]

-¿Lo de la fidelidad al texto a la hora de abordar una adaptación resulta muchas veces una coartada convertida en una trampa cuando no se quiere arriesgar?

-Me parece complicadísimo adaptar novelas al cine y creo que hay que entender que una adaptación no es la novela en sí, sino la lectura que la directora ha hecho de dicha novela. Eso es bonito, enfatiza que, en cada lector, el texto se renueva y se hace otro. Lo que sí es inquietante es que absolutamente todas las adaptaciones hayan decidido amputar la segunda parte de la novela, que se queden en la supuesta historia de amor y no en las posibilidades que Emily Brontë les da a los hijos de la nueva generación de enmendar los errores de los padres. Y aquí es donde las películas tienden a romantizar lo que en la novela simplemente se muestra como problemático.

-¿Cuál es, en su opinión, la adaptación audiovisual más acertada de la novela, o la que aporta algo diferente?

-La adaptación del 2011 de Andrea Arnold (protagonizad por James Howson y Kaya Scodelario) me parece visualmente preciosa, y es la que más se atreve a mostrar esta coexistencia sin edulcorar entre el amor y la violencia que atraviesa a Heathcliff, y la que enfatiza cuestiones de raza y de clase que, en general, se suelen dejar de lado.

-¿Heathcliff y Catherine serían hoy carne de meme en las redes sociales?

-Bueno, creo que después de la adaptación de Emerald Fennell, cuya propuesta tiene un tono deliberadamente paródico, ya lo son un poco. (Guillermo Balbona) (Translation)

Southern Living lists '60 Classic Books Everyone Should Read In Their Lifetime' including

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Bronte brings to life Jane Eyre‘s titular heroine through a vivid internal world, one as dynamic as the wild English landscape, but one often at odds with the social strictures of the novel’s early-19th century setting. [...]

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

In Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte presents a world of conflicts, frictions between families, passions, and attachments—especially those of Catherine Earnshaw and the tortured Heathcliff—across an untamed landscape. (Caroline Rogers and Rebecca Angel Baer)

The Times of India's love quote of the day was 'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same'. La Tercera (Chile) has an article on more people reading classic novels, including those by the Brontë sisters.