The Snoozefest That Is ‘Wuthering Heights’
The Dispatch • • general
Key Points:
- Emerald Fennell’s recent adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights takes significant aesthetic liberties, notably omitting key characters and altering motivations, resulting in a muddled narrative that diverges from the novel’s complex themes of abuse, classism, and torment.
- While Fennell’s visual worldbuilding captures the eerie isolation of the Yorkshire moors, her portrayal of characters lacks depth, with Heathcliff and Catherine reduced to superficial figures engaged in repetitive, uninspired sexual scenes, and Edgar Linton rendered impotent, removing essential conflict from the story.
- The adaptation controversially transforms the novel’s bitter servant Joseph into a young BDSM enthusiast, exemplifying Fennell’s reliance on shock value over meaningful character development, which
