Was “Wuthering Heights” really worth all the drama?

“Wuthering Heights” is a classic book written by Emily Brontë with the themes of romance, revenge and the constant obsession between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. The book has been a fan favorite novel with a dark aesthetic and deep conflict in your heart and your mind.

Autumn Feldhans ‘28 said, “I was interested when I heard about it, as I know right now adaptations are really taking over. So it was interesting to see a classic book being put into a movie.” 

As it caught the attention of the reading community, producers thought that it would be a good idea to put the use of film to the book, bringing the characters to life. There have been four adaptations of the book, with movies in 1939, 1992 and 2011, and TV miniseries. But it wasn’t until the 2026 movie that the adaptations got seen more with the movie having huge headlining names of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi playing the roles of the two main characters Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff.

Anabella Lopez ‘28 said, “I think it was a good story plot but there was a lot of sex. I think the acting was great though, and I wanted to read the book but didn’t get the chance.”

There was a lot of backlash from the reading community expressing disappointment of how the movie was cast, with changing the races of some of the characters, such as Heathcliff who comes from potential mixed-race or African ancestry. This sparked lots of controversy online, as fans openly expressed it was giving opportunities away from different ethnic groups. There were also plots that were found to be missing with the traditional gothic tragedy being missed and more of prioritizing a romantic feel instead of the gothic and romantic being mixed together. 

Feldhans said, “I feel that it would have been better if it was left as a book, as it is really hard to transform dark romances into a film production as it can start to look really weird and odd.” 

There were a few modern changes with the soundtrack, music from Charli XCX brought both a modern touch while still keeping the music to the story, which made fans have a much more positive response.

Overall, the movie both highlights the modern touches of the world we live in today while also trying to keep the story that was brought to us alive with the movie adaptation. Even though the movie brought lots of controversy it also brought a lot of light to the movie whether positive or negative. The biggest thing is if you go into the theater with an open mindset of wanting to see change or seeing the traditional version.