A new adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” is cleaning up at the box office this month. You might be thinking, “Oh, it’s like “Pride and Prejudice!” Another chick flick to take my wife to!” But what’s really funny is that you’re actually walking into a celebration of all the toxic qualities that women (and good men) condemn.
First things first, I love “Wuthering Heights”. I love the atmosphere. I love the fact that Heathcliff is a complete assh*le. And I love the fact that, as a man, you open the book expecting a sappy romance but instead find yourself knee-deep in a psychological-thriller whose elements are revenge, obsession, and greed.
Not quite what they portray in the trailers, or in popular culture, but that is what’s in the source material.
What is the plot essentially? Heathcliff is adopted by the Earnshaws. Cathy Earnshaw and Heathcliff are inseparable—(raised as siblings, mind you). Cathy’s brother becomes an alcoholic. Cathy is attacked by the Linton’s dog. Cathy stays with the Lintons and becomes engaged to their son. Cathy in secret confesses she’s Heathcliff before he leaves, makes a fortune, and comes back. we play with Cathy’s conflicted feelings for fifty pages. Heathcliff marries Cathy’s sister-in-law (who loves him) to punish Cathy.
Then Cathy dies. Music swells. Your date has her fantasy. A fantasy where a man’s love goes beyond the grave.
And yes, Heathcliff is a fantasy even for Emily Brontë.
He is your classic bad boy who would stop at nothing to have you—including opening your twenty-year old rotting corpse to plan how he’ll bury himself next to you – and we’re supposed to cheer?
That’s not in the movie, of course; that would make it obvious that Heathcliff is a creep.
But because he’s hot, and the marketing of the movie told us that as long as the guy is hot, then being a stalker is fine.
What lesson does that tell our boys?
In a world where being the stalker toxic boyfriend is obviously wrong, showing that Heathcliff’s obsession is “romantic” points to a bad lesson for them to learn.
First, it tells men who are respectful of boundaries that they’re boring (a nice guy finishes last mentality). If you simply, slept with the friend, sister, whoever of the women you love then she’ll realize her mistake and go to you.
Second, this type of movie follows those old Lifetime movies, or even Fear (1996) the obsessive boyfriend who knows you’re meant to be, but will kill all those in his way.
Third, it does disservice to the actual book because it does not paint the whole picture. It lies like Heathcliff to get your sympathy.
Putting “Wuthering Heights” on the same level as “Pride and Prejudice” (a story where two people correct each other’s faults) needs to stop.
Seriously.
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Image Film Review in Photoplay Magazine 1939
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This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1931 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart and the copyright renewal logs. |
