The Problem with Making Wuthering Heights Beautiful

In Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, the romance is louder, the visuals are glossier, and the gothic horror is… oddly smoothed out. So what does this adaptation change—and what does it lose? In this video essay, The Take breaks down Wuthering Heights (book vs movie): • How the film turns Cathy into a doll-like fantasy figure • How Heathcliff is transformed—and how casting changes the story’s racial wound • How the novel’s brutality and coercion are rewritten into “aesthetic” desire • Why removing the second generation reshapes Brontë’s ending and moral point The result is beautiful. Seductive. And deeply at odds with the book’s warning about fantasy as a form of destruction. #WutheringHeights #EmeraldFennell #EmilyBronte #MovieAnalysis #FilmAnalysis #VideoEssay #LiteraryAdaptation #MargotRobbie #JacobElordi #whitewashing #endingexplained CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro — “Beautiful… But Wrong” 01:55 Thanks to Green Table 03:08 Cathy Becomes Barbie 07:11 Heathcliff as “Ken” 10:42 Defanged: Sex, Sanitization & Lost Horror 14:20 Barbie Cannot Be a Mother (The Ending Change) Follow our socials: https://linktr.ee/thisisthetake Read our articles on film, TV and culture: https://www.the-take.com CREDITS Created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough Written by Ellie Slee Narration by Charly Bivona Edited by John Todd Produced by Nick Vasile