The Wuthering Heights Controversy Is Even Weirder Than You Realize

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights explores issues of race and social class, but only Andrea Arnold’s 2011 film version cast Heathcliff as a person of color. Emerald Fennell’s adaptation, like many others, focused solely on the first half of the novel, missing the crucial theme of how trauma repeats across generations. These challenges were well-known before the 2026 adaptation was released, yet Fennell’s version somehow fell even short of previous attempts.








