I’m sure we’ve all watched the erotic “Wuthering Heights” trailer by Emerald Fennell. While some may have been captivated by the bearded Jacob Elordi, Charli XCX, and overall sexual manner to it, this is supposedly a “Wuthering Heights” adaptation, which this trailer doesn’t really cover. The story of “Wuthering Heights” is a deeply complex one showing themes of class, money, religion, morality, and love. From the new trailer, it looks like all Fennel is covering, is sex.  

While a bad adaptation of classic literature may not bother most, it shows deeper issues such as the decline in media literacy. The definition of media literacy is “the ability to access, analyse, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication”. We have seen an extensive decline in media literacy as technology evolves. Many of our interactions, communications, and news nowadays are technological, and with this our media literacy is put to the test. Technological advances have made it easier to spread misinformation- whether it’s in the form of deepfakes, AI videos, or simply rumours, it’s getting harder to tell what’s truth and what’s not.  

Fennell’s adaptation only shows some of what’s to come. We’ve had bad adaptations before, but when a director has seemingly thrown the whole plotline and themes out the window, it’s too far. Fennell shows a lack of media literacy, with her obvious prioritization of style over historical and source material accuracy. This shows her superficial engagement with the media, putting aesthetics over themes and historical context. This kind of media allows the industry to produce glamourous, big budget movies that have barely any real plotlines or themes. These movies drain the supplies for any real stories. Unless you want to continue seeing brain rot, Labubu bullshit, skip out on this movie, watch one that wouldn’t fail a media literacy test.