Adapting the 'Other': Andrea Arnold’s (2011) Adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Literature, the study of human nature, has always appealed to people of different cultural backgrounds all over the world. Adaptation of classics to another medium or genre is the ideological attempt to modify an already existing study of human nature to suit another medium. In order to assess literary adaptations, it is quite essential to identify the kind of adaptation that the filmmaker has chosen and find out whether the filmmaker succeeds in her/his choice to suit the adaptation’s ideology. The aim of this study is to explore how far Andrea Arnold’s (2011) adaptation of Wuthering Heights has managed to challenge British nineteenth century social norms and cultural values by choosing the “fidelity” approach with minimum alterations in her attempt to adapt the ‘Other’. This study aims to assess Arnold’s adaptation by using Sarah Cardwell’s three contexts: “generic context”, “authorial context” and “[cinematic] context (and performance)” (55). An English filmmaker and former actress, Arnold is both the director and script writer of her third film Wuthering Heights based on the nineteenth century classic of Emily Bronte and starred Kaya Scodelario and James Howson. Taking into account that any film adaptation entails an ideological activity, the main focus of this paper is to investigate one ideological idea, that of challenging British nineteenth century social norms and cultural values by propagating a toleration of the ‘Other’. The current study aims to highlight the different ways in which Andrea Arnold’s (2011) adaptation of Wuthering Heights challenges British nineteenth century discrimination which are often based on race, color, class, or their combinations. Echoing Bronte’s text that gave voice to Heathcliff through Nelly’s narration, Arnold’s adaptation’s focus on Heathcliff’s point of view is an attempt to challenge British nineteenth century social norms and cultural values by tolerating the ‘Other’. Allowing a black man the point of view to tell the story of a British nineteenth century white woman’s dilemma, that ends by a wrong choice once she follows the social norms and cultural values of her age, reveals as well Arnold’s appreciation of the Other’s perspective. Hence, Arnold’s choice of the fidelity approach with alterations is both appropriate and effective in serving the adaptation’s ideology.