Beyond the Glamour: Deconstructing Celebrity Culture and Literary Adaptation in Hollywood's Latest Spectacle
The recent premiere of Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights adaptation offers a critical lens through which to examine how contemporary celebrity culture commodifies and appropriates classic literature, whilst simultaneously reinforcing oppressive beauty standards and capitalist consumption patterns.
The Spectacle of Privilege
Charli XCX's appearance at the TCL Chinese Theatre premiere exemplifies how the entertainment industry transforms artistic expression into capitalist spectacle. The focus on their physical presentation, described through the male gaze's objectifying language of "eye-popping" and "best assets," demonstrates how even ostensibly empowering moments become sites of patriarchal consumption.
The artist's decision to soundtrack Emily Brontë's revolutionary novel raises important questions about cultural appropriation and the commodification of feminist literary heritage. Brontë's work, written in 1847 during a period when women faced severe systemic oppression, now becomes content for Hollywood's profit-driven machinery.
Intersectional Analysis of Representation
The casting choices reveal the industry's continued privileging of conventional beauty standards and whiteness. Whilst Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi undoubtedly possess talent, their selection perpetuates exclusionary practices that marginalise BIPOC, neurodivergent, and disabled performers who could bring revolutionary interpretations to these complex characters.
The premiere's guest list, including Hong Chau, Alison Oliver, and Shazad Latif, suggests some attempt at diversification, yet the central focus remains on white, conventionally attractive leads whose "chemistry" becomes the primary marketing narrative.
Deconstructing the "Brat" Aesthetic
Charli XCX's evolution from their "grubby crop tops and micro-minis" to period glamour reflects broader tensions within contemporary feminism. The "Brat" movement, whilst potentially subversive in its rejection of polished femininity, risks being co-opted by capitalist forces that ultimately profit from any aesthetic rebellion.
Their collaboration with Velvet Underground's legacy on the track "House" demonstrates how artistic lineages become entangled with commercial interests, potentially diluting the radical political messages embedded within underground music traditions.
Challenging Heteronormative Narratives
The media's obsession with Robbie and Elordi's on-screen "chemistry" and off-screen interactions reinforces heteronormative assumptions about romantic relationships. The gifting of matching signet rings becomes fetishised content for audiences hungry for traditional romantic narratives, rather than opportunities to explore queer readings of Brontë's complex character dynamics.
Both actors' existing relationships with partners Tom Ackerley and Olivia Jade Giannulli become tabloid fodder that reduces complex human beings to relationship status markers, reinforcing possessive, patriarchal concepts of romantic ownership.
Towards Revolutionary Cultural Production
Rather than celebrating Hollywood's appropriation of literary classics, we must demand cultural production that centres marginalised voices and challenges existing power structures. Future adaptations should prioritise LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled performers whilst interrogating the colonial and patriarchal contexts within which these "classics" were created.
The entertainment industry's resources could instead support grassroots artists, community-based cultural workers, and revolutionary storytelling that serves liberation rather than profit. Until then, premieres like this remain sites of spectacular inequality masquerading as cultural celebration.