This race row over Wuthering Heights completely misses the point of the book

The actor cast as Heathcliff in a new film is not too white – he’s too pretty

Ever wondered why, these days, so many period dramas seem to be cast to make the England of the past look just as diverse as the England of the present? Well, here’s a possible answer. It’s so the directors can avoid being engulfed by rows like this one.
A forthcoming film of Wuthering Heights, to be directed by Emerald Fennell, has come under fire because Jacob Elordi, the actor cast to play Heathcliff, is white. Critics on social media have indignantly protested that, in Emily Brontë’s novel of 1847, the character is described as “dark-skinned.” Meanwhile Michael Stewart, the founder of the Brontë Writing Centre, says: “I feel quite strongly that Emily’s intention was that he was either black or mixed race.”
I bow to his superior expertise, but personally, I have my doubts. Mainly because, in the text, other characters repeatedly refer to Heathcliff as a “gypsy.” Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean he is a gypsy. He may just be a bit tanned and weather-beaten, but, because these other characters fear and despise him, they call him a “gypsy” as an insult. But if he’d been black, I tend to suspect that, given the period in which the book is set, his enemies would have used a different – and rather more offensive – word with which to abuse him.
In any case, this whole row completely misses the point. Yes, the new film’s casting is odd – but not because of race. It’s because the leads are far too pretty.
Heathcliff, for one, should look wild, cruel, brooding and ragingly intense – not like some cute, winsome, boy-band-style pin-up, as Mr Elordi does. I don’t mean to offend him. He may well be a very fine actor. But, to pull off Wuthering Heights, he’s really going to have to do something about his appearance. 
Sometimes, for the sake of a role, Hollywood actors will lose weight, or gain weight, or head down the gym to build muscle. So, if the adorably fresh-faced Mr Elordi is to make himself look like a plausible Heathcliff, I would politely suggest that he needs to spend six months doing something extremely difficult, stressful and rife with potential disaster. Working on an oil rig, say, or being a press officer for Keir Starmer.
The strangeness of the film’s casting doesn’t end there, though. Believe it or not, the other lead role, that of Catherine Earnshaw, is to be taken by Margot Robbie: the flawlessly slim, blonde, Australian star of last year’s Barbie film. She’s very talented. But she doesn’t exactly scream “windswept Yorkshire moors.”
As I say, the casting is very peculiar. Still, there must be some reason for it. Perhaps, in this new version, Heathcliff takes Catherine on a romantic holiday to Bondi Beach. Then she can show off her bikini body, and he can work on his tan.