#emily (2022)

[grctagerwig]

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelou

the snows of kilimanjaro by ernest hemingway // little women (2019) // little women by louisa may alcott // the book thief by markus zusak // emily (2022) // dead poets society (1989) // o me! o life! by walt whitman // tick, tick… boom! (2019)

[mediademon]

Emma Mackey as Emily Brontë

[filmgifs]

EMILY (2022) dir. Frances O'Connor

[hyacinths-bridgerton]

Charlotte Brontë reacts to Wuthering Heights in EMILY (2022)

[fioredialabastro]

[sineva]

Emma Mackey, Alexandra Dowling, Amelia Gething and Oliver Jackson Cohen on the set of ‘Emily’ for Harper’s Bazaar x

ph. Rachel Louise Brown

[filmreveries]

Emily (2022) dir. Frances O’Connor

[kratosfilms]

⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ୨୧ㆍ┈ㆍ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹

emily (2022) headers

[sea-changed]

Amidst all the many and varied things that were almost gratuitously bad about Emily (2022), I do think one that has stuck with me as particularly troubling was the absence of a servant in the Brontë household. Emily clears the table and washes the dishes and dusts and cleans and bakes a cake and hangs laundry; she holds hands with a man over the dirty dishwater and has a farewell scene with Branwell at the clothesline; and during all of these tasks she's alone, or occasionally guided by her aunt.

I know a pretty average amount about the Brontës, so I did double-check Wikipedia and, yes, the Brontës did have a least one long-term servant named Tabitha (Tabby) Aykroyd, who, according to a line cited to page 27 of Karen Smith Kenyon's 2002 biography of the family, recounted local Yorkshire legends to the children while preparing their meals. While the movie divorced itself so completely from history that I can barely muster indignation about the elision of an individual historical figure, what I do find troubling is the elision of the role of servants, while romanticizing or aestheticizing labor that they would've carried out entirely or in part.

I'm not saying Emily Brontë never cleaned or washed dishes or baked a cake--I'm sure she did do these things--but the sheer amount of labor required to keep up a house of any size in the 19th century necessitated servants, and simply because the Brontës weren't wealthy didn't mean they could carry out the labor of it alone (even if it very likely did mean that they would've participated to some extent in that labor). And it's that greater untruth about history, rather than any particular anachronism in and of itself, that's continued to bother me.

[ojacksonscohen]

OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN as WILLIAM WEIGHTMAN Emily (2022) dir. Frances O’Connor

[angelstills]

Emily (2022)

[cptrs]

[livewithoutshame]

ive seen criticism of 'Emily' mainly about historical accuracy and how they portrayed emily, which of course is valid. but ive also seen people say that emily's relationship with william implies that a man was behind one of her greatest works or that the credit goes to him. and i can't help but disagree with that.

little is known about emily's life anyway and of course it is highly unlikely that she had a love affair with william. although that is what the film depicts it doesn't mean william is due credit for wuthering heights or he is the man behind her success.

the film portrays their affair as something loving but tragic. emily took from tragedy and heartbreak and poured this out when writing wuthering heights. those experiences and feelings are hers.

so much amazing artistry comes from heartbreak in various ways. which yes, also means heartbreak and pain from relationships. but that doesn't mean that they are the real person behind their success.

ive also seen people say that the way they portrayed emily with william made her look weak and pathetic. but how do you not see a young girl become so lost in her love and obsession for this man that it broke her?

either way, although their relationship is not accurate, i can see how heartbreak, pain, and the experiences of life shaped the way emily wrote and who she was (in the film).

[magiiicath]

— like or reblog if you save any;

[cnnellwaldron]

[holyterrainn]