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As more and more book-to-movie adaptions are being announced, the quality and effort put into them seems to be declining.

Whether Austen or Orwell, Brontë or Hemingway, Shakespeare or Dickens, almost everyone has read a classic novel. Whether voluntarily or forced by their tenth-grade English teacher, most have, at the very least, read Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Most people, especially if they read a classic for school, have also watched the corresponding movie adaptation.

From Cinderella to A Christmas Carol, there has never been a shortage of book-to-movie adaptations. When done correctly, these movie adaptions are highly entertaining, engaging, and helpful in understanding the story, but it is hard to preserve the essence of classic literature when translating it onto screen, so I’ve always been relatively doubtful when the news of a new classic book adaption is announced. 

Recently, my skepticism has been wholly validated with the announcement of two future releases based on classics. The first is a Netflix TV series adaption of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde to be called The Grays. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the first classics I genuinely enjoyed reading, and it remains one of my most treasured classics, so when I heard about the show, written by Katie Rose Rodgers, I was apprehensively intrigued to see what Netflix had in store for the novel. Almost immediately upon researching the series, my interest turned to horror, and I never wanted to use Netflix again. 

That may sound dramatic, but trust me, it’s warranted. 

In short, The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1890, tells the story of beautiful, wealthy Dorian Gray as he struggles with his mortality, greed, and the consequences of his unchecked desires. Dorian meets and befriends Basil Hallward, a talented and sensitive artist, who becomes enamored with the eccentric man, making him his muse and painting hundreds of portraits of him until he finally creates one into which he throws his whole heart and soul, unknowingly creating a piece of art that irrevocably alters both of their destinies. 

For a century and a half since the release of the novel, the relationship between Dorian and Basil has been, at the very least, debated and, at the most, extremely controversial. Basil’s worship and near obsession with Dorian, paired with Dorian’s reciprocated, perhaps more complex and corrupt but no less fervent, feelings for Basil, create a relationship that far transcends platonic friendship. “Romantic” doesn’t quite fit the true definition of their relationship, but that’s part of the beauty of it all.

Any reader could skim through the book and understand that the love between Basil and Dorian is more vehement and profound than friendship. Wilde wrote the lines, “There seemed to be something so tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance,” and “It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man usually gives to a friend” about the two men, along with many other scenes and quotes that heavily imply—if not flat-out describe—the romantic relationship between Basil and Dorian. 

This is why I was so absolutely astounded when I heard that Basil and Dorian will be depicted as brothers in the upcoming TV series. There are also rumors of a gender swap for the characters, encouraged by the writer’s use of the word “siblings” instead of “brothers” and the changing of Dorian’s name to Doran to make it more gender-neutral.  

This change, while shocking for any other book, is ignorant and borderline homophobic for this one. By making Basil and Dorian siblings, The Grays‘ creators are erasing the original work’s groundbreaking importance. Classic novels are still studied today because they both remain relevant in today’s world and act as a time capsule, showing us parts of history that would otherwise be forgotten. 

When Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray, homosexuality was illegal, condemned, and heavily prosecuted. The book itself was used against Wilde in the trial that sentenced him to two years in prison for homosexuality. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray bridges the gap between eras that span decades of time, connecting its audience to the events, beliefs, and prejudices of the past while reflecting the current world.

Eliminating the queer undertones from the book not only erases the immeasurable significance of Dorian and Basil’s relationship but also disregards the generations of people who were able to find parts of themselves represented in Wilde’s characters during a time when it was utterly abhorred to even speak of the existence of homosexuality. 

I could go on for paragraphs about the detrimental effects of making Basil and Dorian siblings to the plotline alone. The depth and ambiguity of their connection caused the chain of events to play out the way it did. The obsession held by both men was the defining characteristic that created the catalytic event. Nothing in the novel would have played out the same way if Basil and Dorian were siblings, and you cannot recreate the intensity of each moment if they do not have the same relationship. 

However, the worst part is the amount of history dismissed when the story is rewritten in this way. Wilde’s groundbreaking, controversial writing changed a century of lives, and it is ignorant to pretend that a connection as profound as Dorian and Basil’s can be rewritten as siblings and have the same power. 

While recovering from the shock of the announcement of The Grays, I came across yet another disastrous cast list for an upcoming movie adaptation. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is being adapted for film by actress, filmmaker, and writer Emerald Fennell, with Australian actors Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi taking the lead roles of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. 

I have never actually read Wuthering Heights, so my only original complaint with the casting was the seeming reuse of the same A-list actors time and time again. Usually, the repetition of actors doesn’t bother me, especially when they’re good. However, when adapting a period piece, especially one as well-known as Brontë’s novel, I think that it is important to get more unknown actors to play the roles. The success of both Barbie and Saltburn, paired with both actors’ prolific careers, leads me to believe that it would be hard to fully immerse myself in the time period and setting of the movie without being pulled out by their familiar faces. 

Aside from my annoyance with the frequency of certain actors, not knowing the story, I really had no other complaints about the casting. That is, until I did more research into the novel, however. Catherine, portrayed by Robbie, grows up over the course of the novel but only ever reaches the age of 18 or 19 by the end of her story. While Robbie is by no means old, she is certainly not a teenager, and Catherine’s age plays an integral part in her story. Her youth provides an explanation for impulsive decisions, along with a slew of other character traits that cannot be recreated in a 30-year-old. 

Robbie, however, is the least of my worries for this film. Granted, I am not immensely qualified to talk about this topic, as I have never read the book, but based on my knowledge of the film’s creators and Elordi, the casting was an easy way to get a big name in the cast list and improve publicity. Not only does Elordi’s casting feel lazy and dull, but it also erases Heathcliff’s character traits, which are an essential asset in his storyline. 

Heathcliff’s ethnicity is left ambiguous by Brontë, but he is frequently described as “foreign” and “dark-skinned.” The ambiguity of Heathcliff’s race is a deliberate choice made by Brontë that exemplifies his status as an outsider or “other” in Catherine’s society. This leads to the prejudice and social ostracization that he experiences throughout the story, which is the catalyst for many of both his and Catherine’s choices.

Through Heathcliff, Bronte allowed her readers, both past and present, to explore themes of injustice and prejudice in the world. Ignoring Heathcliff’s ethnicity and Catherine’s age just to get A-List celebrities on the cast list is, in my opinion, not only lazy but extremely destructive to both classic literature and people’s understanding of the past. 

Classic literature is immeasurably critical in teaching the otherwise unknown parts of history. Between society, culture, and prejudices faced by people who did not match the status quo of society at the time, classic literature gifts its readers the astounding ability to relate to history far beyond memorizing dates and names.

There is so much history that cannot be found in the facts of a textbook. Human experiences, emotions, jokes, insults, slang—no AP history course will ever be able to translate the true spirit of life in a time period into a one-day lesson. Classic literature is one of the few art forms that can truly convey these things to a modern audience. 

When they’re done well, book-to-movie adaptations can be a breathtaking way to translate emotion between art forms, giving new, visual life to an already well-known masterpiece. But when the creator’s goal becomes more oriented around making a profit or some under-developed statement than preserving the emotional history of humanity, film adaptations quickly turn into a destructive practice that will lead to further ignorance, misunderstanding, and an overall lack of knowledge of the past.