The corset-fueled Wuthering Heights economy.
Plus Noma comes to New York, and Kristen Stewart's new movie theater.
Hello everyone. Last night I went to a dinner hosted by Netflix and Substack for Laura Poitras and Seymour Hersh. I’ve been a fan of Laura’s documentary work for years — a friend took me to a screening of All the Beauty and the Bloodshed at New York Film Festival in 2022, and I think about it every time I walk through the halls of The Met. It was sort of chilling to hear Seymour Hersh (who now writes on Substack) talk about the state of journalism hours after The Washington Post’s layoff announcements.
On my way out of Hotel Chelsea, I met Brendan James, co-host of the Blowback podcast. I told him that just that morning my husband was commenting on how impressive their show’s production was. He shook my hand and told me that he is the producer.
In today’s letter: Blackbird’s Ben Leventhal on how to get a Noma LA reservation (and his thoughts on food media), Cami Fateh on the corset-fueled mania of Wuthering Heights, and Kristen Stewart used those Chanel checks to buy a movie theater.
Political Parties is a nightlife column by Cami Fateh. It offers readers a glimpse into the unspoken politics of party culture, in rooms that they didn’t even know existed.
On a freezing Saturday in January, a crowd of Wuthering Heights readers trekked out to P&T Knitwear, a bookstore on the Lower East Side, for an all-afternoon “read-in” hosted by romance publishing company 831 Stories and Belletrist, Emma Roberts’ online book club. Other than the six-foot-long fireplace GIF that flickered on a projector, there were no bells and whistles at the event: just 20-odd people reading, rapt. “I’m so locked in. Aghast at the manipulation but enthralled,” said Aadi, a 23-year-old who works in publishing.
The film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell, arrives in theaters on February 13th, and it’s landing in the middle of a movie marketing moment that has grown increasingly unhinged. I can barely remember a time when a press tour didn’t match (or eclipse) a film in spectacle, or how people sold a movie before Barbenheimer. Since then, studios have hawked the Wicked x Le Creuset collection of Glinda and Elphaba dutch ovens, Anora thongs, the terrifying Dune: Part Two popcorn bucket, and, most recently, Charli XCX’s The Moment puffers (a winterized celeb-status-film promo jacket to replace the now tired Marty Supreme bomber). The Las Vegas Sphere, which just over a month ago belonged to Timmy, is now Melania’s.
By skillfully positioning Wuthering Heights as must-see Valentine’s Day fodder, Warner Brothers has taken the capitalism of it all to a whole new level. Intended audiences have been sold coasters, a sleep mask that reads “Kiss Me Again,” thongs (again), cookies, a $2,765 handbag, and Lingua Franca sweaters. Maude (the same company that created the vibrator that Emily received in a PR package promoting a protein bar) has partnered with Warner Brothers to release a Wuthering Heights-themed sex oil and candle that is supposed to smell like the rolling moors. If you’ve actually read Wuthering Heights, the 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, then this might confuse you – because the book isn’t really even a romance novel, it’s a tragic ghost story (sorry!). When I spoke to a representative from Maude, he told me that they modeled the collaboration after the success of Barbie merchandise.
The bright spot that makes this film rollout different, however, is that at least people are reading again. Yes, even amid a nationwide literacy crisis, people are picking up the 400-page novel for the first time, while others are returning to it with fresh eyes. According to Jack Kyono, the Director of Marketing at McNally Jackson, sales of the most popular edition of the book – published by Vintage – were nearly 4000% higher this January than the previous one, although all six editions they carry are seeing a surge in sales. He also told me “definitively” that the book is reaching a younger audience.
“Malle also said that the Vogue office has erupted with debate over which film adaptation of the novel is best, and that her own husband is so invested in this book and its “terrible” characters that he’s now signed up to see the film on opening weekend.”
In the New York media world, Wuthering Heights fever is spreading fast. It feels like everyone, suddenly, is mentally in the moors – but for a lot of people, that means chewing on the original source material (the 1847 novel) in addition to fangirling over Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Vogue Magazine announced Wuthering Heights as its first book club pick, with a group chat and podcast discussions, which will culminate in an early screening of the film. When I asked Vogue US Head of Editorial Content Chloe Malle how she came up with the for the book club pick, one of the first things she said was “I am a huge Brontë head.” Meanwhile, Radhika Jones, former EIC of Vanity Fair, announced last week that she was joining Substack to start a book club, and the inaugural text is… Wuthering Heights. Likewise, members of the book club hosted by the popular newsletter shit you should care about are reading Wuthering Heights, in a discussion group that is held on the Fable book club app. Both The New York Times and The New York Public Library have now gotten in on the action. Marisa Meltzer will be discussing the book in the word-of-mouth Zoom book club that she’s been running since the pandemic (you can DM or email her to be added), and Delia Cai has also brought it to her book club. Finally, Alamo Drafthouse has announced special “Book Club” screenings of the film for “readers, rereaders, and people ready to whisper, “That’s not how it happened in the book.”