{"id":289039,"date":"2026-02-09T17:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289039\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T17:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:01:07","slug":"chia-pudding-is-cathys-composed-side-the-wild-and-worrying-world-of-official-wuthering-heights-merchandise-wuthering-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289039\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Chia pudding is Cathy\u2019s composed side\u2019: the wild and worrying world of official Wuthering Heights merchandise | Wuthering Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

That appetite for Emerald Fennell\u2019s bodice-ripping adaptation of Emily Bront\u00eb\u2019s yarn of doomed romance is high is not in doubt. Whether it\u2019s high enough to sustain sales for an official Wuthering Heights<\/a> a\u00e7ai bowl seems less certain.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet this is exactly what is on offer in food aisles across the US, with two bespoke bowls churned up for hungry film fans with the explanatory slogan: \u201cThis is what happens when you turn yearning into flavour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCathy\u2019s bowl is soft, indulgent, and impossible to forget,\u201d promises the blurb for Kiss Me: \u201cStrawberries are her wild sweetness, chia pudding is her composed side, honey is her sweet longing.\u201d Haunt Me, meanwhile, is \u201cdark, intense\u201d like Healthcliff, and also \u201cimpossible to forget\u201d. Thus: \u201cCacao nibs are his bitter soul, goji berries are his broken heart, choc hazelnut is his intense passion, blueberries are his cold restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviews are mixed, with one Instagram account saying \u201call me and my friend could think was wtf there\u2019s no way someone actually tasted that and approved it\u201d yet the existence of these bowls is proof, if proof were required, that we are now in a golden age of inventive movie merchandise collaborations.<\/p>\n

\u2018Eucalyptus breathes cold across the moors\u2019 \u2026 Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in Wuthering Heights. Photograph: 2026 Warner Bros. Ent\/PA<\/p>\n

Other partnerships for Fennell\u2019s film include luxury leather goods brand Aspinal of London<\/a>, TokyoMilk<\/a> perfumers, Bloomingdales tea<\/a> and Last Crumb<\/a> cookies.<\/p>\n

There are not one, but two lingerie collections, with Hanky Panky<\/a> releasing a set of thongs and Lounge<\/a> a whole line inspired by the film. Continuing the theme Slip<\/a> have a silk pillowcase and eye mask while Maude<\/a> \u2013 Dakota Johnson\u2019s bougie sexual wellness brand \u2013 released a \u201cCome Undone\u201d massage candle and body oil. \u201cEucalyptus breathes cold across the moors,\u201d we\u2019re told, while \u201ccassis and musk linger like mist, amber and sandalwood burn low \u2013 memory comes undone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such collaborations are, of course, nothing new, and as witnessed by recent blockbusters such as Barbie, Wicked and A Minecraft Movie, not only is pre-existing brand awareness increasingly a prerequisite of greenlighting films, but ancillary spend on T-shirts, underwear and eyeshadow a baked-in element of the business model.<\/p>\n

A movie\u2019s viral cut-through is a complex part of this new algorithm. Just as some musicians long for a 20-second clip that can launch a million TikToks, films are looking for the certain je ne sais quoi that will turn it from simply a story into an all-encompassing aesthetic event and lifestyle experience. To properly experience Wuthering Heights, as trailers suggest, you need to tap into your saucier side \u2013 for which you will almost certainly require a thong and maybe a stay in an official Airbnb replica<\/a> of Cathy\u2019s bedroom.<\/p>\n

Quasi-romantic codependency \u2026 Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie at the Wuthering Heights UK premiere. Photograph: Stuart Hardy\/ABACAPRESS.COM\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

This seepage of the obsession narrative can also be seen in the decision to hinge the press tour on pushing the apparently quasi-romantic codependency<\/a> between its stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, following the template of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo on Wicked\u2019s press tour<\/a>. Just as audience members are encouraged to ape the film\u2019s theme of obsessional desire by glugging a \u201cCreme undone\u201d<\/a> cuppa while dunking a \u201cBetter with Sex\u201d choc-chip cookie, so too the actors must cosplay wanting to jump each others bones at every opportunity.<\/p>\n

So far, so late consumerist desperation. Yet the problem with attempting to curate and peddle an aesthetic of obsession through merchandise is that, unlike the source novel, such efforts have nothing to actually say about obsession; they just show us what it looks like and instruct us how to join in. Unlike the novel, which unpicks the destructive effects of obsessive love, Wuthering Heights\u2019s sale push appears, a bit alarmingly, to ask us to aspire to and purchase obsession.<\/p>\n

The bleakness of Bront\u00eb\u2019s original vision means this all feels in poorer taste than Wicked hairbrushes. Many of these brand collaborations suggest a reduction of the narrative to its sexuality and an erasure of its wider themes \u2013 something Fennell is already under scrutiny for since the whitewashed casting<\/a> of Elordi as Heathcliff. It\u2019s difficult to reconcile a novel that explores the nuances of class, race and generational trauma with branded hand creams.<\/p>\n

The overtly erotic nature of many of these collaborations feels calculated to spin the story into a dark romance ripe for the BookTok audience. Posts from the official Wuthering Heights TikTok account use buzzwords like \u201cyearning\u201d and mention romance tropes popular on the platform such as jealous lovers<\/a>. The overt sexuality of the trailer, the \u201cCome Undone\u201d body oil and candle made for dripping on to partners, the silk eye mask and lingerie edit with Lounge all lean into a vaguely BDSM aesthetic. It\u2019s a particular take on the story and a way for fans to once again feel as if they are participating in something transgressive but in the most capitalist, and therefore normative, way possible.<\/p>\n

To further drive home the BookTokification of Bront\u00eb\u2019s novel this all feels reminiscent of an infamous chapter of \u201cromantasy\u201d history when BookTok darling A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas was beginning to get popular. A popular book-themed subscription box created a \u201cbook boyfriends\u201d box, complete with a penis-shaped bar of soap<\/a>. While this was a deliberately absurd and tongue-in-cheek joke gently ribbing the, then, small demographic of readers who rate every book on a \u201cspice\u201d scale, these readers have become a group with potent buying power and clearly willing<\/a> to spend money on books and bookish merchandise. This is not to say these aren\u2019t valid readers or that it\u2019s not exciting to bring a classic to a new readership. But to say that maybe we\u2019ve lost sight of what a piece of art should be: something affecting which does not demand you turn out the contents of your wallet.<\/p>\n