Wuthering Heights, written by Emily Brontë in 1847, is a timeless classic that society cannot afford to lose. This novel is a perfect example of a tragic love story. Everyone needs to be exposed to classic novels. If we are not exposed to these works, then the classics will eventually be lost, and this would be a great loss.
Wuthering Heights has many interesting characters with different types of attitudes and manners. Contemporary novels often lack diversity like this. Most of the time, several characters are all very similar in their actions and attitudes. Another loss in modern writing is the way love stories are written. Love stories are always good; but, for stories from the past such as Wuthering Heights and Shakespeare's Othello, there is no comparison. Modern love stories are generally not tragedies, and tragedies are the best. Tragic love stories stay with you and are always remembered. Wuthering Heights is a perfect example of this, so if I had the option to digitally remaster this film, I would.
William Wyler was wise in choosing to direct the film version of Wuthering Heights. I am sure the film was great during its debut in 1939, but now it shows its age. If it were digitally remastered, it would be more enjoyable to watch. In remastering it, I would add color, for I hope that this would get more to watch, thereby gaining wider exposure to a classic that I feel is necessary to society. I would also add the children. I feel the 1939 version makes a mistake in excluding the children. The children play very important roles in the novel. If someone were to watch the film without previously reading the novel, he or she would miss out on much of the story. Without the children, he or she would miss out on the novel's many cruel ironies. The viewer is also unable to see the entire complex love story, with all the ramifications of the original love story between Heathcliff and Catherine that Brontë had depicted so effectively.
In conclusion, I would definitely remaster Wuthering Heights. I feel that more people would be exposed to this timeless classic. I hope this would decrease the chances of it eventually being lost over time. It is necessary that we work at preserving the classic stories of the past. If we lose classic works of literature, then we lose a way of understanding past cultures and lives. History books only give us technical views, and we need more than that. If we lose the great classic novels, then society will be at a loss.