#oliver-twist

#oliver-twist

With alcohol abuse being blamed for widespread poverty and social issues at the start of the 1800s, reformers began turning against booze. Temperance societies appeared in the 1830s, formed by people who committed themselves to a life of abstinence, while also helping those affected by drink and advocating for restrictions on alcohol. Over the century millions would sign the same pledge as part of attempts at self-improvement, turning the Temperance movement into one of England's largest social campaigns of the time.

Admittedly, this one came with a fair few red flags, from the casting of Margot Robbie (simply too old, Cathy is a teenager) and Jacob Elordi (simply too white, Heathcliff, while his origins are uncertain, is described as darker skinned) to the unhinged marketing and crass brand tie-ins. Nevertheless, I was still excited to see it. So why did I leave the cinema not only bored, but feeling a little bit sad?

The book that changed me as a teenager Donald Barthelme's Sixty Stories, because he was having such a good time and seemed so so smart, but was also mischievous and irreverent. It may sound corny but these stories made me grasp the existence of a world of art and literature. And Barthelme lived in Houston, where I was growing up, yet he was a major world writer.