In the opening scene of the modern adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet", the qualities of the feuding families: The Montagues and The Capulets are successfully exposed to the audience by the use of presentational devices. The director, Baz Luhrmann, has paid deliberate attention to these areas, which successfully portray the rival family member's temperaments. The use of different lighting, colour, music, sound effects, costume and make up are applied to represent the different families to show the distinction of the two. Areas such as framing, location, camera angle and movement help to express the diversity of the two families, making it apparent to the audience the existence of the two families resentment towards each other. This essay will…
Despite possessing varying fortes, both Zeffirelli and Luhrmann are renowned for creating remarkable movies based on Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. The contrasting films are very different, including settings with a large time gap, instrumental and vocal music choices, but most visually notable, the costumes. Zeffirelli and Luhrmann’s interpretations of Romeo are portrayed through his costuming, illustrating how differing personalities are derived from the same role. Before the Capulets’ party, Romeo claims, “I do love a women,” referring to Rosaline (1.1.212). However, in the same day, after he sees Juliet, he declares “I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1.5.60). Zeffirelli analyzes those two lines and dresses Romeo in a predator-like mask…
Baz Luhrmann's film, Romeo and Juliet, is very successful as an appropriation of the original play by Shakespeare. Transforming the pre-16th century play into a contemporary popular culture film was done creatively by keeping the same values and language, but changing the context. This is illustrated by the use of anachronisms. For instance, daggers and swords are replaced by guns as well as cars stand in for horses. The disputes between members of the two families (the Capulets and the Montagues) evoke associations with multi-ethnic gang warfare. Their feud reflects the behaviour of mafia families. Using these modernising elements, he achieves an appeal to the contemporary teenage audience and the changes in the film create a more comprehensible meaning to the audience because people can relate to it better and this is why the film is so engaging.…
Discuss the appropriation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Romeo+Juliet’ by Baz Luhrmann…
Dusk of July 1st another brutal brawl between the feuding families of the Capulet and Montague unfolded on the streets of Verona. Tybalt Capulet and Mercutio Escalus were found dead. Since their deaths, Romeo the son of Montague has been banished. When both households came to know, they were filled with anger and grief and swore revenge against each other.…
However, in spite of the many differences, there are similarities between the two stories. Romeo and Juliet and “Teen Couple Executed by their Parents…for daring to fall in love,” both involve the deaths of the couples all happening at a young age, all of them dying before the age of 19 before any of their parents died. Throughout both stories a common factor is that the couples were forced to make adult decisions about their lives and love lives; while, the adults around them were making many poor decisions. Unlike many love stories where the strong, handsome male saves the damsel in distress, the female protagonists in both of these stories appeared to be stronger than their male counterparts. Maybe that is why when the time came, both mothers…
Baz Luhrmann’s film takes place in modern times in a city similar to the city of Los Angeles. The starting scene of this movie shows that this is a whole different take on Romeo and Juliet. The city setting surprisingly fits to the theme of Romeo and Juliet. The clothing of the characters does bring out their personality a lot more than than Zefferelli's version. For example, Tybalt would dress as a gang member would dress, and would have his hair in an organized fashion. This shows that Tybalt is the antagonist and might not be the friendliest person in the book. The setting of this book does not fit the book’s time period, but it is surprisingly fitting to the character’s and family’s personality of the book. In the book, there are two families which dislike each other, and in the movie there are two families which could be compared to gangs. This is because the city is split in half and fights always break out between them. The atmosphere in this version is very dramatic throughout the whole film. This is beneficial to the movie because it can help emphasize something bad that has happened more. For example, when Romeo was banished from Verona, Juliet was extremely upset, and it is really portrayed well in this movie. Overall Baz Luhrmann’s film portrays the book very well despite, it taking place in a whole different time…
The original play by Shakespeare and Zeffirelli and Luhrmann’s interpretation of the play are all different versions of the classical tragic story of Romeo and Juliet. When reading the play or seeing Zeffirelli and Luhrmann’s film we can observe various differences between them. Juliet, being one of the dominating characters of this story can be seen to be recontextualised differently through her personality, looks and role in society.…
One detailed part that both movies portrayed conveniently and truthfully are the characters of the original play. In the original play of The tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, Tybalt, (Juliet's cousin), is this violently aggressive jealous man with a hot-tempered attitude, which causes him to amuse certain events at the annoyance of his relatives. This can be seen at the feast, as Tybalt automatically amuses Romeo has come to dispute the party based on him being a Montague. “This, by his voice, should be a Montague...What! Dares the slave come hither covered with an antic face, To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin,” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 53-58 ). This scene shows that Tybalt will take any chance he has to kill a Montague, as long as it's not a sin; thus also showing that he has such a strong sense of honor towards his family. Seeing how Tybalt is described in the original play, both directors made sure that Tybalt’s performance would be as similar to how he’s depicted in the play, to establish Tybalt as the main antagonist in their films. In Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, Tybalt overreacts in an almost menacing vengeful way when he hears Romeo, as he begins to bang his chest and threaten him with death for the sake of his family. In Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt reacted similarly to when he saw Romeo dance with Juliet at the feast, as he furiously walked afterwards towards Lord Capulet with rage and envy, telling him that he would not tolerate Romeo. Above all, both movies depicted this character truthfully and convelling as the main villain of Romeo & Juliet, by bringing the play’s details to life; thus capturing a small, but crucial part of Romeo & Juliet’s whole essence. However, while both movies were able to capture the essence of the original play’s characters,…
In the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare a lot of literal techniques are used to portray the theme of rivalry in act one scene one. This part of the play is adapted very well by Baz Luhrmann in his 1996 film adaptation.…
“Romeo and Juliet”, a tragedy of a star-crossed lovers, had written by Shakespeare hundreds years ago. It was the best tragedy in Shakespeare’s time, and even in now days, the story of Romeo and Juliet are still known as one of the best tragedy. And 2 directors produced two different films with a same title of Romeo and Juliet. It was 1968 by Franco Zeffirelli, and 1996 by Baz Luhrmann. Although it had the same title, the two directors had interpreted the story in a quite different way, and it remains as the ‘classic’ and ‘modern’ Romeo and Juliet in people’s memories. From a scene of in two films, we could look at how two films are different.…
From watching the older and more modern version of the killing of Mercutio and Tybalt there are obvious differences, as well as hidden ones. The comparison is between the Zeffirelli version and the more modern version. Watching these movies, paying close attention is important because it is not just the scenery and which characters are played by whom, but what the director was trying to portray in this scene. Both these versions were very different and it is obvious that in both cases the fight probably meant different things or played a separate significant role in each movie.…
"Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?" (RJ 2.5.55) In Zeffirelli's version of Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5, Juliet seems bratty and impatient because the nurse fails to deliver the information about Romeo as soon as she walks through the door. Luhrmann made his version more modern, and makes the characters kinder to emphasize their relationship. These movies contain some similarities and differences; they both use some of the same lines, but portray the characters in diffrerent ways and the characters wear different types of costumes.…
The story, Romeo and Juliet was filled with violence and love. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet loved each other, even their parents hatred for each other didn’t prevent the star-crossed lovers from being together. Many lives were taken away due to the rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets, including Romeo and Juliet’s. The characters in the three versions of Romeo and Juliet had many similarities and differences. Juliet and Lady Montague stood out to me the most while watching “Romeo + Juliet” by Baz Luhrmann, reading “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and reading “Romeo and/or Juliet” by Ryan North. In my opinion, the most interesting version was the movie by Baz Luhrmann.…
William Shakespeare once wrote, "Better three hours too soon than an hour too late (Windsor.II.ii). " The play, Romeo and Juliet, exemplifies the true meaning of this quote. It was a tale of young lovers, who fell in love so quickly that many saw it as an infatuation, but I saw it as a story of love. They found the right person at the right time. Yes, it was earlier in life than when most people find true love, but the timing was right for them.…