The Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann reenactments of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are wonderful and was and still is very famous for its use of words and the plot of the play itself. All though there are many differences between these two films there are many similarities to the reenactments. The characters from the films had many things in common the character were very funny with their acting and put emotions into their part. The plot line between the two films was very different but had many similarities, the plot was the same by the Montague and Capulet running into each other and then starting an argument leading to a conflict many moments later. The family feud is a strong and very hostile emotion between these two…
Isn't it easier to accept the idea that a main character would be engaged in a fist fight, rather than a sword fight? Aren't fire fighters, as characters, more believable than a bunch of olden day French cadets? I certainly think so. To me it is just more real to have the setting of a story in modern times and in the United States. Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac is written about a time that no one alive now has experienced. There is the same plot idea that an ugly man wants the pretty girl, but she is too busy being infatuated with the pretty boy to notice the intellect of the man she truly comes to love. Steve Martin's Roxanne and Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac are similar in the sense that they both appeal to the people of the same time period in which each one was written and performed.…
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…
The Zeffirelli and Luhrmann versions of William Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, are similar in several ways. One way that they’re similar is at the beginning of Act I, scene i, Samson and Gregory are at the public place in Verona are talking. When they see the servants to the Montague’s walk by the Capulets servants, one of them bite their thumb at them. Another thing that is similar is when they draw their swords in the Zeffirelli version. In the Luhrmann version, they have guns that are known as “swords” but which are drawn in both versions of Shakespeare's play. In the Luhrmann version, the “swords” they use is a gun. On the clip of the gun, it says Montague or Capulet depending on who the servants belong to. In the Zeffirelli version of the play, the actors would use real swords in the fight scenes. To conclude, there are multiple similarities of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.…
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…
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in the mid 1500’s. (“Biography of Shakespeare”) Due to the time period Shakespeare was from he wrote differently than people do today. Shakespeare’s English is known as “modern” English. In Shakespeare’s plays, he uses a different spelling and pronunciation then people from the 21st century are used to like “Y’are a baggage, the Slys are no rogues.” This sometimes makes it difficult for people today to grasp Shakespeare’s full concepts in his plays. To help with this authors have come up with footnotes and directors with movies that simply what Shakespeare was trying to get across in his plays. Modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays are often popular as in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You. In 1999, the movie 10 things I hate about you was released as a modernized version of The Taming of the Shrew. (Junger Gil)…
William Shakespeare wrote a famous piece called “The Taming of the Shrew” in the late 16th century. In 1999, a modern version of Shakespeare's piece was created into a film called “10 Things I hate About You”. They are obviously both similar due to the fact that “10 Things I Hate About You” was a remake of the original, but they are not completely the same. The modern film version was changed to suit a different audience of the time period and contained more up-to-date features.…
To represent and to appeal to today's society while a large amount of the themes and values stayed the same, some of these ideas I had to alter. I did this through the language and form of the play and also by using film techniques, if I hadn't of done this the appropriation would have seemed unrealistic and the audience would be unable to relate to the film.…
The settings, however, are very different. The play takes in place in Italy back in Shakespeare’s times, but the movie takes place in the 1990s at a high school in Seattle, Washington. The language, clothing, and technology in the movie is much more modern than in the play. Another thing that is different is how the patriarchal society in the play (which can be seen with lines such as Petruchio’s, 'Women are made to bear, and so are you') changed into more of an equal society in the movie.…
First, I will discuss some of the plot changes that were implemented to adapt to a modern day movie's visual capabilities. If we were to read just the play, the only pictures we would see would have to be imagined. Since we now have the ability to see a movie, the director had to change some of the story to help us visualize some of the scenes. One such example is when, in the play, Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice at the Capulet masked ball. When Tybalt hears him, he becomes enraged. In the film this is different, Romeo takes off his mask at the fountain, and forgets it there. As Romeo is following Juliet, Tybalt sees him; however, the results are the same. Tybalt becomes angered, and vows to get revenge on Romeo. Another example of a change in plot is when Romeo visits the apothecary. Romeo, in the movie, sees the apothecary in Verona, where as Romeo sees him in Mantua, in the play. Finally when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves, the Friar does not see them first, and the Prince does not say that Mercutio and Paris were his kinsmen.…
In American comedian/actor/writer/director Steve Martin's L.A. Story, there are many Shakespearean references. This is displayed on multiple levels. Sometimes it is subtle, like a borrowed plot device that bears a tiny resemblance to the play it was borrowed from. At other times, there will be a direct quote credited to Shakespeare himself. Or there will be a scene directly taken from a Shakespeare play, almost verbatim. The movie itself serves as a model of the influence that Shakespeare has had on filmmaking.…
The key distinction between the two texts is the era the contexts were based on. While Shakespeare's original play was set in the 16th century when superstition served a major role in the resolution of the play, Loncraine's film was set in the jazzy, industrial 1930's. The 1930's era was emphasised in the duration of the entire film by using technology such as the telegram, costuming, setting, weaponry and most importantly, the non-diagetic jazz music applied.…
William Shakespeare's play Othello and Tim Blake Nelson's contemporary appropriation O both portray universal themes that are relevant to their contexts. Both composers used a variety of techniques to effectively explore various themes and values in their text. Although the values of each composer's time have changed as time progressed, many themes are still evident in both texts. These include jealousy, racism and appearance versus reality, however the techniques used by both composers that differ greatly. The themes which are common in texts - jealousy, racism and appearance versus reality - are conveyed through the use of different techniques. Shakespeare used literary devices such as imagery, soliloquies and asides to suit his contemporary Elizabethan audience. Tim Blake Nelson on the other hand, utilized a variety of film techniques such as different camera work, sound effects and editing to suit his 21st century adolescent audience. However what can be clearly seen in both texts are the values which were considered important in their owner's time period.…
Appropriation in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied to them. The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts . In the visual arts, to appropriate means to properly adopt, borrow, recycle or sample aspects of human-made visual culture. Notable in this respect are the Readymades of Marcel Duchamp.…