Romeo and Juliet Modern Speech

We all know the story. Two star crossed lovers caught up in the world of hatred between their families. Seems pretty boring right? Wrong. The classic story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has had a makeover by famous Australian director Baz Lurhman to create a modern narrative we can relate to, using all of the original play-script language by Shakespeare.

Released in 1996, Romeo and Juliet is a film which plays with the idea of love, hate, family and everything in between. The scene we have chosen is at a ball at the Capulet mansion, Juliet's family, where Romeo first lays eyes on the heavenly Juliet.The thesis statement for this film is very obviously, that it represents the human emotion of love, supported through the use of generic conventions of film and the use of common themes many viewers can relate to even today.

For those who do not know the story, I would hope that you do, Romeo comes from the Montague household. A tight nit family who love a bit of fun, but despise the Capulets. Romeo has managed to smuggle himself, and his friends into an exclusive party in order to seek out a women whom he claims to love. Instead he meets Juliet, and together they embark on an emotional roller-coaster ride.

I will be talking about how this film conveys the idea of love at first sight, and the way in which it is depicted in the movie makes the viewer feel that it is possible, and can resolve all conflict.For this scene, this is represented in the use of symbols, camera angles and music.
I will now play you the scene, note the use of colour and the point of view the camera places us in.
[Play scene]

The first and foremost thing we notice in this scene is the eye contact made between Romeo and Juliet. The use of an extreme close up, shows the perspective and expression of both Romeo and Juliet, as well as an eye holding very symbolic meaning. An eye is commonly thought of as the window to another's soul. They are instantly transfixed on each other, shown through the widening of both eyes and continuing to maintain eye contact despite the wall between them.The use of a fish tank is representative of water, which is used a lot in this film to connote the idea of purity and cleansing of sins. By having Romeo and Juliet see each other through water, the director is trying to show the rawness of their relationship, that it is a pure as it comes. This also gives the viewer an idea of hope that their love will solve the conflict between their families. There is also a massive contrast of how love is represented in this scene compared to the rest of the movie. This shows love as powerful, beautiful, heavenly, but the following scenes show it as a burden, as pain, as a cause for hate and death. But this initial meeting has the opposite effect.
The way in which the camera moves in a slow, graceful manner, switching between the upper body of Romeo and Juliet allows the viewer to be in either role. The chaos of the party is rarely shown, and when it is, the expressions on the faces of the major characters are generally displayed.
The viewer here is able to see the difference between a fake ( Paris, the mother) and genuine expression. The music supports this, it is slow and light. As if when Romeo and Juliet are together time slows down, and they feel like nothing can stop them from rising up. The lyrics to the song are a substitute for what Romeo and Juliet want to be doing, but can't. Their love is forbidden.

[Maddy Speaks here]

I will now be talking about the other side of the love spectrum. In this film, the lack of love is also very evident. Or, that there is so much hate, the little love that is left, is overthrown by the hatred.
There is this universal idea that without hate, love can not exist, which is reinforced in this particular film by the use of spoken language,