Shakespeare in Love

In regards to the parental comment about Romeo and Juliet, I both agree and disagree. When I say agree, what I really mean is that I understand where the parent is coming from and why they think that younger people shouldn’t watch this movie. I understand that the values in the movie are very naïve and somewhat inappropriate. The movie depicts teenagers disobeying their parents, so I can clearly see why a parent would not want their child to take away from the movie that it is okay to disobey their parents. The film also depicts suicide as a means of escape for lovers. Any parent would not want their child to think that suicide is a way out. I personally think that suicide is the single dumbest thing someone can do. Killing yourself can never make anything better because you will be no more. I would never want my child to think that suicide is okay because it is not. The person might think they are getting the ultimate escape, but really they are just hurting those that love and care for them. I completely understand that a parent would not want these ideas bestowed upon their kids. However, this is a love story from a long time ago. It is the classic love story written by a master. If a parent doesn’t want their children to get these ideas, they need to explain to them that this is a piece of art in writing. Just because someone in a play or movie does something, does not mean that you have to do it as well. I don’t agree that younger people shouldn’t see a story where teenage love is the ultimate love, because it can be. A film is not going to make a teenager believe that teenage love is ultimate unless that person really feels that way. Teenage love can be ultimate, there are many cases of people meeting their high school sweetheart and falling in love forever. It is all dependent on the people in love, not the fact that they saw a movie where teenagers fell in love. I do agree, however, that if a parent were to show this movie to a child, it would require a little discussion before and after, just to make clear that it is a movie and that real life isn’t necessarily like that.

After watching both balcony scenes again, I am able to draw some comparisons between them. In both versions, the actors are very passionate and intimate. The dialogue is almost the same in both renditions. One, however, is a film adaptation, and the other is a stage play. Obviously the film version has much more production value because it is a movie that was filmed and directed over time, where as the play was done live in one sitting for the audience. There aren’t as many props or music to take away from the dialogue. There are no extra actors; it is just Romeo and Juliet. This makes me focus more on the dialogue and what is actually going on between the two lovers. This is a strength of the Royal Shakespeare Company production because we can really immerse ourselves in what is happening. However, the extra actors, the added props, and the music of the 1968 version really add to the scene as well. We get to see it as Shakespeare saw it as he was writing. It makes the scene much more real because it is set in a real place, not on a stage made to look like a balcony. Watching movies and plays are two totally different experiences. One is meant to make us feel like we are there on the balcony watching Romeo and Juliet. We can see them move around and the expressions on their face. There is music to give an ambient feel and it also incites more emotion. The other is meant to make us focus on the actual dialogue and emotion of the speakers. Since there are no distractions, we can focus more on the way people talk. We can hear pauses, or changes in the pitch and tone of voices. We can get two totally different reactions from the two adaptations because they appeal to our senses differently.

After watching Shakespeare in Love, I can immediately see the storyline of Romeo and Juliet. The movie is about a young Will Shakespeare, a struggling playwright who is dealing with writers block. He then meets and falls in love with Viola and he continues work on Romeo and Juliet. Just like Juliet, Viola is not allowed to be with William because she has been promised to a wealthy man. The only difference is that in Shakespeare in Love, the lovers do not kill themselves as they do in Romeo and Juliet. Stoppard definitely did a good job incorporating the ideas of Romeo and Juliet into Shakespeare in Love. They both deal directly with the play Romeo and Juliet because Shakespeare in Love is directly about the time in William Shakespeare’s life when he was writing the play. The other big thing linking these two together is the fact that Will is writing Romeo and Juliet during Shakespeare in Love. He was having trouble writing it because of writers block, then he meets Viola and he starts writing about their connection through Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare in Love is almost a prequel to Romeo and Juliet. It tries to show that Romeo and Juliet could have actually been based on the relationship of William Shakespeare and Viola. There are, however, a few differences in the two versions. In Shakespeare in Love, no one dies; Will and Viola simply cannot be together and have to spend eternity apart when she leaves. They also do not fight as hard for each other as Romeo and Juliet do, they let society tell them what to do and they conform to it. They do not take their love to the extreme as Romeo and Juliet do.