Baz Luhrmann's Modern Version Of Romeo and Juliet

Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet effectively appropriates the Shakespearean 16th century love tragedy. So why has Luhrmann decided to appropriate Romeo and Juliet? By changing the context, Luhrmann effectively makes the play relevant, discussing his contextual concerns of the 1990’s. This is done through the use of themes in the film, love, family disputes and hate which have remained similar to the original play, although the way they have been presented are different, in particular the form and characters. The form has had an obvious change as the original play has been adapted into a film. Characters in the film have also been appropriated to correspond with Luhrmann's contextual concerns. Hence, Luhrmann successfully appropriates the original Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet by maintaining similar themes, but altering the form and characterisation to fit his contextual concerns.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been modified numerous times and has been a source of inspiration for many playwrights and directors. Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann are examples of directors that use Shakespeare’s legendary tragedy as a basis for their films.

Luhrmann’s production of Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, appeals to the audience members largely due to Mercutio’s death. The weather, the acting and the music make this version powerful. The acting makes this scene of the movie believable when Mercutio was dying, Romeo was getting sad and started crying. Tybalt felt so bad that he killed Mercutio and didn’t know what to do he was just shocked and stood still looking at Romeo and Mercutio. The weather was sunny, hot and the sky was blue and the clouds were out and about. When Mercutio cursed both Romeo and Tybalt houses and started to die the weather started to change. The skies started to turn dark grey and thunder and lightning began and the wind so powerful started to blow all things around it away. Then out of nowhere a powerful storm has began to start when Mercutio was dying in Romeo’s arms. After Romeo killed Tybalt the storm began to become calm down and the storm had stop.

Luhbrmann employs the same elements in a different manner, his film is fresh and new, and he places the viewer within the film. In the balcony scene, Luhbrmann approaches it differently, opting to create instead of copying. He decides the balcony is a non-important issue and allows the action to take place in a totally different way. His location of Verona Beach is approached in the same way. Instead of a place where the action takes place, he shows

Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic love story about two young lovers who are forced to be estranged as a result of their feuding families. The play is about their struggle to contravene fate and create a future together. As such, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood would try and emulate Shakespeare’s masterpiece. This had been done before in many films. Prominent among them were, Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 “Romeo and Juliet” and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 “William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.” Both films stay true to the themes of Shakespeare’s original play. However, the modernised Luhrmann film not only maintains the essence of Shakespeare’s writings, Luhrmann makes it relevant to a teenage audience. This is

In the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrman uses camera shots, hidden symbols and a quick introduction to capture the hatred and tension between the Montagues and Capulets. To give us background information on the feuding families Luhrman begins the movie with a news reporter broadcasting about Romeo and Juliet which is followed by a bunch of newspaper headlines about the competitive families. A shot of the city is featured, depicting Capulet and Montague sky scrapers on opposite sides of the road. The city shot and the newspaper articles give us the impression that the two families, Montague and Capulets are enemies and are constantly rivalling and are mortal enemies.

Romeo and Juliet is a play created by a famous playwright called William Shakespeare. Baz Luhrmann adapted the play to create a modern version of Romeo and Juliet in 1996. There are many similarities and differences in how Baz Lurhmann and Shakespeare portray the relationship between Juliet and her parents. There are many times in the scene how Shakespeare uses language, structure and form to present the relationship between Juliet and her parents, while Baz Luhrmann reveals this relationship using different camera angles and diegetic and non diegetic sounds and shot types.

Luhrmann used settings in both studios and on location to create a sense of place, mood and emotional state of mind. One example of this is in the opening scene when they are fighting in the gas station. The title of the gas station being ‘Phoenix Gas Station’ is ironic as the gas station goes up in flames and Phoenixes go up in flames to rebirth. Luhrmann uses the setting of the gas station to attract a young audience and to make the setting modern as young people can relate to gas stations far more than they can relate to the original setting of a marketplace as gas stations are a common thing found in a modern city environment. Another example of how Luhrmann has used setting to create a sense of mood and setting is in the opening sequence where fast camera shots are used to zoom in on a figure of Jesus between two skyscrapers. These skyscrapers are labelled ‘Capulet’ and ‘Montague’ to show how the original concept of two rivalling families has been modernised by Luhrmann and these two families are rivalling businesses instead. The figure of Jesus between them symbolises how their hatred for each other is stronger than the power of God and nothing will stop them from fighting until the death. Setting is one of the many visual aspects Luhrmann used to modernise his interpretation of Romeo and

After these scenes, the prologue is spoken, while the camera pans across the landscape of the imaginary Verona city. The narrator's voice is soothing and evocative, which again makes the audience feel at peace. Following the reading of the prologue, the camera quickly goes down to the market scene. Here, the atmosphere changes. The contrast here is noticeable, as it goes from a peaceful landscape scene, to the hustle and bustle of the market.

The film and the play, Romeo and Juliet is an ever grey due to tragic over tones play which draws undivided attention of Shakespeare’s writing even during this modern era. The 1996 version, Baz Lurhmann adopted the storyline to reflect the revealing trend of dispute between two feuding families. A film which shows a detailed study of the play of the immensely popular 1996 version directed by Baz Lurhmann.

“The most filmed of all plays, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with its universal themes… remains uniquely adaptable for any time period,” (Botnick, 2002). Directors Franco Zeffirelli (1968) and Baz Luhrman

Romeo and Juliet is a timeless story about two ill-fated lovers. Originally written by, Shakespeare, this story has been adapted by different directors who all commonly try to add their own unique twist to it. Two of the most prevalent adaptations of Romeo and Juliet have been done by Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann, who have taken this love story to the big screen. Franco Zeffirelli’s movie, which was produced in 1968, is extremely authentic and stays true to Shakespeare's vision, whereas, Baz Luhrmann’s version produced in 1996, is contemporary and appeals more to younger audiences. There are various differences and a couple of similarities between Zeffirelli’s and Luhrmann’s movie versions such as the costumes, their interpretations of

Another reason I believe Luhrmann's interpretation was better is how he portrayed the nurse. The nurse in the play is a very comical and important character. Her strong bond with Juliet is shown in Luhrmann’s movie but in Zeffirelli's movie the bond seems weaker. Luhrmann I believe does a better job showing that the nurse cares for Juliet. However Luhrmann does cut out nurses more lengthy speech, but I believe it's for the best as the speech in my opinion was more confusing than helpful. The nurse in Zeffirelli's movie cares for Juliet but it didn't seem as sincere, they didn't have the same friendship shown in Luhrmann's. The nurse in the more modern movie I believe showed the relationship better while still keeping the comedy needed. I think

Discuss the appropriation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare and ‘Romeo+Juliet’ by Baz Luhrmann

Initially a fast paced high angled tracking shot of the streets, houses and buildings are used which displays the setting; this fast tracking shot is used along with intense non diegetic music which connotes a frantic and chaotic feeling for the spectator or could be used to reflect the tone of the movie. Text then appears on the screen reading ‘In fair Verona’ the type face used was sans serif in childish bubble writing, a type face which is typically associated with comic books subsequently setting the tone of the film. Again numerous fast tracking shots of the chaotic urban city with zooms are used to reinforce the opening feel of bedlam.