Comparing Two Versions Of Romeo And Juliet

A Comparison of Two Versions of Romeo and Juliet In this essay the opening sequences of the two versions of

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.

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

Romeo and Juliet is a very well known book that is loved by many. There numerous movies done on Romeo and Juliet like Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 version and Gnomeo and Juliet. There are many apparent differences like using guns instead of swords and using gnomes instead of people. Although there are many similarities, the differences between Luhrmann’s movie and Gnomeo and Juliet compared to the play Romeo and Juliet are evident. The similarities between the movie and the play only go down to the plot and language.

Of the two cinematic portrayals of the climax, in Act II, scene i, of Romeo & Juliet, the Luhrmann version from 1996 is superior to the Zeffirelli version. When comparing the two one can notice that there are many differences, and similarities. While these two films are telling the same story, it is the differences between the two that lead to Luhrmann’s 1996 version being superior. Due to its more dramatic settings, and character interactions and actor

Comparing the Openings of the Film Versions of Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann

Romeo and Juliet is a timeless, classic love story written by the incomparable William Shakespeare. Many of Shakespeare’s works are considered literary classics, but none are more loved than Romeo and Juliet. This play masterfully tells the love story of two teenagers in Elizabethan England. The title characters Romeo and Juliet are members of two feuding families, Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. There are different stylistic ways of portraying Romeo and Juliet, and the two most popular film versions portray two very different styles of this one play. Zeferelli's Romeo and Juliet was made in the 1970s, and is the film version most commonly shown in high school classrooms. The newest film version of this play is Baz Luhrmanns

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story where the two youths fall in love against all odds and tragically die at the end, defying their parents. Shakespeare conveys the thought of true love through his play Romeo and Juliet. Different performances can make the play relevant to new contexts because the performances may be set in different time periods helping the viewer understand the context of the play better because it was set in a modern era or because it was set in an older era. The directors who made a production of Romeo and Juliet helped recontextualise Romeo and Juliet from their point of view. The Zeffirelli production of Romeo and Juliet is set in the Elizabethan era, this production shows what the play would have possibly been like in the Elizabethan era. The Baz Luhrmann production Romeo + Juliet shows Romeo and Juliet in a more modern era, by doing so the audience may be able to understand the contexts of Romeo and Juliet better than the Zeffirelli production because the language may be easier to understand also the props and the setting Romeo + Juliet can make the play more relevant to new contexts. However, I think that the Baz Luhrmann production is easier to understand than the Zeffirelli production because Baz Luhrmann set his production of Romeo and Juliet in a different context that Zeffirelli.

Romeo and Juliet the vigorous love story between a girl and boy whose love is separated by the long feud between their two families the Montague and Capulets. This ongoing rivalling causes tragic results for Romeo and Juliet, love, revenge and a secret marriage forces the young star-crossed lovers to grow up quickly and in the end causes the two to commit suicide in misery. There has been numerous modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ from films to songs but can theses be used to popularise classics for teen audiences to teach them about literary value and appeal to modern audiences.

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.

I believe that the (1961)‘West Side Story’ film version of Romeo and Juliet is superior to the later version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ directed in 1968 by Franco Zeffirelli. Jerome Robbins, the director of ‘West Side Story’, having a different aim/ representation of Romeo and Juliet has used various effective techniques to produce his film – which I consider to be more successful. Robbins chose it to be a transformation of Romeo and Juliet & not the original play from Shakespeare, but that’s not the only reason, if it is one, to acknowledge it as superior to Zeffirelli’s film. Each director has used divergent ideas in their techniques, so different yet only to provoke from their audiences the same response. Therefore to determine which

When viewing the different adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, I find the conceptual differences between Zeffirelli’s and Luhrman’s versions quite striking.

The astounding perils of young love has been eloquently captured in the story of Romeo and Juliet. Franco Zefferelli and Baz Luhrmann are the creators of the two most renowned film adaptations of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Zefferelli, the more traditional director, created his Oscar winning version in 1968. Baz Luhrmann put an abstract, modern twist on Shakespeare's classic and created the 1996 version that raised millions of dollars in box office sales. Being that these two films are so different, I have chosen to compare them to one another, using the famed balcony scene as my focus.

The tale of Romeo and Juliet is extraordinary. The original story is very good and very well written. The more modern story is very different from the original. In the original the families hate each other, in the modern the families are actually friends. This is what I found to be the same and different about the two stories.

The Film “Romeo+Juliet” showed the effective way Shakespeare’s version had intended, but it had some flaws. The scenes were effective in a way and added mood to the original Shakespeare version of the play. Not exactly everything was added from Shakespeare’s version to the film such as change in words, meanings and the way the plot was presented as in Paris wasn’t killed by Romeo or Juliet’s aftermath of drinking the potion. Now the film itself showed the famous story of Romeo and Juliet, but it also added genres that the play did not have except for some which the idea of the making a film could’ve been different if comedy and tragic moments were not added.