Comparison Of Baz Luhrmann's 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.

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.

     There are many similarities and differences between the sixties version of Romeo and Juliet and the modern version of Romeo and Juliet. It is very easy to spot these differences considering the time period each movie was set in. There are some things in the play that totally got cut from both movies. There are also some things that they added to the movies that weren’t in the play. Let us get on to the similarities and differences.

Luhrmann’s variation of the film is more suited to a teenage audience than Zeffirelli’s due to the vibrant settings and modern sets utilised throughout the film. Several of these sets include the beach, high rise buildings and petrol stations. These factors are used to tempt a younger audience. Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, however takes place in a medieval Italian city. Although the original play was based and performed in this location, teenage viewers cannot relate to the surroundings, hence making it difficult to understand or appreciate the plot.

Baz Lurhmann’s creation of the film Romeo and Juliet has shown that today’s audience can still understand and appreciate William Shakespeare. Typically, when a modern audience think of Shakespeare, they immediately think it will be boring, yet Lurhmann successfully rejuvenates Romeo and Juliet. In his film production he uses a number of different cinematic techniques, costumes and a formidably enjoyable soundtrack; yet changes not one word from Shakespeare’s original play, thus making it appeal to a modern audience.

One such scene was the infamous balcony scene. Zeferelli stuck to the classical interpretation, while Luhrmann did not. In Zeferelli’s version Juliet was on the balcony outside her bedroom calling rhetorically, "Romeo, Romeo where fore art thou Romeo?" Romeo appears and climbs up the balcony, and they share a couple of small kisses before he departs. However, in Luhrmanns version of the play, events occurred slightly differently. Juliet is walking by the pool, when Romeo startles her and they both fall in the pool. Their conversation then takes place in the pool. In between getting interrupted by a nosy security guard they share several passionate kisses.

The 1996 film, Romeo and Juliet, is Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of William Shakespeare’s play by the same name. This film is part of Baz Luhrmann’s Red Curtain Trilogy where Luhrmann uses a theatre motif in each, with poetry and language being the motif used in Romeo and Juliet. This play was originally written by William Shakespeare who was an English poet, playwright, actor and a man who is considered one of the greatest contributors to English literature as he invented over 1700 now common words and wrote some of the world’s most famous plays. Romeo and Juliet was written in 1595 so Luhrmann had to give the film a contemporary twist but keeps the original themes of forbidden love and young romance to appeal to a modern audience. In the

Luhrman has based his version at Verona Beach; America and instead of basing it in the 16th century like Zeffirelli, he had his film based in the 20th century, with mansions, shiny cars and bright lights. While Zeffirelli paced his film in an Iambic pentameter – a traditional Shakespeare pace; Luhrman never kept his film at a solid pace. “By modernizing these aspects of the play, and reconstructing the prologue, Luhrmann creates a movie that is more interesting to the modern viewers.” ("Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet." 123HelpMe.com). As Zeffirelli may have believed famous actors would steal his show he instead hired fresh new faces to give the movie a more fresh, innocence value, But Luhrman used well known actors to play the lead roles. This worked because more people were attracted to the film by the actors.

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

The time period of the play and the time period of the movie are very different. In the movie, the prologue was on a T.V. screen and it was not in the play. Also in the movie, they used cars instead of horses to get around. In the movie, Romeo and his friends always smoked and would take drugs and they did not do that in the play. In the play, the different families owned castles and in the movie they own different businesses and buildings. They also had guns instead of swords in the movie. Also in the movie, they dressed more modern than they would have in the play.

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

Is the movie Romeo and Juliet by Baz Luhrmann’s good or bad? A movie where took place in fair Verona. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet was about two families mortal enemies for a very long time where in just one night where so called love at first sight happen. The friction of Montague and Capulet ended by the death of the two young children who fall in love with each other from both families. Baz Luhrmann’s movie version of Romeo and Juliet does a great job of retelling this love story.

In Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, is a traditional adaptation of Shakespeare’s original Romeo and Juliet, with some variations. Baz Luhrmann directed the 1996 version, also known as the MTV Romeo † Juliet. This version is very modernized, but keeps the language intact with few changes.

The scene that was most different between the play and the movie of Romeo and Juliet was how the two crossed lovers first met each other. In the play Romeo and the Montague boys find out about the Capulet party through a poor peasant who could not read the invitations. While in the movie the Capulet party is announced through a newscast over T.V. I think the director changed this so the invite can go more along with the time period of the movie. This could change how the viewers see it by making the invite less secret. Over a newscast anyone who was paying attention to the T.V. could of heard the invite. Another main difference in this scene would be Romeo and Juliet first seeing each other in the bathroom across a fish tank rather than across the ballroom in the play. This could take away from the romantic side of the two first seeing each other. In the play it seems Romeo and Juliet have more privacy when they first speak to each other. In the movie the two are getting on and off an elevator just not to be seen. This could add more suspense to the scene and make the viewers see the movie from a lofty viewpoint.

play was to be acted; this had an entrance and an exit. There was no