Comparison Of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet

Violent Scenes in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "Romeo and Juliet" is a tragic play, which is about a feud between two families of Verona, causing the deaths of two young lovers. This is apparent in the haunting opening passage of the play - "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean" Although it is a play about love there are many scenes that contain violence and conflict. The play opens with a feud between the Capulets and Montagues and ends with the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

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.

Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet has adapted different film techniques in the first scene and final death scene using different methods whilst still holding on to the original Shakespearean mixture of love, hate, excitement, foreboding and passion (Marked by Teachers, 2012 ). Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet has a very dramatic opening because we see a new modernistic beginning in comparison with William Shakespeare’s play. The types of filmic devices that were used in the film were all very different. This essay will aim to discuss how Baz Lurhmann captured the original story and combined it with a contemporary location and style, with the use of a great number of filmic devices in his 1996 production of Romeo and Juliet.

Giving the classic play this modern twist makes for a new understanding of the text and brings the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets to a whole new, dramatic level. Shakespeare may be rolling around in his grave after seeing this film, but English classes all over the world can breathe a little easier when it comes time to take

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

After the opening monologue and montage there is a clash between members of the two households at a petrol station. It starts with some light humour with discussion of biting thumbs at each other before quickly escalating. Guns are soon drawn and innocent bystanders are involved before a fire starts and is soon strongly burning. This fight soon involves the whole country and the police and army intervene in order to break it up. Luhrmann also uses close-up shots of Tybalt and Benvolio as well as several slow-motion shots of key events to show the increase in tension. Luhrmann uses the fire is a visual example of the burning detestation between the two families. In contrast, Shakespeare’s opening scene is not as violent, contains no fire and has more humour. Another example of how Luhrmann shows the animosity between the two families is by leaving their feud unresolved. However, in Shakespeare’s play there is a brief conversation between Montague and Capulet at the end where they promise to build gold statues of the others child. In the film Luhrmann cuts out the interaction, choosing instead to finish the film with the Prince’s line “All are punished,” before having the news reader say the Prince’s final speech of the play, summing up the sad ending of Romeo and Juliet. This highlights the

To relate to a modern audience further, Lurhmann shows the families as gangs. When you see the Montague boys driving in their car they are all dressed the same and acting the same. You then come across the Capulet’s who again are dressed the same and acting the same. Both gangs meet up in the petrol stations and start having a fight. The fight resembles gang warfare in the modern society. By showing the families as gangs, Lurhmann can relate to the younger modern audience even more because they understand the hatred between two gangs in a big city and how if they meet up, there is always a fight.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play about two star crossed lovers written by Shakespeare in 1595. The play is a timeless teenage tradgedy. “The play champions the 16th Century belief that true love always strikes at first sight,” (Lamb 1993: Introduction) and even in modern times an audience still want to believe in such a thing as love at first sight. Act II Scene II the balcony scene displays that romantic notion perfectly.

“William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet”, as portrayed in Luhrmann’s 1997 film, reveals that the cause of love will always lead to the consequence of death. Luhrmann focuses on highlighting this connection through the usage of props, costumes, and symbols, the foreshadowing of Romeo’s and Juliet’s fate, and Romeo’s compassion for his friends and family throughout the film. These aspects of the film emphasize the connection of love and death and explore the harsh realities and truths relating to this connection.

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

Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet has been reimagined many times across different mediums. One interpretation that stands out among the rest is Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film of the same name. The most shocking and powerful difference between Luhrmann’s work and other films or stage productions of this piece, is the movie’s setting. Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is set in the modern city of Verona Beach, New York, ruled by two powerful business families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Themes, language, and ideas remain the same, while places, props, and wardrobes are updated to the twentieth century. This compelling change helps emphasize the violent, fast-paced, and chaotic society of the play, which comes to precipitate the tragic demise of the two main characters.

First of all, it made it a great movie because the director did not forgot to use Shakespeare’s lines on his play. After the party on Capulet’s mansion Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s orchard and see her come out from her balcony and say the famous line of the play of ‘em all “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name! Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (33-36). This shows that even though how modern time is when you start to act Shakespeare’s play with great actors, the movie will always have a good outcome. This is because it is very important to use his lines in able to feel the ambiance

In the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet he modernised many scenes such as the balcony scene (pool scene), fight scenes and tomb scene. The scenes aren't the only thing that is modernised the costumes and props are also modernised.

Analysis of a Scene from Luhrmann's Production of Romeo and Juliet It seems interesting at first that Baz Luhrmann should choose to rework Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into a modern movie. However, when you think about the aims of a modern film-maker such as wanting to really affect the audience and create a series of moving and powerful images shot through with dialogue, then it is less surprising that Romeo and Juliet was Luhrmann's choice. Shakespeare's play is filled with emotion and suspense, so had limitless potential to be made into a great movie. Luhrmann adapted the play for the big screen very effectively, managing to portray the emotion of the film using visual storytelling techniques

One of the differences from the movie is the time period. In the movie the time period is around 1996 (20th century), but in the play it is in the 1400’s (15th century). The director, Baz Luhrmann made the movie in the 20th century, so it's easier for us to understand. The actors in the movie use cars and guns to make it more realistic for us because people use guns and cars in this century. The plot of the movie is in a city, with skyscrapers and tall buildings. We can relate to big cities and tall buildings because most people have been to big cities. In the movie, it opens up with a lady on the television and they didn’t have televisions in the play, which was during the 15th century so we can relate more to the movie.