Baz Luhman and a More Accessible Romeo and Juliet to a Modern Teenage Audience
Romeo and Juliet was written during the fifteenth century and the
language and style is Elizabethan. Today the language is seen as
incomprehensible to a young audience. This can cause many problems
because Shakespearean texts are compulsory for students to study
during their education. Usual responses to Romeo and Juliet are very
negative as teenagers find the story inaccessible. However the
essential storyline could be aimed at a young audience with themes of
forbidden love, violence and family feuds. Therefore the main problem
facing Luhrmann's film was not the plot but the language.
Luhrmann's film interpretation of Romeo and Juliet compensates for the
setbacks produced through language because Luhrmann has enclosed
modern day scenes, clothing and music to create a more exciting and
enthralling film, whilst still using the original Shakespearean
language from the text. This makes Luhrmann's adaptation of the play
very different from other versions on the market. It shifts away from
interpretations such as Zefferelli's, which does not meet teenage
desires.
The way in which Luhrmann has gone about altering Romeo and Juliet
means that the film is more appealing towards a younger generation and
therefore is targeted at the people who wouldn't normally be
interested in Shakespeare. This is because the action, violence and
style used by Luhrmann, gives teenagers something to relate to, as it
includes something which many young people are interested in or
something which they have encountered.
The first impression of a film is very important to...
... middle of paper ...
... responses to Shakespeare.
Elements such as these help a younger audience to relate to the film
and the themes within the plot. This means that the audience is more
likely to enjoy the film. I think that the way Luhrmann's has
introduced a mixture of modern day scenes with Shakespearean language
works very well together and successfully interests teenagers to the
story of Romeo and Juliet. However in some parts, I felt that the way
in which Luhrmann distinguished between the Capulet's and the
Montague's was too extreme, as their styles were very different and I
thought that the music was not necessary when they were already easily
identified.
I felt that the first scene was very appealing towards teenagers,
especially boys, due to the fast cars and violence, which are two
things commonly known to interest them.
Romeo and Juliet is a play about two lovers who have to risk their lives in order to demonstrate their love and will to stay together, regardless the feud between their families. By the end, the death of Romeo and Juliet finally bring the reconciliation to these two families. It is fate that the two most shall-not meet people fall in love and it love that eventually won against hatred. Since then, there have been many different versions of Romeo and Juliet, whether it was for film, stage, musicals. These different recontextualised adaptions change the original play by many ways, some modernise the language, environment, props as well as changing the original characteristics of some characters. Out of all the different adaptions of Romeo and Juliet, two stood out the most. One was the Romeo and Juliet (1996) and directed by Baz Luhrmann and the other one was Romeo and Juliet Broadway (2013) play version,
Baz Luhrman Attracting a Teenage Audience Right From the Start of Romeo and Juliet Teenagers can relate to the issues of Romeo and Juliet but the way it is performed does not appeal to the younger audience. This is because of the Elizabethan language which is hard to understand, the dress which teenagers are not familiar with and the religious element which is not a large part of society any more. To attract a teenage audience Baz Luhrman changes some of these features; he uses modern dress instead of the typical Elizabethan style, a modern soundtrack and attractive and well known actors/actresses. This makes the production more familiar to teenagers because it uses some elements from their everyday life.
The director's choice of lighting and music helped to create an actual party scene with the liveliness it brought. The explosion of fireworks in the sky could have been interpreted as an explosion of lust that would occur later on between Romeo and Juliet. Also, I found that the use of fireworks in the sky emphasized the stars, and Romeo and Juliet were star crossed lovers of their time. The coloring of reds and gold helped make the Capulet house outstanding and showed the audience royalty and richness. The statues that were on each side of the staircase representing half man and half fish were showing the controversy of how a man is torn from being masculine, to being put in the direction of femininity or romanticism.
Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo and Juliet is compelling when communicating the main ideas of the play by providing the audience with a modern translation of the play using the motifs in the film which correlate to the play.
Romeo and Juliet presents an ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families whose children meet and fall in love. Markedly, the meeting scene depicting love at first sight continues to be praised by today’s critics. Romeo and Juliet then receive the label of star-crossed lovers whose tragic demise is written in the stars. In fact, Shakespeare 's work is well received and its numerous adaptations have made it one of his most enduring and notorious stories. The cinematic world brings to the screens a disastrous approach by Baz Luhrmann to do the play justice. A glance at Baz Luhrmann’s productions allows audiences to assume he delivers movies which are unlike those of any other filmmaker today, or perhaps ever. Therefore, blending a delicate
< http://callisto.gsu.edu:4000/CGI:html> (5 May 1997). Rozen, Leah. "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."
The movie portrays fighting, love, and death scenes. Although people may think that teens or growing youth should not be exposed to these types of movies, I think it shows kids examples of how their life would turn out to if they followed some of these things. Obviously the ending result of the story is unfortunate because the two main characters die, but I think that people could learn from the characters mistakes. For example, in the movie, Romeo didn't receive the letter Friar Lawrence made for him stating that Juliet wasn't actually dead so he had no clue of the plan. When Romeo found out that she had committed suicide, he bought poison right away and drank it by Juliet's side.
n Baz Luhrmann’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, he ineffectively displays the plot in many ways. His film is shown as unrealistic, a comedic and disgusting to the true meaning of a Shakespearean play. Although some may say Romeo and Juliet by Luhrmann portrayed the Shakespearean version of Romeo and Juliet perfectly, others disagree and conclude that the interpretation did not help with the portrayal of the film.
William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in his life, with his best and most famous being Romeo and Juliet. This play is over 450 years old and since then has been made into a movie over 25 times and performed all around the world. Through the wide variety of themes, Romeo and Juliet still appeals to teenagers in the 21st century. Adolescents can still relate to 3 themes in Romeo and Juliet: relationships, parental control, and bullying, which applies to teenagers in the 16th century and the 21st century.
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 done through the renewal of props and costumes, the reconstruction of the prologue and the upgrading of the setting, whilst preserving the original Shakespearean language. Out of the two, it is Luhrmann who targets Romeo & Juliet to a younger audience to a much larger extent than Zeffirelli.
In conclusion, Lurhmann uses a lot of modern filming techniques to make Romeo and Juliet appeal to a contemporary audience. By relating certain aspects to situations in modern society, it makes the audience understand the ideas behind the original play and he simplifies the complicated old English of Shakespeare by adding exciting and dynamic visuals. Lurhmann tried to create a modern version of Romeo and Juliet and he was completely successful in his aims. Lurhmann defied all odds by making his film appeal to a modern audience and not only is this film very clever, it is a must see for any film lovers.
The actions of Romeo and Juliet in their relationship are much different than teenage couples today. However their personalties, attitudes and emotions are quite similar to those of teenagers today. Romeo and Juliet like each other instantly which is very common today as well. Young boys and girls in this modern day period didn't carefully consider the thought of marrying as young as 12-14 years old and beginning their own family. In today's age teenagers are much more vigilant about this type of situation. Differences of lifestyle are inevitable, as children think differently from the parents and grandparents who lived in different generations.
Zeffirelli’s ultimate goal for his version of Romeo and Juliet was to capture Shakespeare’s original intentions for the play while targeting the teenage audience of his generation. Luhrmann’s intentions were different however; he changed the way an audience looks at Shakespeare’s masterpiece by modernising the props, costumes, and sets. Obviously, to match film time quotas Zefirelli and Luhrmann has both cut many lines out of the play.
How Baz Luhrmann Uses Props, Iconography, Costumes, and Settings to Create His Own Version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare’s best loved tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, has been portrayed in theatres and on film in many different ways. But none have been quite like Baz Luhrmann’s imaginative and unconventional adaptation. He has brought aspects of the plays Elizabethan origins and transfused them with a modern day background and created, what can only be described as a masterpiece. I believe that his use of Props, iconography costumes and the settings he has chosen has helped him to make this film such a great success. The settings of each scene have been specifically chosen to create a desired affect.
Would you want to be in class and learn about Romeo and Juliet? In this essay I will tell you why I think Romeo and Juliet should be taught in schools. I personally think that it should be taught because of the messages it tries to influence on us.