Comparing Zefferelli's Interpretations Of Romeo And Juliet

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DING DING DING DING! FIGHT! Two competitors are ready to fight over which film better represents Shakespeare’s main intensions. The two step into the battle box. What were Shakespeare’s main themes and intentions? Shakespeare’s main intentions of Romeo and Juliet was to show his world famous tragedies, romance, grievance and struggles. Zefferelli’s film of Romeo and Juliet (1968) and Luhrmann’s film of Romeo and Juliet (1996) represents those intensions but in different fashion and in different mediums. Zefferelli’s movie is aimed to be an interpretation of what happened in the late 16th century. Evidently, Luhrmann’s is to be a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. It is aimed for our generation. Which movie is a going to prevail and be crowned …show more content…

A fine example of where Luhrmann enhanced the scene and made it more dramatic is the death scene of Romeo and Juliet. While Juliet was asleep and Romeo believed that Juliet was dead, Luhrmann plotted the story where Juliet will witness the death of Romeo. This makes the devastating accident into a more tragic and depressing incident. This adds a bigger effect on the audience. In Zefferelli’s movie, the actors do not seem to be feeling the true emotions they are supposed to feel. This does not create an emotional connection with the audience, so the audience wouldn’t feel the same emotions the actor would. In Zefferelli’s movie the actors did not seem to be in tune with their character and their personality. For example, when Mercutio was dying from the stab he has gotten from Tybalt, it seemed very fake and unbelievable. This caused audience members not to feel sad for Mercutio and not feel the emotions Shakespeare intended the audience to feel. The main reason why this is important is that the audience members will not be attached to the movie and not pay attention to what the main intentions of the movie is for. On the other hand, Luhrmann’s actors were in tune with their character and their personality. An example is when Romeo cried when Mercutio died in front of Romeo, it made most viewers feel sorry for Romeo and Mercutio himself. This created an emotional …show more content…

Like stated before Montagues and Capulets can be perceived as two rival gangs. To go in more depth, we can look at the Montagues and Capulets like Bloods and Crips. They are two polar opposite gangs that fuel each other’s hatred. In the streets of South Central Los Angeles, the two rival gangs called Bloods and Crips are on a long term mission to kill each other. It is a coincidence is that no one truly knows why the two are in a feud. It has just been like this for a long time and it has turned into a lifestyle. They kill each other as a sport and a way of life. We can understand the feud because of Luhrmann making the movie modern and making the two royal families as gangs. Since Luhrmann has changed the characters of Capulet and Montague, we can understand the feud between the two families. How does this teach Shakespeare’s intentions? Shakespeare talks about struggles and grievances against each other. He also tells us the possible outcomes that could occur if a conflict is not resolved. Like Luhrmann’s example, these two gangs have struggles and grievances against each other and we can only relate to this because they are gangs. With the rise of gang violence going up each and every year, it is more common to know the affects and death rates gang violence has rather than a feud between two royal

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