Zefferelli and Luhrman's Reproduction of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for a Modern Audience

Zefferelli and Luhrman's Reproduction of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for a Modern Audience

The main difference that we have to remember about both the Zefferelli

and Luhrman productions is that they are aimed at completely different

audiences. The major reason for this is the changing times as the

Zefferelli and Luhrman films were made in 1968 and 1997 respectively.

Basically, the 1997 film is made so that young people in the year 1997

can relate to it and the 1968 film attracted the 1968 audience. The

difference in dates affects a lot of different aspects in both

productions. For example, the music is very different in both.

Obviously the 1997 film has more modern music than the Zefferelli but

it is also the types and times when music is used that is different.

The directors have different ideas about the areas in the film that

are more important. The music reflects their different perceptions of

the original play. The special effects are again another area where

the two films differ. This is naturally down to the advances in

technology but also changes in taste. For instance, in 1968 the

special effects in films were either very basic or simply non-existent

so the audience wasn't expecting anything extravagant. However, a 1997

audience will have seen many films with spectacular effects and by now

they would be dissatisfied with anything less. One of the most

important episodes in the film is the fight scene between Mercutio,

Tybalt and Romeo too. It is interesting that this is one of the

episodes where the two films differ the most.

In 1968 when the Zefferelli film was made the audiences had very

different views and expectations compared to today. For example, in

the Zefferelli production he puts a lot more emphasis on the humour

that was originally intended by William Shakespeare. This will

definitely be because the audience of 1968 wanted humour in films. It

also means that there is a bigger contrast between the light-hearted

humour and the tragedy that befalls Romeo and Juliet. In the Luhrman