A Comparison of Two Versions of Romeo and Juliet

A Comparison of Two Versions of Romeo and Juliet In this essay the opening sequences of the two versions of

Shakespeare's disastrous love story, "Romeo and Juliet" have been

compared. The traditional and conventional version, which was made in

1968 in Italy, was directed by Franco Zeffirali, and the modernized

and the updated version, was made by Baz Lurhmann in 1996 and is set

in modern Verona Beach.

Zeffirali's version is a spectacular, although old-fashioned movie,

which throws a net at traditional, middle aged and romantic people.

The characters of 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' were played by unknown

characters at that time, Olivia Hussey (Juliet) and Leonard Whiting

(Romeo). There is a comprehensive contrast between Zeffirali's version

and Lurhmann's one, which presents itself as soon as the movies begin.

Lurhmann's version is an unconventional, modernised version of

Shakespeare's tragedy and it is specifically directed at a youthful

audience. Even the characters are also aimed to grab the whim of its

audience. In this version the character of Romeo is played by Leonardo

Di Caprio, to target its youthful audience. Another element which

probably has influenced in a big deal to attract and evocate the

youngsters is the MTV style production in this version. Lurhmann tried

to create a twentieth century version of Shakespeare's love story.

Here in compariso...

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...aversion, jocularity and etc in this sequence, builds up tension

efficiently among the audience. The climax of the emotion in both

sequences are the adversary talk between Benvolio and Tybalt, which

emphasises the disgust and frighten with the help of extremely

effective close-up shots and effective background music.

It is hard to choose the better movie between the realistic and

conventional version of Zeffirali, and the modernized and the 20th

centuries' version of "Romeo and Juliet", the Lurhmann's film.

Zeffirali's version evocates the viewers with creating the realistic

picture of medieval life style, while Lurhmann astonishes the audience

with the modern technologies. I prefer the stirring and magnificent

aspect of the originality in Zeffirali's version rather than the

artistic and modernized movie of Lurhmann.