Compare And Contrast Romeo And Juliet 1968 And 1968

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Romeo and Juliet is a play about two adolescents—Romeo and Juliet from two hostile families fall in love with each other. This prohibited love ultimately turns into a romantic tragedy, in which they commit suicide for each other. Both Franco Zeffirelli’s (1968) and Baz Lurhmann’s (1996) versions retained the dialogues written by William Shakespeare in their movies. However, these two movies are directed in their own unique ways, which have several distinctive differences.
One major and the most notable difference in the films is the setting. The setting of the 1968 version is set in Verona, Italy with buildings, courtyards, and streets similar to the middle ages. It follows the play as closely as possible that effectively brings us back to …show more content…

In the 1968 version, it accurately portrays what people usually wear in the medieval time period, which is similar to the play. For example, men wear tights, frills and Robin Hood like hats. It also uses the color difference to distinguish between the Montague actors and the Capulet actors. The Montague family wears dark color clothes like dark blue and grey, whereas the Capulet family wears bright color clothes like orange and red. The custom also depicts the social class difference. In the party, Juliet wears a red beautiful dress, which creates a strong contrast with the Nurse who wears servant clothing. In the 1966 version, the customs are more modernized. Female wears more make up and fancy dress. Male wears Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses. The color of customs between Montague and Capulet also changed. Montague wears bright color clothes, with pink hair and tattoos. While, Capulet wear dark clothes, vests and tattoos. Besides, actors use guns not sword as their weapon to fight. The above shows that the 1996 version is more modern and more applicable to our daily …show more content…

The major difference of camera angles is in the significant scene—the balcony scene. In the 1968 version, the director retains the balcony scene in its movie. It uses low angle to show Romeo’s vision, how he looks up to the balcony on the tree. And it uses high angle to show Juliet’s vision, how she looks down to the tree on the balcony. The use of low angle and high angle emphasize the distant between Romeo and Juliet. Besides, it also indirectly shows that Juliet is from a wealthy family and Romeo is socially inferior towards her. However, in the 1996 version, the director replaces the balcony scene with a swimming pool scene. Romeo and Juliet talk to each other in the same level of vision. The use of eye level implies that they are equal in terms of social

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