Examples Of Remediation In Romeo And Juliet

The story Romeo and Juliet has so many existing remediation it was hard to think of an “original” way to remediate the play. Being that every reedition of Romeo and Juliet is love or romantically based I decided to stick with the romantic tone of previous versions of the story. Shakespeare’s plays had such broad and open audiences. He often wrote for both common and elite society with witty banter and comedic relief for his great tragedies. In today’s society the world of social media and the idea of mass sharing supersedes any play, movie, or video created. Videos, books, plays, and even television shows are just another aspect of what we, as social media user, like to share. Due to this fact, my remediation of Romeo and Juliet is a dating

and advice website. On Juliet Girl, the website mentioned, Juliet shares her life, her favorite music, and what she has inspired with the world. She also gives dating advice to teenagers or young adult with reference to her own experience.
Juliet Girl’s target audience would be young women. Juliet herself is considered to be sixteen years old in most stories with the exception of Shakespeare’s play where she is thirteen. Women from the ages of fifteen to twenty- one are the target audience because they are best suited for the media source used. This demographic is also the target age group because women between these ages most frequently watch and/or read romantic movies, books, and television. This being said, like any type of media, Juliet Girl is not limited to a certain age group or sex. The website was made for anyone who would like to know more about Juliet or contact her.
Genre can be perceived in many ways. Juliet Girl could be considered part of the social media genre of the internet. Even further specifying the remediation website could be considered as online dating or cyber chatting under social media. On the other hand contextually the website could be considered as romantic or love based writing. While creating the website my goal was to write as a modern naïve sixteen year old in love would write to other people. The point of Juliet Girl was less about the advice and more about showing how Juliet might have jumping into a relationship so quickly( in the Shakespearean version) while still being young and having trivial views of love. Therefore making it like any popular romantic story or website young women relate to.
There are multiple modes used on this website.

Each mode is used to convey another aspect of Juliet and the advice she is giving. The common modes like word, images, and structure are used to in every aspect of the website. Modes like layout were used differently on each page. All six pages have a different lay out to specifically fit its purpose or task they were created for. An example of this would be the advice page. The advice page’s layout has less images and more space for response in order for Juliet to explain her experience and give the user advice on what should done in their relationship. Whereas modes like video, which include sound, images, and text are used show music related to Romeo and Juliet. This is shown at the bottom of the advice page with the use of the YouTube videos. The tone of the website is mockingly jovial. While creating the website I referenced the stereotypical dating and advice websites with the overly attractive photos and cheesing sayings. The colors chosen for this website include shades of pink, purple and red. The colors of the website are a reflection of happy and vibrant colors. The colors were chosen to remind the view of love or even invoke similar emotions as Valentine’s Day colors. The images and symbols used all reflect the motifs and symbols used in the various versions of Romeo and Juliet. For instance the roses and poison bottle used on pages two through four symbolize the tragic death of the main characters in most

reeditions of the story.
Being that a dating and advice website is drastically different than a play or any written text created about Romeo and Juliet a lot of aspects were gained. The first aspect gained is a broader and more open outlet. The website created is open to anyone who wants to view or even join it. Even though Shakespeare wrote for more than just the elite most people were still unable to view his plays. Whereas my website it accessible to anyone with internet access. By making a website the story has also gained a younger and more attentive audience. Most people are required to read Romeo and Juliet in the ninth grade, but most people also only listen enough to pass the exam or write an essay and then they forget the information. By making an interactive and moving website, young people are more likely to remember the information and actually enjoy reading about it. The most prevalent aspect gained is one on one basis with Juliet. No other medium of the story has focused strictly on Juliet’s perspective, nor have they made any interaction between Juliet and the viewers. Through the website view get to see what Juliet would think or how she would feel and relate to current day relationship conflicts. By having Juliet respond to messages and actively seek to have people talk to her there is a sense of community and connection is gained.
Automatically from transferring the five act play in to a six page website a lot of content was lost.

The first of which being the characters. While creating the website I focus on the love story between Romeo and Juliet. This being said I did not see the importance off including the supporting characters in the dating website. Due to this a lot of characterizations and understanding of the complete story was lost. Without the families to show their rivalry and the friends and cousins killing each other to show how the story escalated so quickly a lot of the drama was lost. Also with heavy concentration on Juliet and her communication with viewer he dialogue and input from Romeo was lost. Although he is a major part of the image of the website he is little more than an advertisement. The greatest lost transferring form a live action play to a website is the emotion and tragedy invoked by the scenes actors and atmosphere. A website is unable to appeal to the pathos of an audience like a play or a movie

can.
The story of Romeo and Juliet has been remediated various times. Each time with different aspect to appeal to the current generation. Through my website I have attempted to do the same using modes and focusing on a genre and audience. Although emotional content was lost along with the sense of tragedy. More awareness and peeked interest in history where it was not seen before might be gained.