Romeo And Juliet Cultural Epoch

How far can one or more Shakespeare films be seen as interestingly or damagingly embedded in the cultural epoch(s) in which it or they were made?

The term 'cultural epoch ' refers to the theory that different periods are defined by a distinctive cohesion, defined by the events and cultural features that are present. Both Franco Zeffirelli 's Romeo and Juliet, filmed in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann 's 1996 movie William Shakespeare 's Romeo + Juliet were filmed in such times, both greatly effected by the cultural epoch that surround them. The influence that each film received from, and subsequent embedding in, the cultural epoch which surrounds them can be seen through various ways: most strikingly, the stylistic decisions of directors, the scenes

His first appearance in Act 1 Scene 1, after the lengthy sequence of the Montagues and Capulets battling in the streets, depicts him walking with a flower, strikingly peaceful in contrast to the preceding scene. Zeffirelli also chooses to include Romeo 's complaint against the brawling, “O me, what fray was here? / Tell me not, for I have heard it all.”2, a position he holds unwaveringly up until Mecutio 's emotional death scene. Robert F Willson implies that Romeo is given “the identity of a kind of chorus, commenting on the madness and destructiveness of war. […] An American audience of young rebels cannot

The film is filled, from its opening moments, “with glancing references to and overt borrowing from the cinema of violence: the Western, the gangster movie, the kung-fu pic, the urban drama, the crime thriller, [and] the action comedy.”6 As Philippa Hawker implies, the film is a kaleidoscope of recognisable film tropes and images, notable instances might be the dramatic slow motion shot of Tybalt 's cowboy boots stubbing a cigarette, followed by his dramatic flair when shooting the retreating Capulets; both based in a fight scene in which the choreography may have been recognised in the tradition of melding both 'western ' and 'action comedy '. Alfredo Michael Modeness appears to also concur with this judgement of Luhrmann 's style, but adds that the brawl is “underscored by more spaghetti western music and choreographed through a mix of formulaic moves from classic action films and comic strips.”7 Modeness 's assertion allows a consideration of why Romeo + Juliet has become such a part of the epoch in which it was created, and still remains to resonate today, as it follows formulaic film codes that are detectable to a modern audience, especially its target audience of youth culture, and therefore makes its perhaps 'dated