Nominated for an Oscar in 1997’s Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, this appropriation of Romeo and Juliet, based on William Shakespeare’s original works and directed by Baz Luhrmann, is a very dramatic and suspenseful film. This film does an excellent job of combining Shakespearian dialogue with modern imagery. Although this is a story which has been told many times before, Luhrmann keeps the entire storyline exciting. This film tells the classic story of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. The themes of immature blind passion, hatred and prejudice play many roles in this brilliant film.
The film is very effective because it relates to a modern young audience. The film has a great influence of cowboys and Spanish tradition. In contrast Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet which was made in 1968, and set in the 16th century. The story relates to the ancient traditional play and isn’t very effective. The story of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet takes place in the modern, fictional Los Angeles area town called Verona beach, which is based on the real life Venice Beach.
There are also economic and legal factors: Shakespeare is helpfully outside copyright law as well as interesting to adapt. Shakespeare on screen gradually became part of the establishment, reflecting its growing academic respectability. Shakespeare on screen is now in its second century and the reasons why Shakespeare has so long been considered adaptable have been variously discussed. According to Robert Hamilton Ball, Shakespeare’s dramas were considered ideal material for cinema in the early 20th century because the presence of Shakespeare on film raised the contemporary estimation of film. A successful adaptation of Shakespeare must then convey an anxiety of influence (Adaptation form Text to Screen, Screen to Text) P 31) an awareness that the reproduction is both dependent on and
Both films provide very different perspectives on Shakespeare's text because of the different eras in which they were set. The symbolism and imagery in both films are very different because of this factor. Franco Zeffirelli’s version of Romeo and Juliet takes a traditional and more suitable approach for the script, being set in the Elizabethan period as this was the period that the suits the script best. The acting in this movie is very theatrical and is being acted as if it was a theatre performance, just not on stage. It is set in Verona, Italy, which is where the play was based in the script.
Romeo and Juliet What is the difference in Luhrmann’s and Zefferelli’s movie? In Luhrmann’s movie his version is more modern, dramatic, and uses visual thoughts. Zefferelli’s has more of Shakespeare’s vision. This gives it more of a classic feel to it. For fans of Shakespeare, Zefferelli’s should be the one to watch, but for a more action filled modern Romeo and Juliet then Luhrmann’s is the best.
Brandon FLOGGNAW 4/28/14 Period 1 ENG 9 R+J Movie Compare/Contrast Pros and Cons The two Romeo and Juliet movies were very unique and creative. The two movies were very different but still stayed true to the original play. The two movies barely changed to much in the movie, but they did still add a few things here and there. The two movies were very good, they were both very good adaptions of the original play. Even though the movies were very good adaptions, the movies did changes some things whether it was text or scenery.
The balcony scene in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” has become one of the most well known scenes ever written. We see the language of love between Romeo and Juliet in a dramatic-scene when they express their affection for each other. This scene is very important and sets up the building blocks for the rest of the play. After viewing the two versions of Romeo and Juliet, one by Franco Zeffirelli from 1968, and the other by Baz Luhrmann from 1997, I believe that the 1968 version is by far a more precise and on point representation of the balcony scene. With being both made after the same play, these two movies have many differences in just one scene alone.
The Similarities between the Zefirelli and the Luhrman is the use of the Shakespearean language and the difference is their settings. While, the similarities between the Zefirelli and West Side Story is that they both follow the story of “Romeo and Juliet” although they are different in the setting and language that is used. West side Story and Lurman is similar in the setting they used, more modern, but different in how they have made the story and also the language used. So, these three movie versions of the “Romeo and Juliet” have differences and similarities between them. Franco Zeferelli made “Romeo and Juliet” very traditional that it really uses a balcony to show the balcony scene.
The movies are all good adaptations of the play and they do have a great deal in common, like the way the Capulets and Montagues are dressed, this includes the 1996 version because even though the roles are flipped at that scene the clothing schematic still applies only in reverse, the Capulets always seems to be more brightly dressed than the Montagues, and they almost always initiate the fight, and the people seem in favour of the Montagues rather than the Capulets due to that. The movies bring Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in a way that is different, but not more important, than a stage performance. The movies may have similar characteristics , like they all start with the Chorus or they distinguish the Capulets and Montagues through their clothes but at the same time they are fundamentally different. In Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of the movie he modernizes the setting of the movie, while keeping the Shakespearean “Language” intact, but he does make certain drastic changes in the play itself. While most Romeo and Juliet movies have a male chorus , who either appears on the screen or doesn’t, Luhrmann chose a female T.V reporter to first say the chorus and where it sounds more like a daily newscast rather than a chorus, which she only recited up to the words “traffic of our stage” the camera then
Film directors Franco Zeffirelli, Michael Almereyda and Kenneth Branagh have transformed “Hamlet” to altering levels of victory on the screen while accomplishing this in the course of deserted differences in analysis and through taking into consideration very different creative ideas. Zeffirelli’s 1990“Hamlet” is an elucidation designed for the ordinary Hollywood audience, who by now were systematically interested in Mel Gibson – one of the rising stars of the early nineties. Gibson does well to conceptualize the outbreak of emotions infuriating Hamlet and this allows the ordinary audience to follow quite easily, his complex and changing mindsets. The famous Act Three, Scene One “To be or not to be…” monologue is done mainly well, with Gibson upholding a characteristic of strength, even as Hamlet riotous behaviour in his own depression and considers suicide. Zeffirelli and Gibson have shared their ideas to produce an understanding of Hamlet that is insightful but never weak, very active and external in the representation of emotion – but not over the top.