Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrmann Character Appropriation

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Each character of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet has been taken out of the play and put into the context of Baz Luhrmann movie. Romeo is appropriated as a tragic romantic. In the play Shakespeare uses speech to represent his passion for love, and that he can fall in love really easy by using the line “Pid my heart love now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”. Luhrmann takes Romeo’s lust for love and shows it in the fish tank scene. As Romeo is spinning the music is loud but Luhrmann suddenly cuts to Romeo splashing his face in the water and the music stops. Luhrmann uses this silence to gradually increase the romantic music when Romeo and Juliet are looking at each other through the fish tank. Through this scene and technique it shows that Romeo believes in love at first sight. Baz Luhrmann appropriate Juliet as an intelligent, obedient and loving character. “I’ll look to like, if looking liking more” This quote from Shakespeare’s play tells you she can be obedient to her mother however she is intelligent enough to know when she sees her true love. After the fish tank scene where Paris dances with Juliet, while Romeo is watching, Juliet continues to laugh and look at Romeo. Luhrmann dresses Paris in a spaceman suit to make him look ridicules and use him as the comic relief. Juliet sees that Paris is not what she wants in a man and knows that Romeo is her true love. Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, is portrayed as a vengeful, hateful and snake like character. “What, drawn talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee Have at thee, coward” Tybalt has a small temper and will use any chance to start a fight or argument with the Montague’s. Luhrmann appropriates this by his facial expressions, every time he talks about the Montague’s his crunches up into a snake like sneer. During the party Tybalt is angry
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