Baz Luhrmann's Interpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Baz Luhrmann's Interpretation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona (where we lay our scene)

From ancient grudge break new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives"

This essay will explain film director Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of

William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". The film was made in 1996

and set in a modern city such as Los Angeles or Rio de Janeiro.

In the film, Luhrmann has made many changes to it, but while still

keeping it's historical content, for example in the original

Shakespearean play, knives are used whereas in this film reproduction,

guns are used. Baz Luhrmann has modernized the film in the way that

modern audiences can understand and relate to it such as the use of

cars and helicopters.

This particular essay will be focusing on four main parts - The

Prologue, The Fight Scene, Baz Luhrmann's Portrayal Of the Characters

and my own opinions and the conclusion.

In the Prologue, at the very beginning, a short summery is introduced

in the form of a black women reading the news. The camera has quite an

old television set in the center of the screen with a black background

surrounding it. This can show some form of anachronism because it

shows a modern television set with a women reading the "news" which is

actually the prologue in old English. As the Prologue begins, the

television set slowly zoom...

... middle of paper ...

...he acts as though is is very

macho, but really on the inside, he is scared of fighting!

Luhrmann portrays Mercutio (Romeo's best friend) as a fast talking,

witty character. His costume is pretty laid back or casual. He is also

seen as a cross-dresser because of his humourous costume at the

Capulet's. He is also a drug addict and is quite mad! His random

shooting in the sea may suggest a mental illness or depression.

In my opinion, the prolouge is very messy and quite disastrous, but

this cames across as a good thing because it shows the mess, disaster

and destruction the families have caused.

I enjoyed the way Baz Luhrmann has included an audience in the key

scenes such as the Fight Scene because it is as though he has captured

our feelings and put them in the surrounding cowd so that we can

relate with them.