Analysis Of Luhrmann's 'Romeo And Juliet'

By Lauren Huston

Luhrmann has brought Shakespeare to our modern day youths with his artistically uncomplicated film, Romeo and Juliet, the traditional Shakespearean love story.

Luhrmanns movie uses imagery of bold crucifix tattoos, blaring billboards, vibrant pink hair, blowing up gas stations, and Rosencrantzky’s hot dog shack at Verona Beach to capture the gritty city landscape.

This classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet has been updated by director Baz Luhrmann to a modern day Verona Beach where swords are simply a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence- but yet he still remains true to the original Shakespearean language.

Luhrmann has been successful in re-revealing the marginalisation of religion in the violent world of Verona beach created through the framework of this tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet to the modern audience.

Luhrmann uses religious imagery reminiscent of Las Vegas style churches that is reflected in Friar Lawrence’s church which is abundant with neon glowing crucifixes. In making his films accessible and understandable to teenagers, Luhrmann made Friar Lawrence into a figure whom modern teenagers could relate to Romeo seeking help and advice from. Thereby maintaining Friar Lawrence’s accepted status as the trusted confidant and helper of Romeo and Juliet.

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes love a brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their worlds. Luhrmann has taken this theme and has visually enhanced/modernised it to relate it to a modern audience using lighting, musicality, motifs and symbolism. He depicts love as a violent, ecstatic and an overpowering force that supersedes all other values, emotions and loyalties, a temporary refuge from the horrors of their