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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which looks as Baz Luhrmann's treatment of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with specific reference to the opening scenes of the film version.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLluhrma.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
between the Montague and Capulet families, which Luhrmann translates effectively into contemporary imagery in the film version. Screen adaptations of Shakespeare tend to be unsatisfactory, since despite the universality of
his themes, it is hard for directors to get away from a dramatic structure designed for live theatre without departing completely from the playwrights original constructs.
Although Luhrmanns interpretation is perhaps too crammed with symbolic images and stylised framings, it does capture the violence and desperation of the narrative which is so often lost in
the focus on images of young love, family squabbles and rather melodramatic tragedy. Luhrmann opens the film with the image of a news reader on a TV screen; the function
of the Prologue, commenting on and augmenting the action, has been replaced by the TV journalist. Verona is transformed into Verona Beach - shades of Miami, perhaps? - and Luhrmann
pitches the viewer straight into a panorama of urban violence, with police cars, helicopters and shoot-outs between cops and criminals. Somewhat ironically, we see a
gigantic statue of Christ overseeing this carnage; the Catholic theme recurs again and again throughout the film, not so much in the sense of religious conflicts but symbolising, in some
slightly surreal way, youthful innocence. Juliets bedroom, for instance, is full of images of the Virgin Mary: an interesting variant on the usual array of stuffed toys representing girlhood and
innocence. The giant statue of Christ appears, interposed between images of the Montague and Capulet families and emphasising that religious ideology has little effect on secular violence. Apparently, religion only
has relevance for the young and innocent: older people are more cynical. We are reminded of this later in the film, with the Friars well-meaning but ineffectual attempts to find
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