I have read about the movie version of Romeo and Juliet, and the name is Romeo + Juliet. The movie is from the adaptation of Willam Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, as we all know. It was directed by Baz Luhrmann. It was made in 1996, which surprised me a lot. Because this movie is a kind of creative adaptation. The language is still kept as original, but the setting is totally different. The stage of the two families Montague and Capulet are both set in America in the modern time, but not as the play in the ancient city of Verona in Italy. So it is interesting to say that the actors talk with each other with all the ancient English words and scripts but in a modern city. They fight no more with blades --- but guns. Everything seems incompatible, but also incredibly funny when I actually watch it. They have made the best "environment" for the comedy part of the play by Shakespeare.
I love the way that the director change the adaptation in such a creative way. I mean it helps a lot when I am watching the movie with a purpose of using it as an assistant to read the script of the play. When I was reading the script of the play, I could not understand the language and content of it. But when I was watching the movie of the new adaptation, they are acting with the original script which just makes me understand automatically. I would say this movie is one of the best tool for helping us to study the script. As a kind of adaptation, they also made something new. For example, they changed some names of the characters in the movie. For example, Lord and Lady Montague and Lord and Lady Capulet are given first names, which makes it more lively and realistic. The Prince was "transformed" into a new identity in the modern world: he becomes the police office, the captain. I always remember when he was in a helicopter with other policemen and broadcast to force the servants of both Montague and Capulet stop their fight, "drop their weapon from their bloody hands". He seems like has changed into a kind of lower "social level", but he is still powerful and the representation of law and fairness of the city.
It was a question that we have gone over in class, and I want to use it to bring up my feelings about the amazing setup about the movie: How does the movie show that the Montague and Capulet are in the same level in the society and wealth, power but as a relationship of enemy against each other? I would just give one example. When the movie showed a scene about the view of the city, I can see on the sides of streets they have advertisements and stores that both of the two families have. And the one of the most obvious one is they have two major buildings of both Montague and Capulet. The buildings are not even far away with each other, but they are as tall, grand as each other's.
A movie is made to tell story more lively. I guess it is the value of the movie, as a kind of media and performance. Couple of good scenes of the movie may let audience remember it for a long time. This is what we called classic. 
Citation: "Romeo + Juliet." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Washington Square Published by Pocket, 1992. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment