Traditional Tragedy vs. Modern Movie The 1996 movie version of Romeo and Juliet has the same basic idea of star crossed lovers dying for love, but the movie also has many bright ideas incorporated into it. The traditional version of Romeo and Juliet does not have a lot of design or setting details so it was very easy for these bright ideas to be integrated into this production.
The Australian director Baz Luhrmann directed the new rendition of Romeo and Juliet (Means, 1). Luhrmann did an excellent job of preserving the beautiful poetry used in the original script of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. This is the only part of the play Luhrmann did not change.
The prologue of the play is done through a special news bulletin on television for the movie. The news bulletin announces the fighting between two large corporate families, the Montagues and Capulets.
Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper for...
Romeo and Juliet, Act I-Scene_3. Lady Capulet and ...
Romeo and Juliet,Act I- Scene_1This is another bright idea, in the play these to families are strong rich families, not feuding corporate families. Pictures of the Montague family and Capulet family are shown throughout the newscast, so the audience knows which family the actors represent. The two family's corporations are shown side by side in the city.
The setting is Verona Beach instead of Verona. This gives it the wild feel of the coast. The public place of the quarrel shown in the first act of the play is a gas station in the movie. This is a modern place that people could run into each other in the world today. The use of cars is another bright idea in the movie. The two families are portrayed like gangs with different colors for the two families. The Capulet's had blue cars and the Montague's had yellow cars. The families were also dressed in different...