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Romeo And Juliet Comparative Essay

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Drawing conclusions from this analysis it becomes apparent that movie adaptations of Shakespeare germinate into a completely different product compared to the original play. There sure can be similarities and the main themes are more or less equivalent but the end result is clearly different. We suggest that is the strength of adaptations, their ability to change and reinvent themselves through stories that are immortal and unchangeable per se. Critics, including Hutcheon, who trash Baz Luhrmann’s effort for its ‘use of popular songs, glossy atmospherics and breakneck speed’ (Lehmann, 2010, p.234) forget that directors like Baz Lurhmann and Franco Zeffirelli are there to ‘revitalise the qualities that originally made the plays popular’ …show more content…

This was possible not only because of the message the story carries but also because of the way these adaptations are presented, which is appropriate to the time and age they are born in. No matter how daring, colourful, grandiose, provocative or modernist a movie of Shakespeare can be, we know the young lovers will always die and with the foreknowledge of this death, in tragedy we find comfort, beauty and compassion. Whether we watch Romeo and Juliet at the Globe or Luhrmann’s adaptation at the cinema we learn the same lesson and draw the same conclusions that all actions have consequences and even the purest of dream can be shattered by reality. Whether we are sitting in the pit of a theatre or transported right into a derelict, kitsch, vulgar urban setting we commit to memory that nothing good can spring from hatred and rage. It is vital to transmit these values with passion and honesty and if movie adaptations are the only way to get through the new generations we should welcome them with open arms instead of libelling them with fruitless criticism which is what truly undermines the legacy and endurance of

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The 1999 film adaptation of a Midsummer’s Night's Dream had in many ways a lot to live up to. The same year it was released a film by the name of Shakespeare in love was receiving it’s undeserved Best Picture Oscar (more on that in another essay!) at the 71st Academy awards. It was, in my opinion, a revival of the Shakespeare genre that was lacking in cinema since the days of the Lord Laurence Olivier. But despite the film's star power, it did not live up to Shakespeare in love or Olivier’s performances but that’s not the point of this essay. The point of this essay is this; that the changes made were not an ostentatious show of the film's high budget, but required changes that made the story better and more suited for our time.

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The setting was transposed from 1300s Verona, Italy to 1990s “Verona Beach,” which has a Los Angeles vibe. The change of the time period and setting where the biggest changes to the text, yet the reason begin the changed showed how relevant Shakespeare's text can be. Luhrmann immediately shows the audience that this is not going to be Shakespeare's time. From the first shot and solique, the audience immediately knows though the language is Shakespeare the setting is ours, making the audience think about their society. Luhrmann never stops using Shakespeare's text to reflect his time.

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As pointed out by Cartmell and Whelehan (2010), upholders of film adaptation studies are finally seeing light in this century after decades of struggling against the stereotypical notion that screen adaptations in Hollywood reduce literature to heed the dimmest minds of humanity. From the early age of cinema till now, most people tend to view films from the perspective of literature, due to the negative reputation that hangs over adaptations, in spite of its century long history. Cartmell and Whelehan introduces and encourages readers to compare these mediums vise versa, to view literature through the lens of the cinema, or to regard films as a single entity, separate from its novel counterpart. Modern Comparative Frameworks for Film Adaptations.

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In the twenty-first century, the plays of William Shakespeare may at first appear dated and irrelevant: they use archaic language, are set in the age of Kings and Queens, and the Kingdom of England. However, it would be plainly mistaken to construe that Shakespeare’s works do not still remain integral to a twenty-first century society. Shakespeare’s plays gave the words and expressions one uses every day, revolutionized the art of theater as it was known, and forewarned about issues that would unknowingly still apply centuries later. Therefore, Shakespeare has had a profound effect on our lives by enriching our language and culture, as well as providing ideas that would still apply five centuries later, and it would thus behoove us to learn from his works and life.

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Romeo and Juliet, for example, has been an immense source of inspiration to quite a numbers of Hindi films like Bobby and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. There have been some adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays too – Gulzar’s Angoor, an adaptation of the Comedy of Errors, and two recent adaptations of Shakespeare’s tragedies – Maqbool, an adaptation of Macbeth and Omkara, Othello. The text can be said to have more inclination towards jealousy of Othello as the major tool for the plot resulting into the tragic end of the play. The cocktail of both the text and context is a masterpiece. To draw a parallel between both would not be wrong.

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