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Comparing the movies of Romeo and Juliet
Comparing the movies of Romeo and Juliet
Differences between romeo and juliet movie and play
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Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, and Gnomeo and Juliet, a movie inspired by the play, have numerous differences and similarities with the characters, setting, and plot. Firstly, Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet compared to the movie, Gnomeo and Juliet have many variations and similarities regarding the characters in each story. For example, a similarity between both stories is that they both have the same characters. They both have a character named Tybalt, Juliet, Paris, and Benny is a nickname for Benvolio.
Plot-I said before that movie follow the play’s main plot sequence, but there are many minor changes which disrupt original movie intent that following main plot sequence is almost useless in its purpose. Since the movie follows the play, it is more like what was different rather than what was left out from the play. For example Bottom is humiliated by a group of nasty young men pouring wine over him, and that doesn’t seem like who Bottom should be as a complicated character in Shakespeare’s play. So in a way, what director chose to leave out is what original “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” supposes to mean in the end. That is why pretty much most of the play was changed in the movie as the atmosphere of the original play is gone.
The first change of the movie, which most people saw almost immediately as this character appeared was Mercutio. He acted a lot different in the movie than he did in the play, in the movie he was more childish, immature, more dramatic. For example when Mercutio started telling Romeo the story of Queen Mab, he was more dramatic and sarcastic but by the end he was almost screaming, and during the Capulet party he was extremely childish, which most people thought was funny but if the situation was more serious, many people would be upset and angry with him. I believe that the director decided to change Mercutio in this way is to make it more dramatic than the play was originally, to make the scenes more tense if needed.
The biggest difference between the movie and play is the setting. Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, Italy and West Side Story was in the Upper West Side of New York City, New York. Also, West Side Story was set in the mid-1950’s while Romeo and Juliet was from the either the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Because of this huge time difference they are constantly acting in a way that would confuse the other party.
In the Movie and the play the characters look a lot different from each other. In the play they were dressed in more fancy clothing such as suits and other older looking clothes. IN the movie they were not as fancy
Also, a major difference is the age of Juliet and Romeo. In the play, Juliet is just a teen around the age of 14 (I.III.14). In the movie, the author makes them older
The setting of the movie is the first obvious difference that can be seen. The movie was set in New York City, New York in 2000 while the play was set in Elsinore, Denmark in the late middle ages. This greatly affects the way the movie is viewed because it is essentially an entirely different world. In the movie there are video cameras, cars, phones and skyscrapers, all things that obviously weren’t around during Shakespeare’s time. Even if the movie and the play had been based in the same year, the story still would have been slightly different.
For example, the setting is a huge difference. Romeo and Juliet takes place in fair Verona where the play is originally set. Romeo + Juliet is set in a modern city off of a coast line. The actors in Romeo and Juliet wore clothes that reflect the time period in which the story is set, while in Romeo + Juliet, the characters wear modern clothes, like floral beach shirts and jeans. Swords are used in Romeo and Juliet, while guns are used as the common weapon in Romeo + Juliet.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a story that is still profound and relevant today, some four hundred years after it was originally published. Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film version of the play is a postmodern interpretation and he has successfully “made [the story] available to a whole new audience” (Hutcheon. 2) through his use of interesting film techniques that are able to tell the story in an innovative way. In the film, Luhrmann does away with the famous balcony but rather has Romeo and Juliet meet next to the swimming pool in the Capulet mansion. In this scene, Luhrmann uses a close up while Romeo is saying his famous lines “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”
If I was tasked with making a musical I would choose to make one based on the story of Romeo and Juliet. I chose this story because of the vast amounts of emotion and conflict that takes place throughout the story. The combination of love, betrayal, hate, and death would transition well into song and dance and make for a great show. I would represent the relationship between Romeo and Juliet with a slower, more sensual themed choice of music like smooth jazz. The style of dance would also reflect this intimate relationship.
The director Michael Hoffman helped create the 1999 film adaptation of Shakespeare ’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As with any film adaptation, I believe Hoffman took certain liberties in bringing the play into the world of film with portraying Nick Bottom, Hippolyta, and Titania, but he also attempted to stay true to the plot and characters of Demetrius and Helena. He and brought them to life effectively using body language and tone, two elements that are not directly implicit in the text. I believe Hoffman’s choice of shaping Bottom as the main character distracted the viewer away from the love-feud between the two couples.
For the final project I chose to do a children’s book adaptation of Shakespeare’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the perfect play to adapt into a children’s book because it compasses several entertaining child-like aspects such as, fairies and magic. The play contains the most adolescent fitting themes out of all the Shakespeare plays we have read so, naturally it was my first choice to modify into a children’s book. When writing the children’s story, I tired to make it contrast slightly from the original play.
This can be evident in three aspects: the styles of the acting of the actors, the reaction of Juliet after learning about the death of Tybalt, and the setting of certain scenes. In Luhrmann’s film (1996), the acting of Romeo and Juliet make the audiences feel that they are more reliable and imperturbable, this is shown in many situations. Juliet’s first appearance in the movie seems more cool-headed. When Juliet is taking a shower when her mother calls her name, she puts on a bathrobe lightly and walks out.
Even though there are any similarities, there are also many differences with both themes of the play and the movie. Although Shakespeare’s work may be very old, it still has a huge influence on our world till today, and will probably be like that for a long
When I was younger, I was probably too sensitive about the tragedy and could never conceive why people would enjoy Romeo and Juliet. Now that I can handle it as an adult, I enjoyed the comedic bits scattered throughout the melodrama. For example, one of my favorite lines in the play was Juliet’s statement, “You kiss by the book.” Maybe I have a weird sense of humor, but it seemed like an absurd thing to say after being kissed by the man of your dreams. Along with this, I amused by the “Do you bite your thumb at me” exchange and “Your love says, like an honest gentleman--Where is your mother?”
