... said that a good tragedy needs to have one basic theme or plot. In the play Romeo and Juliet', this theme is love. Love of different kinds provides the base of all the excitement, anticipation and ultimately the tragedy of the play. There are many other themes that Shakespeare could have used and so we have to ask several questions to identify his reason for using love ... he trying to say about love? How does using it make the audience feel? In what way does his presentation of love increase the tragedy and depth of the play? When considering how Shakespeare presents the love between R...

• Word Count: 1971
• Approx Pages: 8

... Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two teens fall in love and marry despite the feud between their two households. Set in Verona, Italy during the late 1500's, Romeo, a Montague, meets Juliet, a Capulet. They fall in love and marry although their families hate each other. And because of feud and the blinding self-interest of the adults, it leads to their fateful demise. The play of Romeo and Juliet is one ... than Franco Zeferelli's version. In my opinion, I believe that Luhrmann's version was more to Shakespeare's intent than Zeferelli's version because it had a conte...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... plot line identified the players are injected into a new era of guns and money. Romeo and Juliet now live in modern day Verona beach, instead of on the streets of Verona, Italy. This is a place where the ultra modern surroundings and dress is juxtaposed by Shakespeare's older English; Romeo waxes love semantics in what is Shakespearian English, nonetheless it is edited to sound like it could be ... depth to characters that had previously lacked much strength or personality. Overall, I believe that Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is a fabulous interpretation of the Ro...

• Word Count: 1055
• Approx Pages: 4

... adaptation. There are several scenes in which Luhrmann incorporates water as a means to show the innocence, love, and passion of Romeo and Juliet. Luhrmann's use of visual imagery and symbolism is just one way he is able to conform Shakespeare's original work for modern audiences. Luhrmann chooses to modernize the costumes in his adaptation, in order to appeal ... the words have resonance. He speaks as if they really are his words and that's something you don't always get in a Shakesperean performance," ("Production Notes: Romeo and Juliet"). Luhrmann's adaptation successfully represent...

• Word Count: 998
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... found during the 16th century. In order to make the play more accessible to the modern audience; Baz Luhrmann had to alter a considerable amount of the 'traditional' version of Romeo and Juliet. He produced Shakespeare's play as an appropriation, which meant that he moved the story four centuries into the future, adapting the key plot ideas in such a way as to remain faithful to ... attention a lot better then what the older version would have been able to do. Another problem that was successfully overcome by Luhrmann's production was the fact that Juliet was a thirteen-year-old girl wh...

• Word Count: 1189
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Reviewer: Claire Ginn Welcome to Verona Beach, a sexy, violent other-world, neither future nor past, ruled by two rival families, the Montagues and the Capulets... So begins Baz Luhrmann's production of Shakespeare's beloved play, "Romeo and Juliet," from the famous opening line of "Two Households both alike in dignity.." to the tragic end, the viewer is whisked away into thedepths?of ... almost two hours, eliminating some important scenes. Shakespeare movies usually have to undergo alterations to the text, because modern audiences are accustomed to two-hour feature films. But in this ...

• Word Count: 657
• Approx Pages: 3

Essay question: Baz Luhrmann's visually appealing and confronting film successfully modernises Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Baz Luhrmann's visually appealing and confronting film successfully modernises Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Through the effective use of colour, lighting and camera angles, the atmosphere is intensified and the audience is transported into the action. Luhrmann presents social decay as the main catalyst of the tragedy, deliberately exaggerating the violence and hatred permeating Verona to challenge us to critically ... to make the ultimate sacrifice for each other. ...

• Word Count: 1387
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the greatest love story of all time, in our time. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona Beach; a violent modern city of guns, money and greed. In this opulent world hate, rival gangs and families at war, Romeo (Leonardo Dicaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes), are ignited by the passion of first forbidden love and Verona Beach explodes. Shakespeare's heart-wrenching tale of doomed love is told with passion, beauty ... at par with the Zeffirelli version, I liked this film a lot more than the stiff, Coles Notes version the Italian director served up. Baz Lugrmann's Romeo And...

• Word Count: 380
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

BAZ LUHRMANNS ROMEO AND JULIET Sometime in the 1800's, Shakespeare created a romance play called Romeo and Juliet. This has been one of the most famous love stories for around 200 years. In 1997, Baz Luhrmann did a remake of Romeo and Juliet and even though it is based on the original version, it is still very different. In the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet, you see a news reporter on the TV, ... by an unseen narrator. While the narrator is talking, flashes of the Montague's and Capulet's lives are quickly displayed on the screen. Using this and the dramatic sound effects, Baz Luhrmann a...

• Word Count: 856
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Shakespeare Coursework Romeo and Juliet" Analyse the way in which Baz Luhrmann interprets themes, characters and language during the opening scene of "Romeo and Juliet" Romeo and Juliet is a timeless, classic, love story written by William Shakespeare. The play masterfully tells the tragic love story of two "star-cross"d lovers" Romeo and Juliet. The title characters are members of two feuding families, Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet. Baz Luhrmann uses his own ideas to adapt Shakespeare's original version of "Romeo and Juliet" to ... one that he is able to successfully bring to a new a...

• Word Count: 1575
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... false, however this has not stopped him becoming one of the most famous and most accredited directors of the modern day. I personally am a huge fan of his work, and would have to say that my favourite examples of his works are "Strictly Ballroom" (1992), "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1996) and (my personal favourite) "Moulin Rouge" (2001). I have chosen to focus ... I mentioned previously. These being Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge. Ballroom dancing was made popular and introduced to a younger generation through Strictly Ballroom. Shakespeare was given ne...

• Word Count: 2477
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... in a new generation. Due to the growing mental gap between the youth of today and the Shakespearean dialect, director Baz Luhrmann creates the modern day film version of Romeo and Juliet. The opening scene of the play is absolutely one of the most powerful scenes in both the film and textual versions. However, some key elements have been altered in the film version of the ... , opposed to the traditional garments of the time in which the play was constructed. Needless to say, the film version is a much more modern and comprehendible version of the play for a new generation. The textual v...

• Word Count: 2229
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... beauty, freedom, truth and above all love. The start of the movie is energetic and enthusiastic beyond all beliefs, which moved onto being melodramatic and catastrophic. There is a lot of comedy in the story and is extremely entertaining for the audience. The costumes are well-designed and authentic to the period. With his previous films William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet and Strictly Ballroom, Baz ... Luhrmann exhibited his penchant for lurid and bold filmmaking, but ... with Moulin Rouge he has taken his flights of fantasy to new heights. To have characters set within the "baudy" ...

• Word Count: 582
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... fact, they work surprisingly well in this context. There are also some creative touches applied to familiar tunes. Luhrmann fuses "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" with "Material Girl" and develops a "Love Montage" recycling about a half-dozen love songs. Moulin Rouge subjects its viewers to a sensory overload with gaudy, gloriously over-produced musical numbers that pay homage ... An Australian with a background in opera, Luhrmann's two previous films were also experiments in exuberant excess. Strictly Ballroom made a ballroom competition into a flamboyant theatrical exercise, and hi...

• Word Count: 1658
• Approx Pages: 7