The 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet was captured brilliantly on camera. This would mean you would have gone out to a movie theater to see it, or watch it on a video. In the movie, if the part called for a woman, then a woman would be chosen, and visa versa for the men. The movie could be shot any time of the day, because now we have electric power that can provide us with light day or night. Major roles are usually don’t have any special entrance sound effects or anything. The people who are usually watching the movie know who the main characters are because of previews and advertising.
Many of the scenes in the old play are different from today’s movie. For example in the beginning of the play, Romeo and Juliet meet at a masquerade ball and it is love at first sight. They meet again at her room balcony and they fall completely and utterly in love. During the ending of the play, when Juliet takes the sleeping potion, Friar Lawrence sends a messenger on horseback to warn Romeo so he doesn’t think she’s actually dead. It ends with Romeo seeing her dead, so he takes a poison, killing himself. When Juliet awakens from her deep sleep, she finds that Romeo has killed himself for her, and she knows that she can’t live without him, so she takes his dagger and stabs herself.
In the movie the scenes are indeed very contradictory from the play. For instance, Romeo and Juliet first meet through the two sides of a large Aquarium. They don’t talk, they just stare at each other and it is love at first sight. When the two meet again, it is outside Juliet’s room, by the pool. Most of that scene is takes place in the pool, where they express their love for one another in many ways. Close to the ending of the movie, when Juliet takes the sleeping potion, Friar Lawrence sends a fax through a post office to inform Romeo so he doesn’t assume that she’s actually dead. This tragic tale ends when Romeo thinks Juliet is really dead, and he knows that life wouldn’t be worth living if Juliet is not around, so he takes a drug, killing himself. When Juliet arises from her deep sleep, and sees that Romeo has taken his life for her. She knows that she cannot live with out him so she takes out Romeo’s gun and kills herself with it.
At the time the play was created. Only a few props would be used. Simple little things would be used a lot of the time. For example, they would use candles to indicate night scenes. Battle scenes were accompanied by gunpowder to make a realistic effect. In the play the weapons they used were swords. The clothing they wore was very different, but at the same time it was unique. Men wore breeches, blouse, a codpiece and tights. Women wore low bodices. A Rich noble men like Count Paris or a wealthy young man like Romeo usually wore a velvet doublet, which would sometimes have golden embroidery. Juliet and Lady Capulet wore fancy fabrics like, taffeta, silk, or satin gowns, and everyone (public in general) would have had hats, gloves, ruffs (a type of collar), stocking, and shoes equally sophisticated.
Nowadays we have a lot of technology surrounding us, so the creators of the movie try and use as many props as they can to make the movie seem a bit more up to date, and “cooler.” The newer style of Romeo and Juliet had many interesting clothing and props. Drugs were also used in this version, to make the people that watched the movie think that drugs were “cool and hip.” Hundreds of props were used for this movie, some of the main ones were: Cars, guns, and televisions. Remember that these were only the main ones, there were many more props that were less accounted. The clothing they wore was modern. The men in this version looked like someone you would see walking down the street on a hot summer day. The women, still wore dresses, dressed much more modern then they would have in the play.
The relationships between the characters, plot, and the theme of hatred in the play and the movie, connect resulting in two similar yet somewhat differing representations of the most famous love story of all time. The interaction between the characters of the new and the old Romeo and Juliet reflect the time periods and the original story. It is the differences as well as the similarities in this tragic event that make both the original and the inspired a little more interesting. Romeo and Juliet in numerous ways portray the common themes of hatred and violence. Romeo and Juliet’s blind love is the force that brings together two enemies.
