In the modern version, Luhrmann makes the difference between the two gangs very distinct. They dress completely differently, with the Capulets in leather jackets and Montagues in open shirts. But in the 1968 version of the film, the two gangs wear the same style clothes, which are only seen to be different due to the fact the colours contrast greatly. This could be possibly be because in the time of the actual play, you couldn’t buy or make clothes in the wide range of materials we see today, so the clothes would have to be very similar, as there would only be one thing which could make them different from each other, which is the colour as we see. However in the world today there are hundreds of styles of clothes, so the clothes worn in the film would be made as different as possible, with the modern range of clothing much bigger than it was in Shakespeare’s time, when the play was set and written.
Zeferelli’s film has the fight in the beginning started by the Capulets, who are cocky and brave, while Luhrmann’s edition has its fight started by the Montagues, who are seen as being very frightened of the Capulets. This makes us apprehensive of conflict between the two sets of gang members, with the Capulets acting as the strong bullies who pick on the weak, nervous, Montagues. This point is illustrated when Abra the Capulet scares the Montagues, and then gets into his car. In my opinion this is simply a sort of update from the plays time to modern times, where honour and pride are less important to us, so it is acceptable to scare and humiliate another man, which, again, is a technique used to bring the film up to date.
Zeferelli makes the fight obviously more widespread in his version. He does this by, firstly, having a church bell ring in the background. In the days the film was set, the church would have been a massive part of the city and culture when it was almost obligatory to attend church, so the sounding bell would be much more meaningful than anything else. It would be sort of like a police car siren we hear today, and would signal that there is crime going on. Secondly, he shows close-ups of ‘innocent bystanders’ in the chaos of the fight. There are people at the market, who are caught up in a huge battle of which they are not even involved in, which again gives the impression that the fight is more like a battle of a large scale. And thirdly, we see numerous different shots from numerous different locations of the city, which makes us think that the fight is happening everywhere and affects every person, making the feud seem a lot more heated and important to every ones lives, not just the Montagues or Capulets, but Luhrmanns version only focuses on the petrol station the small fight is fought in, and we don’t see anyone else affected by the fight until the chief of police descends towards Benvolio and Tybalt.
The fight is made a lot more intense in my opinion in the Zeferelli version of the play. There are close-ups on Tybalt, which show his desire to fight and the setting is engulfed by the heat of the day, making it more aggravating, irritable and uncomfortable. The Church bell is used in this same way; it bombards us with sound, creating confusion and irritation. In the Luhrmann version however, the fight seems less intense. This is because firstly, the music we hear in the background fails to make us confused, shocked or apprehensive; secondly, the way in which Tybalt moves is a lot different. In the Zeferelli version, he moves like a skilled fighter as he approaches Benvolio, but in the Luhrmann version, he moves more like a dancer, which makes him seem a lot less menacing to us, and we therefore feel less scared of him or what he might bring to the film; the third way in which the Luhrmann fight is made less intense than it appears to be in the Zeferelli version is that there is an element of humour that a modern-day audience recognises and responds to in his version of the film. When one of the Montague’s is hiding behind a car, he is hit repeatedly on the head by the frightened passenger of the car, this is there to make us laugh, as a modern day audience has this to expect, while in the older adaptation we might not recognise the humour, as it would be the humour of Shakespeare’s day aimed at a completely different audience to us, and this would make the fight seem completely serious to us. By making us laugh the scene makes us calmer and less apprehensive, whilst at the same time lets us know that Luhrmann has noticed the need for not just violence and action for us to appreciate and enjoy a film. This mix of Tybalt’s dancing movements, the humour, the fighting, and the music makes films opening a lot harder to follow, as well as making the fight less intense. Whereas the Zeferelli version shows a simple (but all-encompassing) battle, without any extra humour added for the expectant audience.
The weaponry is updated in the Luhrmann version. The fighters use swords in the 1968 version, as if there were in really a street fight in Verona in the time of the play, then swords would have been used, while the modern day adaptation shows the use of guns. This convinces us of the modern environment and makes the environment more believable and realistic, and is yet another example of the techniques Luhrmann has used to bring the play (or film) up to modern day expectations and standards.
There are other ways in which the objects and people from the Zeferelli version have been updated to the Luhrmann version. For example, in the 1968 film, the Prince approaches the two heads of the families on a horse in the company of his servants, which brings the fight to a complete standstill which shows us the definite and respected authority of the Prince, but in the modern version, the Prince (authoritative figure) has become the police chief (which is seen to be a modern day equal of the Prince of the Medieval version) and he approaches with the rest of the police force, in a police helicopter and it takes a threat to the life of Tybalt and Benvolio for them to not shoot each other in the chaos and confusion created in this version by the helicopters, to make us more tense and apprehensive. The police chief represents the Prince, the helicopters represent the horses, and the rest of the police force represent the Prince’s servants.
So the differences for the most part are concerning the update in the setting of the film, as one is set in Medieval Italy, with the other in present day America. But we are also faced with massive differences in the opening fight scene, due to, again, mainly an update in setting and a change in our (the audiences) expectations of what a film should include.
