How does Baz Luhrmann use props, iconography, costumes and settings to create his own version of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet?
William Shakespeare’s best loved tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, has been portrayed in theatres and on film in many different ways. But none have been quite like Baz Luhrmann’s imaginative and unconventional adaptation. He has brought aspects of the plays Elizabethan origins and transfused them with a modern day background and created, what can only be described as a masterpiece. I believe that his use of Props, iconography costumes and the settings he has chosen has helped him to make this film such a great success.
The settings of each scene have been specifically chosen to create a desired affect. The first scene is a television which automatically brings the modern feel to the film. As the camera gives the sense of the television moving slowly towards us we suddenly break into a quick speedy montage showing the story and some of the characters. The introduction to the play is repeated, once on the television by the news reader and again during the opening montage. This may be to create effect or perhaps to show the importance and publicity this story had.
The scene in the petrol station focuses on the rivalry and hatred of the two families, The Capulets and the Montagues. The two families have contrasting clothes, cars, styles and looks. The Montague boys have bright vibrant colours implying their childish and somewhat carefree behaviour, all with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin, whereas the Capulets wear all black which shows they have more of an evil side. They have the dark hair, eyes and skin. For example, Tybalt Capulet, the Prince of cats, is wearing Jesus on his top and he has metal cat shaped heels on his black leather shoes; but on the contrary Benvolio Romeo’s cousin is wearing a multi-coloured Hawaiian shirt. Tybalt is false protagonistin. He is portrayed as a main character but is killed off before the end. The fight scene between the families is clearly won by the Capulets as they are portrayed to have a passion for fighting. In the play they use swords and daggers but in this unique film, Luhrmann has named guns to fit with the script. The boys have ‘swords’ and Sir Montague has a ‘long sword’. Baz Luhrmann introduces a ‘Mexican standoff’ between Tybalt and Benvolio, where neither one can shoot at the other because no one would emerge as the true winner. This brings equality between the two, and therefore similarities between the two families.
