In this piece of coursework I will be comparing two different films based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the original text.

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Romeo & Juliet

In this piece of coursework I will be comparing two different films based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the original text.

I will first introduce the two different films:

  1. Baz Luhrman version – this version is set in modern times, in a large city, Verona. The language is Shakespearian but everything else has been converted to modern style.
  2. Franco Zefferreli – This is set in medieval times. Most things are as the original text. It seems like a Greek or Italian city, however it is still Verona.

At the start of the films, there are prologues that attempt to tell you what is happening.

In the modern, Luhrman version, a news reporter on a television against a black background does this, however in the Zefferelli version, the prologue is told as the credits and title is shown. The speaker is not seen, and the voice is coming from the background, the speech is in an old style. In addition, the Luhrman version has a series of scenes that explain and show to the viewers who the different characters in the film are, also in these scenes it repeats a section of the prologue in text and speech accompanied by fast paced, classical music. In the original text, there are 14 lines of text in the prologue, however, in the films prologue, the Luhrman version cuts down the lines to only 12 when the TV reporter is speaking it, and then cuts it down to 9 during the action scenes in the civil brawls, so it ends at “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”. The Zefferelli version, during its prologue stops at line 8 which is, “doth with their death bury parents‘ strife”, therefore it may be that in this film, the emphasis on whose fault it was that Romeo and Juliet died is on the parents.

After the prologue, the two films move onto Act 1 Scene 1. In the Luhrman version, the scene is started when it shows the Montague “boys” in a car going down a road. The speech is cut and it starts the scene at line 7. However, in this version, it is the Montagues that are shown first, whereas in the original text it is the Capulet. Therefore, instead of the men saying, “A dog of the house of Montagues moves me”, they say, “A dog of the house of Capulet moves me”. The Zefferelli version follows the text more closely. The scene is set in a market place with the Capulets walking along and the speech starts from the original starting point.

I think that the Luhrman version has a much better introduction to the film than the Zefferelli. The mix of the TV reporter, the flashing text along with the speech and the racing classical music during the action scenes is very eye catching and makes you want to see the rest of the film.

        In the original text, the production is set in fair Verona, an old style Italian setting, which means white houses, vines etc. The Luhrman production sets the scene in fair Verona. However, this setting is very different from the original text. There are tall rectangular buildings and skyscrapers, mainly metallic colours around. The actual scene begins in a petrol station as opposed to a market place in the original text. There aren’t many people visible, most of the people that are shown are the characters for that scene. However, there are quite a few cars. The section is mainly set in the petrol station, therefore there are many petrol pumps and light colours.
The Zefferelli version follows the text much more closely. The setting and scene are set in an old style Italian or Greek market place with lots of people around. There are many bright colours and many different objects. There are food stalls with multicoloured foods, and merchants and people walking around.
The emphasis in this scene from the original ext is that it’s a busy marketplace with many people. The Zefferelli version shows that clearly to the viewer, however the Luhrman version has completely changed it. There are only a few people, most of whom are the main characters and it is set in a completely different location.

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        The very first line in the prologue says “two households, both alike in dignity”. He is trying to tell us that these two are the same in nearly all respects and that they hold a grudge. Like fighting fire with fire, two equal sides fighting. However, the films are different in some respects.
The Luhrman represents the Montagues first as a group of unlawful and trouble causing. This is shown with them driving down the road in a relaxed kind of fashion and screaming out of the car, also in their clothing. They are wearing colourfull hawaian clothes. In addition, ...

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