Romeo and Juliet
The problem that faced Baz Luhrmann when he was directing the new version of Romeo and Juliet was that he didn't know whether there would be an audience for Shakespearean stories in a modern culture. So Luhrmann didn't make this film with the old-fashioned, Shakespeare "purist" in mind. Instead, by using lively, modern images (swimming pool etc.) with a modern rock soundtrack and young good-looking popular actors, he has taken Romeo and Juliet to an audience that would normally think of Shakespeare as a chore to be studied in school (!). However to make it successful with the target teenagers he would have to change a few things- It has to have vibrant on-screen action, soppy love scenes and references to sex. By incorporating these three things into the film he can kill two birds with one stone. He will have an action film that is exiting and fun to watch, and a more romantic "chick-flick". For this reason things would have to be edited.
Another reason for editing the text would be to keep the length of the film down to a more suitable length for a movie, so some text and descriptive poetry had to be removed. However this doesn't necessarily remove any of our understanding as speech can be replaced with images which, though a different way of communicating can add to our understanding even. The old Shakespearean language can be hard to understand, but images are more universal and can be understood by pretty much anyone. An example of images being used to put across a message is the use of the Madonna figure throughout the play. It shows that Juliet is always looked after. Romeo is looked after by the Friar, Juliet's religious guiding figure could be seen as the Virgin Mary? The Madonna figure is shown at many stages throughout the film. Four of these are:
The problem that faced Baz Luhrmann when he was directing the new version of Romeo and Juliet was that he didn't know whether there would be an audience for Shakespearean stories in a modern culture. So Luhrmann didn't make this film with the old-fashioned, Shakespeare "purist" in mind. Instead, by using lively, modern images (swimming pool etc.) with a modern rock soundtrack and young good-looking popular actors, he has taken Romeo and Juliet to an audience that would normally think of Shakespeare as a chore to be studied in school (!). However to make it successful with the target teenagers he would have to change a few things- It has to have vibrant on-screen action, soppy love scenes and references to sex. By incorporating these three things into the film he can kill two birds with one stone. He will have an action film that is exiting and fun to watch, and a more romantic "chick-flick". For this reason things would have to be edited.
Another reason for editing the text would be to keep the length of the film down to a more suitable length for a movie, so some text and descriptive poetry had to be removed. However this doesn't necessarily remove any of our understanding as speech can be replaced with images which, though a different way of communicating can add to our understanding even. The old Shakespearean language can be hard to understand, but images are more universal and can be understood by pretty much anyone. An example of images being used to put across a message is the use of the Madonna figure throughout the play. It shows that Juliet is always looked after. Romeo is looked after by the Friar, Juliet's religious guiding figure could be seen as the Virgin Mary? The Madonna figure is shown at many stages throughout the film. Four of these are: