An analysis of Baz Luhrmanns film versions treatment of William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Act3 Scene 1

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An analysis of Baz Luhrmann’s film version’s treatment of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Act3 Scene 1

Act 3 Scene 1 is one of the climaxes of Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare in the 16th Century. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story and Act 3 Scene 1 highlights the problems faced by the characters during this play. In this scene Tybalt plans to kill Romeo but he is unwilling to fight. Mercutio includes himself in the quarrel resulting in his death. The tragic accident angers Romeo who then in response kills Tybalt. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic devices include the use of puns, irony and the setting of the scene on Verona‘s Streets.

          Baz Luhrmann’s techniques in this scene to create tension are the use of sound, costume, camera angles and visual interpretation.

        During Act 3 Scene 1, Baz Luhrmann’s Techniques make a big impact on the tension of the production. The location of Act 3 Scene 1 was originally on Verona’s streets in Italy but Luhrmann changes the location the location to Verona Beach with some aspects of Mexico. This is a very useful and practical use of location because of the change of atmosphere synchronising with the characters moods. The use of the beach also includes contradiction which makes the angered action seem more powerful; a beach is a place where people go to have fun and enjoy themselves. But when the setting of the scene moves to behind the arch, you can see the poverty area of the town making the actions and the grudge between the two rich families unnecessary. There is a lot of tension at the beginning of the scene between Mercutio and Tybalt; the camera shots used to show this include close ups on their faces and spinning around them to show the audience the personal vies of the characters and the big picture. This means the audience has more knowledge about the actions and consequences than the characters. There is a good use of body language in this scene and that is shown by zooming onto parts of the body. For instance, when Romeo drops the gun after shooting Tybalt, you see a close up of the gun slip from his hands. This is used because silence and movement and create more tension than the words because of the close-up.

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Baz Luhrmann adds lines when Tybalt questions Romeo on why Romeo won’t fight. In the script Mercutio say “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! ’Alla stoccata’ carries it away [Draws.] Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?” This line is broken into bits in the movie while Tybalt urges Romeo to fight. Baz Luhrmann has done this because it gives Mercutio more of a good reason to fight Tybalt on Romeo’s behalf. To show the genre of the scene before The Capulets show up Luhrmann uses pastiche. He uses pastiche from other Shakespeare productions on Posters e.g. ‘shoot forth Thunder’. There is ...

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