Reading takes you to another world.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Meets Film

What's so spectacular about Romeo and Juliet? It's been "shown" in so many different forms/ways. The form that struck me the most, is the film by Bahz Luhrman. It's has a modern "look" but somehow was able to stick with the original Shakespeare "language" and still be amazing. Even while reading the actual script, I think about this film. This film has even helped me understand what's going on in each act of the book. If you haven't seen this film, I recommend you do! Especially, if you're a big Shakespeare fan!

Romeo and Juliet is story about two young lovers. They experience "love at first sight". I for one don't believe in "love at first sight", however, I do know that there are many people that do. Either way, this book is a great example of deep, strong and true love.
The book, does not interest me as much as the film does. I mean, that's obvious. But there are reasons. And I'm going to explain them.

The Look:
"design a classical contemporary world" --- "the year would be impossible to place"--- The story is brought together by the "look". It's a world that you can't put your finger on. You can't say this is present day. Or this looks like the 1900's. And if you can, then Catherine Martin didn't do her job well. "Classical contemporary"- an ancient-modern time. a time that is modern, yet still pertains to the past. I feel like this is the "look" of the film.

The Language:
"collaged signs, symbols and imagery from the twentieth century to clarify for contemporary audiences who was who and how this world worked"--- The film was so "amazing" because it had a modern look but a classic feel-if that even makes sense- the language was original; kept the same. So even though the look was more modern, the language stuck true to it's Shakespeare roots! (:

Those are the two reasons I enjoyed this movie more than reading the book.