Term Papers on Franco Zeffirelli And Baz Luhrmanns Romeo And Juliet

Term Paper Title	Franco Zeffirelli And Baz Luhrmanns Romeo And Juliet
# of Words	930
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.72

Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet

     Sex, drugs, and violence are usually a potent combination, and only
William Shakespeare could develop them into a masterful, poetic, and  elegant
story.  In the play, "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," all these aspects of
teenage life absorb the reader or watcher.  It is understood that Hollywood
would try to imitate this masterpiece on screen, and it has done so in two
films: Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" and Baz Luhrmann's 1996
"William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."  The updated Luhrmann picture best
captures the essence of Shakespeare for the present-day viewer.  Through the
ingenious use of modernization and location, while preserving Shakespearean
language, the spirit of Shakespeare emerges to captivate a large audience.
     Shakespeare's plays were designed to adapt to any audience: with this in
mind, Baz Luhrmann created a film that applies to the modern audience through
this updating. Luhrmann modernizes "Romeo and Juliet," through constant
alterations of the props, which entice the audience into genuinely feeling the
spirit of Shakespeare.  First, the movie starts with an prologue masked as a
news broadcast on television.  This sets the scene of the play by illustrating
the violence occurring between the two wealthy families, the Montagues and the
Capulets.  In Zeffirelli's film of "Romeo and Juliet," the prologue takes the
form of a dry narrator relating the story of the Montagues and Capulets over a
backdrop of an Italian city.  For most modern viewers (especially teenagers),
the Luhrmann picture is fast-paced, keeping the spectator intrigued, while the
Zeffirelli picture is dreary and dull, an endless maze of long and boring
conversations, foreshadowed by the prologue.  In Luhrmann's film, the actors,
instead of carrying swords with them, hide guns in their shirts and wield them
expertly.  The death of Romeo and Juliet is (as always) blamed on the post
office, for not delivering the letter properly.  And, to be politically correct,
Mercutio appears at the Capulets' ball dressed as a large woman.  The actors in
Zeffirelli's version of Shakespeare wear colored tights and bulging blouses;
thus they appear more comical because they are outdated.  By modernizing these
aspects of the play, and reconstructing the prologue, Luhrmann creates a movie
that is more interesting to the modern viewer, and captures the essence of
Shakespeare's writings.  Evidencing this viewer-friendliness, the 1996 "William
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" made almost twelve million dollars in the month
of November alone due to its clever alterations.
     As well as updating Shakespeare's play to the present decade through
props, Baz Luhrmann's film is more enjoyable because of the vibrant settings.
The Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" occurs in an ancient Italian city, with
cobblestone streets and Roman mansions. Although the original play was meant to
be performed in this setting, the modern viewer cannot relate to the environment,
and thus has a hard time understanding the plot.
     In Luhrmann's versio...

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