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Romeo and Juliet Film Study

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Submitted By Allinna
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Literacy for Work and Community life
Text Analysis: Romeo and Juliet Film Response
In 1996, Australian director Baz Luhrmann decided to adapt Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into his own style as a modern film. Romeo and Juliet is a story of how they met and fell in love with each other, but both tragically ended their lives due to their feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. In the prologue, it starts off with a newsreader on a TV, acting as Shakespeare’s narrator. The prologue and opening scene were significant because it showed the audience, right from the beginning, how deep the hatred was between the Montagues and Capulets, which focuses on the themes family feud and hubris.

Luhrmann uses a wide shot of skyscrapers, one belonging to the Montagues on one side of the street and the Capulets on the other side. This gives the audience a hint of what might be rivalry, hatred, and battle, which highlights the theme family feud. The opening scene involves boys from the Montagues and Capulets at a petrol station. Baz Luhrmann uses costumes to portray the opposing families, the Montagues and Capulets. For example, the Montagues were wearing beach clothing which gives proposes to the audience that they are carefree. On the other hand Tybalt, who represented the Capulets, wore a black suit suggesting that he was much more intelligent. Tybalt was introduced with an extreme close up and his face was filled with disgust and hatred which was directed towards the Montagues. This hatred comes from all his pride, ego, and the duty of protecting his family’s honour, therefore highlighting the key theme hubris. This extreme close up repeated a few times going back and forth from Tybalt and Benvolio which increased the intensity between them due to their hatred which also highlights the film family feud.

Romeo attended the party at the Montague’s mansion which

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