Comparing Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet

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As a form of writing, plays are adaptable, allowing directors to make their own choices to accentuate ideas as they want. Baz Luhrmann created Shakespeare’s 17th century play, Romeo and Juliet, into something visually captivating for current viewers. In Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers named Romeo and Juliet fall in love, oblivious to the fact that their families are enemies. Because they realize their passionate love is doomed due to the feuding families, they both decide to take their lives in a tragic ending. Cinematic and directorial decisions significantly impact the telling of Romeo and Juliet given director Luhrmann's decision to redesign the story for a modern audience. The directorial decision that had the biggest impact on Romeo …show more content…
Specifically, Baz Luhrmann had to make sure his audience could accept that Romeo is desperate and hopeful for love, and Juliet is so naïve and innocent that she could fall in love with Romeo so easily. The director illustrates these believable traits when Romeo and Juliet are first seen in the film When Romeo first emerges he is seen depressed, smoking a cigarette while writing poetry, wandering aimlessly on a clouded day. The cameras zoom on Romeo’s melancholy face. Baz Luhrmann uses the zoomed shots to portray expressions of being lost and upset. Not long after seeing Romeo in the film Juliet is introduced as a young girl with an innocent personality. Lord Capulet’s face is zoomed into when he says, “My child is yet a stranger in the world; Let two more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” This implies that she is naïve and could be easily charmed, and is done to add emphasis to the fact that Lord Capulet thinks she is still young. In other scenes close-ups are done on her makeup less face an aspect that makes her more innocent. By using modern media techniques Baz Luhrmann could allow for his audience to believe that love at first site between these two people was
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