Romeo and Juliet Act 1, Scene 1
Being the first scene of Shakespeare´s famous play Romeo and Juliet the fight in the streets of Verona between the servants of the feuding families and later joined by Benvolio, Tybalt, Montague and Capulet is very important for the rest of the plot. This scene shows how bitter the dispute between the families is as well as the attempt by one of the family members to stop the brawl. It establishes the states concern over the family feuding as the prince comes in to stop the fight and threating the heads of the families that “if ever you disturb out streets again your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. The importance of this scene and its openness to interpretation is why the following is going to look at the way this scene is presented in the film adaption of 1996 directed by Baz Luhrmann and the theatre adaption of 2009 directed by Dominic Dromgoole in more detail.
In the film, the action takes place at Verona beach (a fictional North American setting) and the feuding families are sharply distinguished by their clothes. The Montagues are wearing casual beachwear …show more content…
The film draws on pop-culture images such as those from Miami Vice, which depicted both urban glamour and crime. Luhrmann clearly distinguishes the downtown area from the beach. He associates the city with the violence of the feud and the idyllic beach with love and peace. Luhrmann chooses a modern city as the setting for his film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet to present a chaotic urban world familiar to a 20th-century cinema audience. The media coverage of the feud makes the play's events familiar to a modern audience as they watch violent video of the chaos on the streets of Verona Beach and are drawn into the feud-ravaged world of the film. The updated and renamed Verona Beach is a clever mechanism by which peaceful and violent worlds
Being the first scene of Shakespeare´s famous play Romeo and Juliet the fight in the streets of Verona between the servants of the feuding families and later joined by Benvolio, Tybalt, Montague and Capulet is very important for the rest of the plot. This scene shows how bitter the dispute between the families is as well as the attempt by one of the family members to stop the brawl. It establishes the states concern over the family feuding as the prince comes in to stop the fight and threating the heads of the families that “if ever you disturb out streets again your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. The importance of this scene and its openness to interpretation is why the following is going to look at the way this scene is presented in the film adaption of 1996 directed by Baz Luhrmann and the theatre adaption of 2009 directed by Dominic Dromgoole in more detail.
In the film, the action takes place at Verona beach (a fictional North American setting) and the feuding families are sharply distinguished by their clothes. The Montagues are wearing casual beachwear …show more content…
The film draws on pop-culture images such as those from Miami Vice, which depicted both urban glamour and crime. Luhrmann clearly distinguishes the downtown area from the beach. He associates the city with the violence of the feud and the idyllic beach with love and peace. Luhrmann chooses a modern city as the setting for his film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet to present a chaotic urban world familiar to a 20th-century cinema audience. The media coverage of the feud makes the play's events familiar to a modern audience as they watch violent video of the chaos on the streets of Verona Beach and are drawn into the feud-ravaged world of the film. The updated and renamed Verona Beach is a clever mechanism by which peaceful and violent worlds