Blog post #4: A Visualized End

Marinda Hsu

2016.10.09

Lit and Performance

Ms. Guarino

Blog #4

                                                                A Visualized End

    Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet is my favorite version throughout all other films of this love story. Obviously, this version is set in a more modern situation comparing to Shakespeare’s original setting. Other adaptations that were made in the last two acts included the way how the prince was replaced by the police and how he was chasing after Romeo with a lot of other policies with guns when he was heading back to Juliet’s fake funeral in Verona. A part I realized that was changed, is the ending, where the book says:”A glooming peace this morning with it brings”; But in the movie version, the sun did not rise until then. The news was released in the morning, but within the short period of time where everyone found out Romeo and Juliet’s death in the movie, was during night time. Another change was the part where Juliet was in transient death and how Paris have reacted. The whole part where Paris was expressing his sadness and showing his triffling suspect toward Juliet’s death was not being shown in the movie version. Instead, in the book a quote like this was being said by Paris that have catched my attention while reading:”O love, O life! Not life, but love in death”. Last but not least, during Act 5 scene 3 where Paris and Romeo fought, was not being acted in the film version. Eventually, many parts of Paris’s scenes were not being shown completely in the adaptations of the movie. This could be a solution on how the director wanting the audience to focus more on Romeo and Juliet’s relationship without too much distractions. 

    Overall, the biggest adaptation I see in the flim version was when Juliet and Romeo died together in the church. In Shakespeare’s version, Friar Lawrence was there when Juliet suicide and Romeo was already out of breaths when Juliet woke up. In comparison, the film version made Romeo and Juliet both awake for a short amount of time and made Romeo still breathing untill Juliet have finished talking. Also, Juliet stabbed herself with a dagger instead of a modern film version, with gun. However, visualizing all these classical and important scenes into a film is more romantic and shocking for me as an audience. Especially the warm, orange candle light being lit up in the church when Romeo and Juliet dies was giving the audience a more emotional feedback within the large set up. Therefore, the emotion the audience was left with after watching the film version was filled with sadness and emptiness, but also toucing because of them hugging on to eachother right before and as death strikes them. The film have done a good job showing all these sadness through out the ending scene where the coloe was grey and black, it was even raining when during the last scene where both famillies found out their chirldrens’ sudden death. Even though the film adaptations could be missing some small details and parts from the original Shakespeare version, as a reader that could not understand old English that well, a visualized version have gave me a more emotional reaction towards the last two acts which were very suspending and intense in events.