Romeo and Juliet - Film and Text Analysis

In Romeo and Juliet, love is depicted in several ways. Both Luhrman and Shakespeare represent love in different ways in different contexts to both the Elizabethan era and the contemporary audience. Both the original and later manifestations of the text are valued because they both communicate to the audience on the values of love and society by employing a variety of devices.

The central subject dealt within Romeo and Juliet is the subject of love. William Shakespeare and Baz Luhrman thus represent love to their audience beyond the distinct ideas of love as simple sentiments. In the play, there are 2 basic levels – the real world of Verona and the private, intimate sphere of Romeo and Juliet’s love.

The fulfillment of Romeo and Juliet’s love in the social life of Verona is hindered by external influences; the most obvious of which is the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. The “ancient grudge” is one of many conditions and incidents, which together can be, considered an influence counter-acting the relationship between Romeo and Juliet.

Despite the obvious obstacles of conflict and hate, the love of Romeo and Juliet is born and subsists. When Romeo meets Juliet for the first time during the Capulets’ feast (I.v), the language and form of the dialogue shared by Romeo and Juliet shows that heir private sphere is totally different from public life.

Shakespeare thus presents their fist conversation via a sonnet, a poetic convention very popular in the Elizabethan age. A sonnet’s expression of the lyrical “I” allows Shakespeare to break the limits of dramatic performance and to involve his audience emotionally as if they were recipients to a poem. This therefore means that Shakespeare represents Romeo and Juliet’s love by making the audience of the two different levels – one where all forms of social order break down, and the other, where Romeo and Juliet are the centre of the universe.

Luhrman also presents this concept of two opposing levels as a representation of love via the use of cinematic techniques. In the aquarium scene, camera distances vary from medium close-shot to close-up and back again. The idea of social and physical barriers is presented by having the fish tank between the two of them, keeping them apart – thus visualizing to the audience the opposing level of Romeo and Juliet’s love. When the two lovers kiss, the cameras encircle them, thus suggesting that Romeo and Juliet are at the centre of their own universe, in total disregard or lack of awareness of the social chaos (as suggested by the blurred images) around them.

The language of Shakespeare also helps to create this intimate and different sphere of love. When Romeo catches the sight of Juliet, he imagines “touching her, make blessed my rude hand”. To “touch her hand” is a linguistic representation of touch, a tactile sign. In the pilgrim sonnet, the focus of attention is touch, by semantic means. The words “hands” and “lips” appear four times each, “kiss” and “touch” twice each, and besides which, there are expressions with physical implications like “tender”, “mannerly” and “palm”. This is also alluded to by Luhrman for the cameras keep on encircling them, focusing on her hands on his back and vice versa, thus presenting to the audience the physicality of their love.

When Romeo and Juliet first together in a sonnet, its syntactical structure and semantic means create an intimate sphere of love, whereby which the private emotional experiences of the lovers in intently explored in isolation and in relation to the ideas of love, destiny and death. However, while Shakespeare implies as to the physicality of their love, Luhrman shows it (the touching) – not only to show what Shakespeare was suggesting), but also to meet the expectations of a contemporary audience which prefers action to implication.

In the sonnet, Romeo and Juliet take it in turns to speak the lines. This shows how in tune they are with each other, much as Romeo and Mercutio’s sharing of lines in Act 1, scene 4 reflects their good relationship. This also reveals to the audience an empathy that the two “star-crossed” lovers were made fore each other. Luhrman achieves this via the use of smitten, longing looks, the close-up shots, and the music of Des’ree (Kissing You).

Through Scene 5, Romeo continues to show himself as a hopeless romantic besotted with beautiful girls. His language indicates that he thinks of love and commitment in terms of sight: “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”, as he says at his first glimpse of Juliet. This statement recalls Scene 2, in which he spoke of “ the devout religion of mine eye” and said that if his eyes were heretical enough o consider another girl more beautiful than his Rosaline, his tears would turn to fire and burn at stake. However, as soon as he lays his eyes on Juliet, his devotion to the apparently less beautiful Rosaline disappears – and a new religion is found for Romeo.

Shakespeare thus portrays Romeo and his love as an infatuation. This infatuation is evident in how instantaneously Romeo falls out of love with Rosaline and into love with Juliet. At one stage, Rosaline was the “precious treasure of his eyesight”, yet Romeo’s embodiment of perfection was, a few scenes later, his notion of defectiveness. This therefore reveals to the audience the instantaneous and reckless path of the two lovers, as well as the fickleness of adolescent “love”, diminishing at the sight of something ameliorate and more impressive.

Luhrman supplements this image by showing Romeo and Juliet as innocent, beautiful and youthful. This is achieved by the continuous focus of the cameras on the freshness of their skin, the sparkling eyes, flushed cheeks and pink lips in addition to the words of Shakespeare.

This image is employed because a modern, youthful audience is more likely to be attracted to watching a movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes because they can easily relate to them. The message behind the text is also supplemented by the costumes. In this scene, Romeo is dressed as a knight and Juliet as an angel. This visualizes what Shakespeare is implying - that Romeo sees himself as a knight in shining armour, and that for now, Juliet is his pedestal for perfection. Not only does this attract a contemporary audience (attracted to the notion of Leonardo Di Caprio dressed as a knight and Claire Danes as an angel), but it also shows an older audience the irony of Shakespeare’s implications by elaborating it into images, supplemented by costumes, lighting and music.

In Romeo and Juliet, the spoken word gets more attention than in any other film, due mostly to the fact that the film keeps to the original text, dated 1597. This creates an effect of alienation and contributes to the ‘other-world’ atmosphere of Verona Beach. Another type of sound employed by Luhrman in the film is music. Music is even more direct than images, and thus contributes to the atmosphere of the film in a significant way. By using the music of young, new artists, the film gets its nineties, film status, thus making it appealing to a wider scale of audience. Music in this film is used to support the images – such as Des’ree’s Kissing You, which is used to supplement the lover’s first kiss. It is also used to unify images. For example, Kym Mazelle’s Young Hearts Run Free is ironic to the impending dramatic tension (when Romeo and Juliet fall in love) as well as in contrast to the love song that is to follow.

Another representation of love in the play is light. When Romeo initially sees Juliet, he compares her immediately to the brilliant light of the torches and tapers that illuminate the Capulets' great hall: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” (I.V.46), whereby which Juliet is the light that frees him from his perpetual melancholia. In his contemporised version, Luhrman uses the blue colours reflecting form the fish tank as his source of light. Not only does this make the setting romantic, but also makes it more appealing to a modern audience.

In his play, Shakespeare represents the love of Romeo and Juliet as a religion. This is evident in the religious imagery employed in the sonnet, whereby which Romeo’s feelings for Juliet is compared to that of a religion where Juliet’s hand is the “holy shrine” and his own lips “two blushing pilgrims”. When the tow lovers kiss in the film, Luhrman uses music to create an intimate, romantic atmosphere for the audience. However, the words of Des’ree’s Kissing You are a slow and melodious – almost lethargically, and religious and holy. This is in contrast to the blurred images of people drinking and using drugs in the background, and again the music creates a feeling of alienation where Romeo and Juliet are at the centre of their own universe.

Luhrman thus uses the technique of ‘mis en scene’ to depict the religion of love as well as to the innocence and youth of the two lovers. Religion was thus portrayed by the holy music, the cross around Juliet’s neck, her costume – and all supplemented by Shakespeare’s religious imagery. Luhrman also uses beauty to sell the film to the audience by making them aware of the purity of Juliet. This is evident to her long hair, her white costume, the cross around her neck as well as the innocence and youthfulness of her character.

Another technique used by Luhrman in his film is the iterative motif of water. The aquarium serves as a physical barrier between the two lovers, even though there are also a lot of emotional barriers. Moreover, love also serves as a symbol of their love. Even though Romeo is dazed from the XTC pill and his infatuation with Rosaline, it is the water that purifies and cleanses his mind – and it the free, flowing nature of water that Luhrman uses as a representation of love.

It is thus plausible to see that Luhrman portrays Romeo and Juliet as an allegory for the late 20th century, whereby Verona Beach is a caricature of the violent atmosphere of our time as well as serving as a representation of love and conflict. The major difference however between Shakespeare and Luhrman’s portrayal is that 100 years ago, violence and hedonism was a fashion phase, whereas today it is a part of our society.

Due to the lack of technology in society in the 19th century, the art of plays, and the conventions of the Elizabethan theatre had more focus on the words with minimal costuming and cinematic techniques. Yet among other things, the art of theatre is or was a reflection on society, and Luhrman criticizes the present time by setting Shakespeare’s tale in another time, with the same tragedy of death. Thus both Shakespeare and Luhrman portray conflict and the representations of love in two different levels – two different levels that shape and reflects the values of both the Elizabethan and contemporary society.