Luhrmann, according to Bye, wanted to steer away from “the snobbery of the Victorian inheritance in theater and the power of the Shakespearean tale for a less hide-bound audience”. The costumes throughout the film are a sight to see. While in the play, the mutual attraction (and obliviousness to the fact that even the attraction is forbidden) is evident from just this first encounter, the film uses the bright colors of the fish tank and the melodramatic costumes of the partygoers to both modernize the interpretation and use the fish tank to aesthetically and metaphorically create the divide between the two main characters. The film separates them with a fish tank, with the two lustfully and curiously eyeing one another from each side. The two, like in the play, are dumbfounded by their attraction to one another. One scene that stands out in particular is Romeo and Juliet’s first ‘meeting’, in the film. It was the presentation of the storyline that really makes the original play, now in the film medium, much more relatable and palatable. The modernity of just this first act and scene quickly showed Luhrmann’s desire to create a new type of story with Romeo and Juliet- one infused with today’s world. When the fight starts between the two groups, while Benvolio still states the original lines for the men to put up their swords, the scene shows the men each holding their own pistol, engraved with their respective houses. The film version shows the Montague ‘boys’ riding around, seemingly carelessly, in a yellow convertible.
The film, however, shows and tells a different story. The play shows this scene as being a fight that starts organically, when two opposing houses (the Capulets and Montagues) finally face each other. The play shows Benvolio telling his opponents to “put up their swords”, after being provoked by the House of Capulets. This is evident in the act one scene one ‘fight’ scene that was seen in the play. Props, stage directions, and settings are changed drastically from the original play though. Very few plot points(but still, a few) were changed from the original play. When watching Luhrmann’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, the visuals steal the show when compared to any other aspect of the original play. It was a mixture of all the aspects of the film- the use of the play’s original lines, Leonardo DiCaprio, the soundtrack, and the beautiful cinematography as well as the comedic nature of the work- that made me understand the original play more and understand the characters to an extent I never expected I would. It wasn’t until I saw the play interpreted by Baz Luhrmann, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, that I finally understood a little more why and how Romeo and Juliet ended up in the situations they did, and how they eventually ended up dead. I was dumbfounded that love could make kids so careless, so naive, and so stupid. Beyond being frustrated with the unfamiliar old English I was being exposed to, I remember being extremely frustrated and upset at the characters Romeo and Juliet themselves.
I first read Romeo and Juliet when I was in high school, as part of the mandatory high school English curriculum. The changes made to the play were done in order to reach a younger audience, mostly teenagers, as a way to keep Shakespeare relevant and show that his original works can still be relatable and entertaining. Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 blockbuster ‘Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet’ takes the classic, old English stage production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and transforms it into a fun, vibrant spectacle by injecting the original play and the lines of the original play with emotion, changing the original setting of the play into a colorful, modern cinematic masterpiece, adding a queerness and a relatability to the characters with costumes and a cast of attractive, well known actors, and adding a soundtrack and score to the film. Susan Bye, a film reviewer, wrote in her comparison of the film and the play that “Romeo and Juliet is a musical and visual extravaganza, its aesthetic of excess combining fast paced editing, unconventional cinematography, an ornate and eclectic soundtrack, a pastiche of styles, and a collage of religious and pop-culture iconography” (Bye, 109). The film grossed over $147 million, according to its official IMDB page. The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann and produced by Baz Luhrmann and Gabriella Marinelli. In 1996, yet another version of the play was released with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The 16th Century play has had countless adaptations, interpretations, and works that have been inspired by the timeless plot surround young, forbidden love. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most influential and widely spread pieces of literature in history, even over 400 years after the play was written.