Hi everyone reading this blog post! I’m back again with something a little different than usual…
In Humanities, we’ve begun a unit about Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s classic tale of tragedy and romance. For this particular unit, each week we are going to be writing a blog post about what we learned.
To start off this unit, I’m going to write my first blog post about Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, how adaptations and retellings of classic stories are important to preserving their timelessness, and how I personally think Luhrmann’s interesting take on the iconic story is a fitting spin on classic literature.

Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet is very much in the style and fashion of Luhrmann, and focuses on not only bringing the picture to life, but bringing it beyond that, into chaos. His flashy cinematography, bright colours and 90s time frame changes the story a ton. I created this storyboard to show some of the cinematography in this movie:

We may not realize it, but when studying Shakespeare, not only are we studying his work, but also the time period that he lived in.

We’re evaluating the evolution of the English language and the Elizabethan times, evident in the mechanics of putting on a Shakespearean play and how it would have been performed back in the 1500s when Shakespeare was actually alive, and had input about how his work was portrayed. Taking this away from Romeo and Juliet by setting it in a different time period (90s), changing the costumes and some of the context of the story to match the setting is a dangerous thing— it takes away some of the key elements of the Shakespearean era, and commits to changing the whole feel of the story. Luhrmann’s decision to do this was a brave one, but I also believe it to be an opportunity to make his own mark on the story, which he did.

Luhrmann’s adaptation, though debated as to how ‘good’ it is, definitely earns points for uniqueness. And when it comes to adapting Shakespeare, and classic literature in general, I think this is important to keeping the stories timeless.
If we can’t take liberties with adapting these stories time and time again, just how many versions of Romeo and Juliet could there be, set in the 1500s in fair Verona, same costumes, same soundtrack, same everything?

Re-doing stories, and re-telling them, allows us to put significant spins on them, and keep them fresh and intriguing. The wild feel of Romeo and Juliet (1996) that Luhrmann gives us is unique, and a piece of art on its own. Not only does it manage to capture the essence of the 90s, it tells a timeless classic with originality and effervescence.

Overall, you can probably tell, I’m a fan of Luhrmann’s adaptation (maybe it’s just because of Leo and the flashy cinematography, but pshhhhhhh) and I think there’s a method to his madness when it comes to leaving your own mark on your work, as a person “remaking” something (in this case, a classic play).
Come back later to see what I’ve thought up next week for my “This Week I Learned” topic! 🙂