Presentation Romeo & Juliet

• Shakespeare for Teachers
• WO
• Studiejaar 1

Adapting Shakespeare

Movie adaptations of Romeo and Juliet

Overview

• Introduction to adaptation
  
• Movies
• Death Scene
• Romeo + Juliet
• Gnomeo & Juliet
• Rosaline
• Discussion / Questions

Adaptation

1. "An altered or amended version of a text, musical composition, etc., (now esp.) one adapted for filming, broadcasting, or production on the stage from a novel or similar literary source" (OED)

2. "The action or process of altering, amending, or modifying something, esp. something that has been created for a particular purpose, so that it suitable for a new use" (OED)

Plays

Books

Songs

Movies

Types of Adaptation

Romeo + Juliet

• 1996
  
• Baz Luhrmann
• Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo)
• Claire Danes (Juliet)
• Modernised adaptation

Gnomeo & Juliet

• 2011
  
• Walt Disney
• James McAvoy (Romeo)
• Emily Blunt (Juliet)
• Children's adaptation

Rosaline

• 2022
  
• Karen Maine, hulu, Disney+
• Kaitlyn Dever (Rosaline)
• Kyle Allen (Romeo)
• Isabela Merced (Juliet)
• Rosaline's point of view

Death Scene

• Act V, scene III, line 55 - end
• Juliet has poisoned herself
• Romeo and Paris fight in     the Capulets' tomb 
• Romeo commits suicide
• Juliet also kills herself

Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann, 1996)

Luhrmann's adaptation

• Adaption of Zeffirelli's adaption
• Setting: Verona Beach instead of Verona (Italy) --> modern-day city
• Characters: Romeo and Juliet are "more grounded and reflective and  show more of an inner maturity and strength of character; his depiction of adolescence through these two characters is more worldly.” (Martin, 2002, p. 41). 

Luhrmann's adaptation

• Plot: instances of fidelity --> use of original language, albeit re-ordered

• Plot: multiple instances of infidelity 

1. No other characters in the scene (e.g. Friar Laurence doesn't make an appearance) --> isolation/alienation

2. Order of events: Romeo's realisation of his mistake --> dramatic effect (one final instance of interaction between Romeo & Juliet)

Luhrmann's adaptation

• Plot: multiple instances of infidelity (Juliet's death)

3. Tool: gun instead of dagger --> modernisation; setting of the film

4. Framework of time: Juliet "right of self-determination" vs. lines 168-170

5. Underlying theme: head (ratio; Luhrmann) vs. heart (emotion/love; Zeffirelli) 

6. Characterisation of Juliet: instance of silencing?

Gnomeo & Juliet

Gnomeo & Juliet

How does the scene play out?

• Fight between Tybalt, Benny, and Gnomeo
• Tybalt smashes into a wall, Gnomeo is believed to be dead after being smashed by a passing car
• Gnomeo turns out to still be alive, after having been rescued by a stray dog
  

Gnomeo & Juliet

What are the consequences?

• Juliet is glued to her tower by her father to protect her
• Benny seeks to take revenge on the Red Gnomes through a turbolawnmower which goes rogue, destroying both gardens
  
• Gnomeo returns and attempts to save Juliet, but cannot get her unstuck
• The two of them are "destroyed" by the lawnmower
  

Gnomeo & Juliet

What stays the same within this adaptation?

• The "faked" death of one half of the lovers
• Connecting the two families through the supposed death of Gnomeo and Juliet
  

Gnomeo & Juliet

So... where does it differ?

• Usage of Language
• Overal storyline is adapted
  
• While many gnomes are presumed dead, or shown to be completely smashed, none of them actually pass away
  

Gnomeo & Juliet

Why does it stray away from the original play of Shakespeare?

• Film for children distributed by Walt Disney: changing the story to simplify the narrative and intrude with its own interpretations of the story (Tosi, 2010, p. 130).
• More of a loose take on the story
• Danger in adapting the story through animation: "This is a particularly clear example of one of the dangers of animation, since to condense plays that explore human motivation
  and interaction on such a sophisticated level is to lose the very ele-
  ments that give them value." (Bottoms, 2001, p. 10)
  

Rosaline

For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes.                           (85)

This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.

How oft, when men are at the point of death,

Have they been merry, which their keepers call

A light’ning before death. O, how may I.                                 (90)

Call this a light’ning? O my love, my wife,

Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,

Hath no power yet upon thy beauty.

Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensing yet

Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,                                (95)

And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.

Tybals, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?

O, what more favour can I do to thee

Than, with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,

To sunder has this was thine enemy?                                    (100)

Forgive me, cousin. Ah, dear Juliet,

Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe

That unsubstantial death is amorous,

And that the lean abhorred monster keeps

Thee here in dark to be his paramour?                                    (105)

For fear of that I still will stay with thee,

And never from this pallet of dim night

Depart again. Here, here will I remain

With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,                                                 (110)

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.

Arms, take your last embrace. And lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death.                                 (115)

Come, bitter conduct, come unsavoury guide,

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy sea-wick weary bark.

Here’s to my love.

        He drinks the poison

                      O true Apothecary

The drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.   He falls.           (120)                   

What a difference!

- From a complete speech to no speech at all

- What does that mean? 

Rokinson's argument

- Too young for the whole play? 

- "Much of the skill and pleasure of Shakespeare's work resides in his language." (Rokinson, p. 51)

- Youngsters as an audience

Is it appropriate to use adaptations in your classroom if they deviate so much from the original?

Yes

No

It depends on the adaptation

Does Romeo have to die at the end to make (adaptations of the play) work?

Yes

No

Which of the adaptations would you use in your classes?

1. Gnomeo & Juliet
2. Rosaline
3. Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann)
4. Romeo & Juliet (Zeffirelli)

How can students become more aware (and engaged) with a classic such as Romeo & Juliet?

Primary Sources

Gnomeo and Juliet. Directed by Kelly Absury. The Walt Disney Company. 2011.

Romeo + Juliet. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. Bazmark Produtions. 1996.

Rosaline. Directed by Karen Maine. 20th Century Studios. 2022.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet, ed. Jill. L. Levenson. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. 2008.

Secondary Sources

"Adaptation, n4 & n5. Oxford English Dictionary Online. accessed on 2nd December 2022. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/2115?redirectedFrom=adaptation#eid.

Bottoms, Janet. "Speech, Image, Action: Animating Tales from Shakespeare". Children's Literature in Education, vol. 32, no. 1, 2001, pp. 3–15.

Martin, Jennifer. “Tights vs Tattoos: Filmic Interpretations of “Romeo and Juliet”". The English Journal, vol. 92, issue 1, 2002, pp. 41-46, https://doi.org/10.2307/821945.

Robinson, Abigail. "Romeo and Juliet for the Younger Viewer - Interpretation and Adaptation". New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship,  vol. 15, issue 1, 2009, pp. 42-66.

Tosi, Laura. ""I Could a Tale Unfold...": Adaptations of Shakespeare's Supernatural for Children, from the Lambs to Marcia Williams". New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, vol. 15, issue 2, 2010, pp. 128–147.