Baz Luhrmann's Way of Depicting Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo is wearing the typical Hawaiian shirts with blond “beach boy” look. The image may be hard to match with the one who appears in Shakespeare’s famous play “Romeo and Juliet,” but it is the way he is depicted in Baz Luhrmann’s rendition of the work. There have been numerous film adaptations of Shakespeare’s renowned “Romeo and Juliet” over the past years but his work is something extraordinary that contains the director’s own way of developing the story. He interestingly combines the elements of a modern action movie packed with action, love scenes and fiery explosion in a modern version of “Romeo and Juliet” that make the audience feel like they are watching a music video. Luhrmann uses visual medium uniquely in delivering Shakespeare’s language of tragic love story.

First of all, Luhrmann’s use of the contrast between “fast-paced” and “slow-paced” time works brilliantly in portraying the significance of Romeo and Juliet’s love. The gas station scene in the beginning part of the movie where loud explosions occur shows the two families’-Montagues and Capulets- inner rage toward one another. During the scene, time is sped up dramatically to evoke certain emotions from the audience that make them feel distracted. This “hurrying” of time is used again when Juliet’s mother appears on screen with her cartoon-like movements and speech. The feature makes the viewers to pay close attention to the slow and soft first encounter of Romeo and Juliet. In the scene where Romeo removes his mask of his knight costume, the party life slows down dramatically and the viewers feel a sudden stop of the time. Romeo seems to take his time as the music slows down and he notices the lovely Juliet through the glass of a huge fish tank with romantic words of the music “Kissing You” in background. Luhrmann’s use of time contrast allows the audience to concentrate on the fact that Romeo and Juliet are going to fall in love, making the idea more believable and...