Does Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Film Adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Have the Same Dramatic Impact on the Audience as the Original Play?

Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has the same dramatic impact on the audience as the original play. This is achieved through the use of cinematic techniques and visual symbolism, on the contrary to the play, which employs the use of language techniques. When comparing scenes from both works, the differences can be seen evidently.

One of the most notable scenes is the prologue, which aptly reflects the differences between the film and the play. Although the function of the prologue is to serve as an introduction to the play, it also informs the audience on exactly what they can be expecting to see in the play. The prologue employs literary techniques, most prominent is the simile ‘star crossed lovers' which refers to Romeo and Juliet's love as opposing to what has already been decided by the stars and heaven. Another phrase featured is ‘from ancient grudge break new mutiny', which creates a dramatic sense of the long lasting conflict between the two households. During the Elizabethan period, stars were often related to the inevitable fate, thus the impact of Shakespeare's prologue is the creation of a dramatic sense of fate upon the audience by telling them that Romeo and Juliet are going to die before the play even begins.

It is evident, the for modern audience, most of the meaning from Shakespeare's literature would be lost, and as such, to compensate for the loss of poetry, Baz Luhrmann uses modern cinematic techniques to create Shakespeare's play into something visually and aurally engaging for the audience. Baz Luhrmann exploits the crucial beginning of the film through the use of a montage of images to help the audience understand the prologue. An example is when the narrator speaks ‘from ancient grudge break new mutiny', the screen flickers through a range of violent images to convey the meaning. Another is when the director uses images from newspaper headlines, to suggest the everlasting tension between the Montague and Capulet house. During the montage, the images constantly flicker back to the image of the statue of Christ, which along with the epic music, similarly to the play impacts the audience by conveying a dramatic atmosphere why conveying the idea that a higher power has created an unchangeable fate for the couple.

Another key scene is Mercutio's death. The sudden violence resulting in the death of Mercutio impacts the audience by reminding them that, for all its emphasis on love and romance, the play is set in a world of violent and bloody conflict. The relentless dangers of the play's society serve as dramatic

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