pondělí 12. března 2012

For the last task, I am going to compare the original play with the 1996 movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. There two are so different! Of course the main plot stays the same in both of these interpretations, but the details are very different. The movie is set in modern times at Verona Beach. This is a made up location but in my opinion I kind of think that it is reffering to a park of the town Verona in New York. I know this is nowhere written and the director even said that the place is made up, I really think it is supposed to be the one I mentioned because as you know Americans think that every great part of history was achieved by them and they are the best (sorry Mr.Healy). To compare it with the play, it is set in Verona, Italy in an Elizabethan period. For me, the biggest difference is the use of weapons. In the original play the characters used swords and in the movie they used 9mm guns which had SWORD written on them. Also, the race of the characters is little bit different. Mercution is the play is white and in the movie black and the Prince in the play is white and on the movie black as well. Also, the Prince in the movie is actually the chief of police because nowadays you do not have any princes being the heads of certain towns of cities. It is the chief of police who has the security of the town in his hands. What is really controversial is that the famous "balcony scene" in the movie is actually set in a pool. I don´t really understand why though. Also, in the original play 6 people were killed and in the movie only 4 people were killed. I think that this is changing the main plot a little bit eventhough the other 2 dead characters had only small roles.
So yes, the original play and the movie had several things changed, but for me the most crucial change as the setting place. The play is historical and I don´t think it fits into our world anymore. The movie was great on one hand, but on the other I think it did not really go together with the whole helicopters and other modern things. Also, I don´t think that love like this could occur in our time at all. People are unfortunately different than they were in the Elizabethan period and love is not so important anymore. Nowadays it is careed and money that most people care about. But what was positive about tzhe movie is that the language in the play is very literary and it is hard even for mothertongue English speakers to understand some parts. When you watch the movie, even if you do not understand some parts, you can understand what is going on in the play by seeing the imagery.
To sum this comparison up, the original play and the movie are both very different but I cannot say that any one of them is better, because both has something that the other one does not have.

1 komentář:

  1. A) Americans don't think they were part of every important part of history, just the big parts of the past 200 years, B) love was not so strongly valued in Elizabethan times -- it existed, of course, but arranged marriages were normal, even if they were loveless, and having lovers on the side was not as uncommon as we might think. Arranged marriages were arranged based on business interests and monetary prospects. C) It is fine to say that it's unfair to say whether one is better or not, but which do you prefer? D) Verona Beach would probably be set in southern California, as a counterpart to Venice Beach. It even looked similar.

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