Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" compared with Shakespeare's Original Work

Baz Luhrmann’s kaleidoscopic film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, while often leaving much to be desired from the two main actors in the way of delivery, presents a fascinating modern interpretation of the 16th century drama. David Ansen, film critic, describes it as “alternately enrapturing and exhausting, brilliant and glib…a "Romeo and Juliet" more for the eyes than the ears.” (Newsweek).

A mere glance at the film will show anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the play that the two are ferociously different in terms of setting, costume, casting, music, and props.  A closer reading, however, will also illuminate significant deviations in verse.

The differences between these two works are distinctly illustrated in Act One, Scene One of the text and its matching film scene.  Here Shakespeare's text shows Samson and Gregory of the house of Capulet exchanging in witty banter:

SAMSON: I strike quickly, being moved.
GREGORY: But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
SAMSON: A dog of the house of Montague moves me (1.1 5-7).

They continue their repartee until Abraham and another servingman of the Montagues arrive.  Gregory advises, “Draw thy tool.  Here comes of the house of Montagues” (1.1 29).  Samson responds, “Quarrel, I will back thee” (1.1 30).  Gregory suggests that frowning in their general direction will suffice initially.  Samson disagrees:

SAMSON:  Nay, as they dare.  I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace     to them if they bear it.
[He bites his thumb]
ABRAHAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMSON: I do bite my thumb, sir.
ABRAHAM: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMSON [to GREGORY]: Is the law of our said if I say ‘Ay’
GREGORY: No.
SAMSON [to ABRAHAM]: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir (1.1 37-45).

They proceed to argue about whose master is better, and fight until Benvolio arrives and tells them to put up their swords.  Tybalt shows up and further provokes the fight.

Curiously enough, the corresponding scene from the film shows instead Benvolio and the “Montague boys” cruising along the freeway in a bright yellow convertible, laughing raucously, with one of them turning around to face the camera and yelling: “A dog of the house of Capulet moves me!”  They pull up to a gas station, Benvolio goes inside, and immediately afterward arrive Tybalt and the “Capulet boys,” Abraham (here abbreviated to Abra) and another.  Tybalt goes inside, but Abra remains next to the car, sees the Montague boys, and faces them with an intimidating glare.  The Montague boys quake with fear, and jump when Abra yells, “Boo!”  Abra, of course, laughs hysterically and gets back into his car; ready to drive away until he sees one of the Montague boys bite his thumb.

The ensuing fight scene provides an excellent example of the difference in choreography and props.  In the text, the characters all fight with swords, on a stage empty of all but citizens of the watch.  In the ultra-modernized film, the characters are all possessed of pistols bearing the name of their respective houses, and they make use of the surrounding cars, film extras, and various architectural trappings of the gas station where the fight is staged.  Interestingly enough, though, when Benvolio entreats the Capulets and his fellow Montagues to lower their weapons, the wording does not exchange swords for guns, but remains as it reads in the original text (1.1 57).

The film’s setting is a cunning twist on the original: instead of Verona, Italy, events take place in a teeming seaside metropolis called Verona Beach (bearing a striking resemblance to modern day Miami) that has been ravaged by the ongoing feud between Capulet and Montague.  Verona Beach is a modern-day city, with cars, high-rise buildings, gas stations, and hot dogs stands, none of which were even conceived (or much less, available) during the time that Romeo and Juliet was written or performed.

Luhrmann’s costumes are also highly modernized.  This opening scene finds the Montague boys parading around in Hawaiian shirts and sporting unnaturally colored hair, while the Capulet boys favor leather and metal-heeled boots.  These are some drastic changes from the traditional Elizabethan wear of the time.

In addition, the film makes no pretense at any English or Italian (to fit the original setting) accent from its characters.  Luhrmann explains that this is because he considers the American language as better attuned to Shakespearian text: "When Shakespeare wrote these plays, they were written for an accent that was much more like an American sound, and when you do Shakespeare with an American accent it makes the language very strong, very alive” (Weinraub).