What made Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet such a hit with teens?

There are the obvious marketing elements that made the $14 million film gross over $46 million, such as the young, hot stars, the hip soundtrack and the rat-a-tat editing so familiar to kids already weaned on music videos. But a closer comparison of the play to the film reveals that even the small details of the movie--some technical, some artistic--have been carefully chosen to illustrate an overall interpretation of the play that is actually quite faithful to its source. The famous "balcony scene," as written by Shakespeare, is the moment when the youths's love becomes stronger than all the forces that conspire against it. It's an inherently sexy scene, since for Elizabethans, sexual desire was indispensable to romance. For instance, Romeo's line "Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon," is a fervent prayer that Juliet should lose her virginity, the "sick and green" condition of her "vestal livery." (In Shakespeare's day, "green" was well known to signify virginity.) Later, Juliet urges Romeo to swear his love not by the "inconstant moon" but by "thy gracious self ... the god of my idolatry," an even more profane and shocking desire which borders on sacrilegious. Juliet's main concern in this speech is to be able to express her true feelings, even though courtly love at the time the play was written decreed that women should hide their love in order to be pursued. To this end, she is the active agent in this scene, insisting that Romeo prove his love is honorable, and organizing the next rendezvous.
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Billy Rose Theatre Collection Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It were the Shakespeare plays of choice for female actors of the late 1800s. This promotional brochure, which depicts the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, promoted Canadian-born Margaret Mather's 1883-4 North American tour in the role of Juliet. Described by actor-manger Otis Skinner as "a chaos of beauty, fancy, ambition, sympathy, generosity, all illadjusted and treading upon the other's heels," Mather was considered one of the finest actresses and directors of that same period.

Although it takes place in an orchard, one of this scene's central themes is the sea. Romeo declares that "I am no pilot; yet were thou as far/As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea/I would adventure for such merchandise," and later Juliet vows that her "bounty is as boundless as the sea/My love as deep; the more I give to thee,/The more I have, for both are infinite." Water is a purifying symbol, so noted when Romeo states "call me but love, and I'll be new baptized," as well as the vast symbol of love.

Although Baz Luhrmann's version of the balcony scene uses about half of the original lines; switches the venue to inside a swimming pool; and includes an armed security guard, a careful reading reveals that it retains much of Shakespeare's original intent for the lovers. When Romeo recites the "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" speech, the usually hectic camera remains fixed in a tight close-up, and it stays intimately close to the lovers as they discover each other for the second time and realize how attracted to and in love with each other they are. The scene takes place in the pool courtyard of the Capulet mansion, and is strikingly more muted than other scenes, in tribute to the importance of the words and feelings being expressed. The editing pace slows considerably in this scene, from an average of one or two seconds per shot in other parts of the film to a relatively leisurely 20 seconds per shot here. This allows time for Shakespeare's poetry to come through, although it is spoken in a breakneck pace (as was common in Shakespeare's time, and as befits passionate lovers who are terrified of getting caught). In addition, the garish art direction cools down in this scene to muted blues and creams, with white lights sparkling throughout the trellised courtyard. Instead of rock, light piano music plays in the background. Those who disliked the film derided the choice to have Romeo and Juliet declare their love in the pool; but it's with this bold visual cue that the filmmakers have dispensed with the water imagery in the text. Similarly, much of the romantic dialogue is excised in favor of shots of the lovers, their faces only inches apart, kissing or trying not to kiss.

The Balcony Scene

Shakespeare's "balcony scene" in Romeo and Juliet is one of the most well-known scenes from the Bard's body of works. Including such lines as "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?" and "What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet," the text is familiar to most readers.

If Juliet manages the action in the play script, she has an even more dominant role in the film, a choice that is, perhaps sadly, almost as striking today as it was in 1595. Luhrmann gives his Romeo Compare Shakespeare's 190only about a third as many lines as Juliet. She pulls line version with the version him into the pool, pulls away from his kiss, entreats used in Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, which was cut to 100 him to vow his intent to marry her, begs him to lines. leave, and insists on making a concrete plan for the next day. She wears the chaste white gown from her earlier angel costume (Romeo is dressed in a knight's chain mail) and is shot mostly from below, to emphasize her goddess-like stature. When the curtain blows back from her bedroom window, a Madonna statue can be glimpsed inside, a (feminine) reference to their sacred love and her purity.

Through meticulous choices of art direction, costume, setting and camera placement, the filmmaker here is able to bypass much of the difficult and time-consuming language. Whether or not this improves upon the play, or is even conscionable, is a matter of debate; whether it attracts a new generation of viewers to the Bard is certain. Luhrmann's in-your-face interpretation opened the doors to numerous other teen adaptations of Shakespeare, which will be discussed in the next session.