The R&J Love Story

The loving but yet violent tale of Romeo & Juliet in a sort of modern day theme. Last week my class and I watched the movie and this week we have begin to read the book. From watching the book and reading the movie, i have been able to match the seen in the book with some parts in the movie. When i am reading and I read something that was either big or important i am able to picture it better because i have seen the movie.

When I first heard we were going to watch the movie I thought it would be like the setting of the play. However, when the movie actually came on it was not as I thought it would be. The setting was modern day like California. Nevertheless, when the characters started to talk and interact the way they spoke was like the way it was in the play. The first scene got right into the theme of violence because it started with a fighting scene between the cousins from both families the Cauplets and Montague’s. It showed me how strong the rivalries are between the two families. There were also a lot of little hints that showed symbols of the fact that something big was about to happen. Like their expressions for instance right before they were about to fight the eyes of Benvolio and Tybalt met and they had like a stare down before the real action started. When I saw that I could rather tell there was going to be some type of battle between the two. In addition, clothing and the camera angles gave you a hint. I say this because in parts they showed a close up on Tybalts boots, which had a tough figure of a cat on his boots as he stomped out his match, which rather showed the tough character he was. Also the way they had close ups on the points where they had there hands resting on there guns it rather gave a hint there was going to be a battle scene.

To me in the movie showed how between the two families the mother father and cousins fought but through it all Romeo and Juliet found there way to find love through it all. I think it showed that out of fighting there can be love, it was showed mostly through the movie. Even though Juliet was, suppose to marry Paris as she was being forced to by her mother and father she ended up meeting and even marrying Romeo who is suppose to be a family foe. In the movie, the theme of Fate played a very big role many times Romeo said that fate was the reason for something that had just happened. However, many times you saw him change his mind of weather he believed in fate or did not want to fall victim to it.

“O, I am Fortune's fool!”
From that one quote, my table and I had to discuss what we thought it meant. I personally think that Romeo stated this because that is when he had just watched his best friend Mercutio died fighting for Romeo and also trying to break up the fight between Romeo and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. In addition, after he went and murdered Tyblat he said he is fortunes fool because he fell victim to the fate of the rivalry. Most of the time the weather symbolized the events taking place like when Mercutio died all of a sudden a big storm came and it stated to rain and the wind blew real hard.

Through out the movie the themes, clothes and facial expressions really showed the detail of what was either about to happen or going on. I like how even though it is a very old play they added a modern twist to it to make it seem more interesting. In addition, the scenes did help me understand what they were saying or speaking about. For example the balcony scene when Juliet says
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”

I have heard this quote before but never understood. However, by watching the movie and seeing the events that lead up to that scene I was able to understand and put it into context. This movie modern day version of Romeo and Juliet really made it clear and easy for me to understand the book. I feel it was much better for us to watch the movie then read the book then it be they other way around. Overall, I loved watching the movie and hope to enjoy reading the book.