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In Baz Luhrmann’s film, the modern, “Romeo and Juliet”, various symbolic and imaginative spaces or places are featured to convey desire of characters. This desire may take several forms which will be examined in some detail further on. Luhrmann draws on post modern techniques which serve to make the possibly tragic film a richly allusive and open text within the framework of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Although Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is basically a tragic love story, with fairly direct “messages” or “lessons” about the stupidity and danger of prejudice and the consequences of difference, Luhrmanns film, despite being criticised for its excision of over one third of the original dialogue, opens the text to radical interpretations of places of desire and difference. The role of the symbolic and imaginative spaces are so important due to the intensely “visual” nature of the film; the images, motifs and symbolic places work in junction with the language, but they also serve to replace a lot of it.
The movie is very visual in expressing desire, as language only figures to a certain extent. Some Critics have argued that, “The play merely contains of dialogue... there are only very brief descriptions at the beginning of each scene, containing place and characters. This gave Luhrmann the opportunity to create a setting far beyond Shakepeare’s imagination, without violating the original text. This setting can be described as ‘a sexy, violent other-world.” However some critics hav eoffered a more negative opinion, “Luhrmann uses over the top visuals, the television achors represnt Shakespeare’s effective traditional chrous... Baz Luhrmann’s post modern “Romeo and Juliet” is a comic book shot at selling Shakespaeare to genration X.” However, despite differing views on the film, it is fair to say, I think that the places and spaces in the film and their associations are made extremely effective by the post modern techniques Luhrmann employs; he allows a metaphoric translation from words to images. Luhrmann uses a pastiche or mixing of styles, images and genres , he employs a hyper real artificiality, there is a collapse of high and low culture in the film as he mixes them both, inetrextuality is evident and information mediated by technology.
One type of desire evident in the film is imperial desire which is associated with power, triumph and authority. An example of a symbolic space is where the enemy families, the Capulets and the Montagues, fight at the beach. The beach could represent modern ideas of youth and sex, where the Montagues ‘hang out’ in their Hawaiin shirts and where hot and naked people walk around. There are also prostitutes and dancers showen. At a beach, the littoral is where the land meets the sea and could be symbolic of where life meets death for example or other binaries which infact are related eg. violence and religion.(mentioned earlier). The beach culture in this symbolic place figures prominantly and at one stage, Mercutio is filmed, firing a shot into the ocean. This could also be said to be symbolic of both imperial desire and sexual desire. Mercutio could be argued to have both an excess of sexual energy and power. He shoots his gun into the pure, clear and calm ocean, perhaps foretelling the events to come; the destroying of the purtiy and calmness in Romeo and Juliet’s relationship.
Sexual desire is expressed throughout the play, both heterosexually and homosexually. The costume party held at the Capulets house, for example is a place where there is an obvious excess of symbolism. Each character is costumed significantly, Juliet is an angel, symbolising her purity and even her destiny and death, Mercutio is dressed in drag which introduces homosexual desire. Transgressive desire is prevalent all though the film. Romeo, for example is not invited to the costume party, but sneeks in to see Rosalyn. He is breaking the boundaries. Borders are set up in the film, but almost in order to be broken. The catalyst for all the events in the film come about because of the division and hate constructed bewteen the two competing families, the Capulets and the Montagues. Crossing boarders is a common theme and Romeo and Juliet both participate in this trangressive desire. “My only love sprung from my only hate.” However, Juliet did not know that Romeo was a Montague until she first talks to him, she says, “What’s in a name?” expressing her belief in the stupidity of the prejudice.Pay for essay on Romeo and Juliet</br><br/>
Loyal to the given title to “Romeo and Juliet”, as a‘tragic love story’, the movie expresses romantic, sexual and traumatic desire through a series of images and symbolic and imaginative places. The pool scene is a good example of a highly symbolic space where Romeo and Juliet are for once together in secret. The use of water imagery is symbolically featured throughout the film. The scene begins with Romeo clinging onto the wall, listening to his lady speak, she unaware of his presence. Juliet tells the stars of her love for Romeo, thinking she is alone and when Romeo confronts her, the couple fall into the luminous blue pool. The pure, clear pool could symbolise purity and love and the couple fall into the pool, which could be like “falling in love”. The underwater kiss is perhaps one of the most significant and romantic images, as it also is featured as a flashback at the end of the movie. The ‘cocooning’ idea is reestablished when the couple are under the water, bubbles surrounding them. They seem to be in another world where they can kiss and actually express their feelings for one another. It is a beautiful visual image and is extremely romantic. The pool thus can be said to be a symbolic and imaginiative space representing the love and romantic desire of the couple. However, sexual desire is also evident. Throughout the movie, Romeo seems to be wet for a large proportion of the movie! There is an obvious focus on the body throughout the entire film. The body glistens and shines and there is a focus on the luminocity of Romeo’s body by the use of water. The shots are all close up of the ‘wet’ couple kissing and sexual desire is introduced. This sexual desire makes the body oversignified and the water could be read as symbolic of sexual fluids. It is thus evident that Luhrmann has succeeded in creating an allusive and open text; the symbolic and imaginative space of the pool can be read in several ways to represent different types of desire.
Some maternal desire is represented through the
The crypt scene is one of the most symbloic places in the movie, however it is also conflicting.(as in - it’s beautiful and romantic, but is infact the place where the tragedy occurs) The crypt is the place where the ‘two star crossed lovers take their lifes’ and is important in all versions of the play. The scene begins straight after a police chase and Romeo enters the crypt, leaving the chaos behind him. The entire scene is silent (no music)WHY? . When Romeo first enters the crypt there is a close up on his eye, focussing in on him, it is an introspective shot which allows the viewer to see his pain and disbelief. The camera follows Romeo down the path to where his wife, Juliet lies. The setting here is very allusive and symbolic. Crosses and candles are lined up on either side and the scene is visually very beautiful. The crosses are luminous blue and ressemble neon signs, perhaps representing the outside world where there is a desire for commodities etc. ?? Juliet is surrounded by candles and attended by statues of angels, linking to her costume as an angel earlier on in the film. Juliet is ‘an angel’ , it is her fate. As Romeo leans over her, a closeup of his hand and the gun is shown. The beautiful crypt is the destination of the story and the realtionship, and the space of death. When Juliet awakens it is too late, Romeo has already taken the poison and the image of Juliet holding romeo’s head as he dies is symbolic and perhaps allusive to the Pieta, the statue of Mary holding Jesus, close to her heart. A slow motion shot shows jJuliets hand move to pick up the gun, followed by a close up of the wedding ring on her finger holding the gun. This symbolic image linking love, violence and religion relates back to the binaries mentioned before and the destructiveness of desire. The connection between life and death, and love and violence are are made blatently obvious through that powerful close up. After Juliet has shot herself, Liebestod symphony?? begins to play and the camera rises. The couple are seen lying below from a birds eye view, surrounded by candles which look like stars from above and this could be seen to represent heaven.It appears that the young lovers are amongst the stars. The star imagery is symbolic and imaginative as the movie invloves theories of astrology and curses eg. mercutio “a plague on both your houses” The film features a lot of proleptisism. The news anchor woman describes in the beginning of the film, “a pair of star crossed lovers take their life”. Pagan and christian ideas are mixed here as the cross is both a symbol of life and death. The star imagery could suggest the story of “Romeo and Juliet” was a romance predicted by astrology. Interupting this image of the couple surrounded by candles, are flashbacks of happy times, perhaps denying the horror of the situation, and maybe even idealiseing death. The last image before a change of scene is a frozen image or a still of the pool scene, the underwater kiss. The crypt scene is both imaginative and symbolic in expressing the desire for death and perhaps union. Heaven as an imaginative space is positive, the couple tragically die in a place surrounded by religious imagery and this could be argued as a solution for Romeo and Juliet be together in peace. On the otherhand seeing the body bags in the next scene does not deny the viewer the tragedy of the tale altogether.
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