In the movie Shakepeare in Love, the main focus was not on Romeo and Juliet but on Shakespeare and his lover. What is the purpose for the director to make this focus shift? Are there any chances for Shakespeare and Viola to be together?
The 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet is very faithful to the original play by Shakespeare, except that the background is set in our time. By so doing, the story is carried across the time barriers to approach the modern viewers: The viewers experience the old story in the terms of modern days.
In contrast, the 1999 movie adaptation attempts to bring the viewers back to the sixteenth century and observe the cultural/social context which yielded the story. In other words, the movie is an account of how the story of Romeo and Juliet was produced by simulating the cultural background of Shakespeare's time.
By staging Shakespeare's original story in modern days, the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet highlights (1) teenagers' perception of love vis-a-vis the sophisticated and corrupted world of the adults, (2) the different ways in which justice is carried out by clan/gangs and by society/country, and (3) the lack of communication and affections in child-parent relationship during teenagehood.
Different from the original Romeo and Juliet, which focuses itself on the issue of youthful love against hatred, the 1999 movie adaptation concerns adults' love vis-a-vis cultural/social barrriers.
Through the representiion of sixteenth-century London, the movie foregronds several cultural/social issues specific to Queen Elizabethis time.
The first one is gender issue: Women were banned from the stage and marriages are arranged by parents at that time.
The second one is class divisions, such as the rich vs the poor and the nobleman vs the commoner.
The third one is the exploration and exploitation of the New world, i.e., North America, by setting up plantations in the new colonies.
The fourth one concerns the struggling of playwright/artists from dependents on entertaining show business to independent artists in drama/theatre.
These cultural/social issues are foregrounded in the movie Shakespeare in Love. Finally comes the central question: Could Shakespeare and Viola go beyond the restraints of all these cultural/social barriers and then stay together? If not, how was their story going to end?
Discussion Topics:
(1)What is the purpose for the director to make the focus shift from the love between Romeo and Juliet to the marriage choice between Shakespeare and Viola? (2) Does the movie present any chances for Shakespeare and Viola to be together?
Discussion Topics:
(1)What is the purpose for the director to make the focus shift from the love between Romeo and Juliet to the marriage choice between Shakespeare and Viola? (2) Does the movie present any chances for Shakespeare and Viola to be together?
