Is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet suitable for a teenage audience?
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First published in The Echo news digest and newspaper sources index.
Issue outline by J M McInerney
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What they said ...
`The movie, a frenetic, explosive experience full of car crashes and gun battles is ... so overwhelming, it'll make you want to watch "Die Hard with a Vengeance" for peace and quiet'
Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
`This Romeo and Juliet is so bold, so daring, that you're either going to love it or hate it. I loved it'
Karen Hershenson, Knight-Ridder Newspapers
On January 31, 1997, the New South Wales premier, Mr Bob Carr, suggested that before the Baz Luhrmann film version of Romeo and Juliet could be shown to school children any drug-taking scenes might have to be removed.
Mr Carr also criticised the film for the inclusion of such scenes because they are not part of the original. It certainly wasn't in Shakespeare's version ...' Mr Carr was reported to have said.
Then, towards the end of February, 1997, the counselling and educational services organisation, Open Doors, suggested the suicides in Romeo and Juliet might encourage suicide among young people.
Such comments have lead to discussion as to whether the Baz Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet is a suitable film for young people.
Background
Baz Luhrmann is an Australian-born director whose previous major film success was Strictly Ballroom. He directed and co-produced this version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet has given Shakespeare's play a strongly contemporary treatment. Luhrmann has transformed the Italian city of Verona to an apparently modern Verona Beach, which one critic, James Berardinelli, has suggested is part decaying Miami and part Mexico City. Luhrmann himself has said that he borrowed elements of the film's visual style from the 1940s, the 1970s and the 1990s.
In the film fast cars replace horses and guns replace swords and daggers. The Prince of Verona is transformed into the chief of police of Verona Beach and the Montagues and the Capulets become two rich business families.
The film is stylistically arresting with a constantly moving camera, rapid cuts and a raging soundtrack which has been very successful on the charts. There have been claims that stylistically the film has some of the features of a video clip.
On its opening week in the United States, Baz Luhrmann's version of Romeo and Juliet took $US11.1 million and was declared number one at the box office. The film has also been highly successful in Australia.
The film has been widely promoted. It has its own home page, and has been reviewed on a wide range of Web sites including Hawkeye. Extracts from print media reviews are also available on the Web. These include Kenneth Turan's review in The Los Angeles Times and the reviews reproduced by the Online Movie Club
Arguments suggesting Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet is not suitable for a teenage audience
There have been two types of criticism directed at Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet suggesting it may not be suitable for a teenage audience. The first criticism refers to the film's style and content. Claims have been made that the film glamorises dangerous or undesirable behaviour. The second criticism is that the film is not a good interpretation of Shakespeare's play and so gives a distorted view of the work to young audiences.
One of the first criticisms made in Australia regarding the undesirable influence the film could have on young people came from the New South Wales premier, Bob Carr.
Mr Carr suggested that his state's Education Department might think it necessary to cut from the film the scene in which the Romeo character appears to take ecstasy or some other illegal, recreational drug.
Mr Carr did not go on to detail why he believed this scene from the film might influence young people to experiment with drugs.
The second major complaint made regarding the style and content of the film is that it might encourage young people to commit suicide.
According to those who presented this line of argument, because the film attempts to attract young people with contemporary images its impact on its audience is likely to be quite profound.
Ms Jenny Kearney, the executive director of Open doors, an eastern suburbs counselling and educational service, has suggested that because the film tries to tap into `modern youth culture', it has a greater capacity to influence the young than more conventional representations of the play.
It has further been suggested that the treatment given the suicide scene in Romeo and Juliet alters the play in a way that changes the dramatic impact of Romeo and Juliet's deaths.
Ms Ann Blake, a senior lecturer in English at La Trobe University, has claimed that in the play in its traditional form `the lasting impact of the suicides was not death as the solution but the sense of loss and the bad luck that lead to death instead of romantic escape.'
Some critics have claimed that in the Baz Luhrmann version of the play sufficient changes have been made to the suicide scene to reduce this sense of futility and loss and increase the romantic appeal of the suicides.
Claire Miller, writing in The Age, has claimed, `In the popular Baz Luhrmann film, Shakespeare's tragedy of thwarted love plays itself out in a richly candlelit scene of gothic proportions. The young lovers are even allowed one last lingering look into each others eyes before being claimed by death.
`As far as suicide goes it is powerfully romantic stuff ...'
Open Door, an eastern suburbs counselling and education service, has expressed concern that the effect of the combined suicide and the way in which it is treated in the film might be to encourage suicide among young people.
Though Open Door is not suggesting that the film should not been shown to young people, the organisation has suggested that teachers and parents need to discuss the reality of suicide and contrast this with the manner in which it is treated in this film.
Finally, there are those who maintain that the film is not a good interpretation of Shakespeare's play. According to this line of argument, the film distorts and trivialises Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and so does not genuinely promote it among a young audience.
Critics of the film have claimed that too many speeches have been shortened or removed to leave an adequate interpretation of Shakespeare's play. This claim has been made particularly in relation to Mercutio and the Nurse, both of whom, it has been claimed, have had much of their dialogue removed.
Mr John Bell, the Artistic director of the Bell Shakespeare Company, though basically a supporter of the film, has claimed, `Some characters, especially Mercutio and the Nurse, lose so many of their lines that they are reduced to mere shadows of what they might have been.'
There have also been criticisms that Romeo and Juliet has been reduced to a mere teenage action movie and that all the poetry and depth of meaning has been removed from it.
According to this line of argument, the film is Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, not Shakespeare's, and so has little value in terms of introducing young audiences to Shakespeare.
Arguments suggesting Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet is suitable for a teenage audience
The film's supporters claim that it is an exciting treatment of Shakespeare's play.
They further claim that the film, with its creation of a world where casual youth violence and street fighting combine with promises of undying love, has been designed to have a strong appeal to young people.
According to this line of argument, the film may introduce a whole youthful generation of filmgoers to Shakespeare.
This point was made by Ruth Lane in a letter to the Sydney Morning herald published on February 5, 1997. According to Ms Lane, `Here we have a film that has peeled away centuries of reverential treatment and restored the vigour and relevance of Shakespeare's play to its most appropriate audience.'
It has further been suggested, by the New South Wales premier, Mr Carr, among others, that the film has potential as a teaching aid within schools.
Dr Kevin Donnelly has suggested, `Many young people go to read ... the play after seeing the film ... [also] the film brings to life what many were lucky enough to study at school.'
Similarly, Mr Terry Hayes, the president of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English, has been favourably impressed by the film's popularity among students. He has said it may help to regenerate interest in Shakespeare among the young and has suggested teachers might use it to promote critical reading.
In response to the suggestion that the Baz Luhrmann's treatment is unsuitable for adolescents because Romeo takes illegal recreational drugs, defenders of the film note that drugs already play an important part in the traditional story-line - Juliet is given a drug so that she will appear to have died and Romeo takes a poison, a drug, to end his life.
According to supporters of the film this makes the introduction of other drugs into Baz Luhrmann's contemporary version of the play acceptable.
It has also been claimed that Romeo's other behaviour makes it completely in character that he would experiment with illegal drugs.
Ruth Lane, in her letter to the Sydney Morning Herald, published on February 5, 1997, has claimed, `Romeo is not the mature romantic hero ... he is basically a teenager screwing up ... It is, therefore, entirely plausible that Romeo would accept the inducement to use LSD had drugs been part of youth culture in Shakespeare's world.'
It has also been claimed that the Luhrmann film creates an opportunity for drug use and its possible dangers to be introduced to and discussed within a class.
Similarly it has been suggested that the treatment of suicide within the film should not mean that Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet is not shown to school audiences. Rather, it has been claimed, suicide and its treatment within the film should be discussed after any showing of the film to a teenage audience.
In response to the accusation that Baz Luhrmann's contemporary setting for Romeo and Juliet is a perversion of the original play, defenders have claimed that, when Shakespeare wrote and performed, the actors in his company did not wear elaborate period costume; they performed in the clothes that were worn by the people of their own era.
This position has been put by John Bell, the artistic director of the Bell Shakespeare Company. Mr Bell has argued that Shakespearean actors were originally `bent on reflecting the world they lived in.'
Mr Bell has further argued that `The plays aren't about there and then, but always about here and now. That is what the man intended.'
`Baz Luhrmann's recognition of this fact and the boldness of his follow-through is at the heart of his success with Romeo and Juliet,' Mr Bell has claimed.
It has also been claimed by Professor Iain Wright, a Shakespeare authority at the Australian National University, that `The violent gang drama of Luhrmann's film, which has galvanised Australian teenagers, is probably closer to the spirit of Renaissance London than Zeffirelli's pretty costume drama.' (Zeffirelli produced a film version of Romeo and Juliet in the 1960s which was popular and critically well received.)
Further implications
It would be interesting to know whether the Luhrmann Romeo and Juliet will be edited by teachers when shown to adolescent audiences.
The film is now available on video release in Australia and, given its popularity, it seems highly likely that it will be shown to teenage audiences in schools as a means of promoting Shakespeare and familiarising students with one of his plays. It also seems likely that it will encourage critical comparative studies of this treatment of the play with others, perhaps the Zeffirelli. The Luhrmann film is also likely to encourage freer interpretations of the play among students studying the play via performance.
It has been suggested that Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet is also likely to produce imitators among film producers and directors who will modernise other Shakespearean dramas and other classic texts in a similar manner.
John Bell has suggested, `Films of the calibre of Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet will encourage a new crop of Shakespeare movies ... and encourage all arts practitioners to be bolder, more contemporary, more contemporary in their thinking.'
Sian Powell, writing in The Australian, has judged, `It remains to be seen, though, whether this celluloid representation will prompt a solid interest in the text itself.'
Finally it will probably be impossible to determine whether the film encourages the undesirable behaviours some critics have feared it might. This impact of art on its audience is extremely difficult to determine.
Sources
The Age
18/2/97 (Education supplement) page 3 comment by Margaret Cook, `Texts rejig: but Romeo by any name is sweet' (Most of this article does not deal directly with the Baz Luhrmann's film. Instead it treats the changes that are taking place in many university English courses. These include less emphasis on the study of Shakespeare.)
20/2/97 page 5 news item by Claire Miller, `Shakespeare tragedy sparks fears for youths'
The Australian
28/1/97 page 11 analysis by Sian Powell, `Hot hearts and cool dudes make Shakespeare a hit with teens'
1/2/97 page 5 news item by Amanda Meade, `Drugs ruin another beautiful friendship'
The Herald Sun
13/1/97 page 17 comment by Dr Kevin Donnelly, `The classics rule, OK'
The Internet
A range of reviews of Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet are available on the Internet. These include:
a film review by James Berardinelli at http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin/movies/r/romeo_juliet.html
a review by Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times at http://www.hollywood.com/movies/romeo/review/index.html
the review written by Bailee Martin and printed on the Hawkeye site at http://mths.edmonds.wednet.edu/hawkeye/issue4/r&j.html
the reviews collected on the Online Movie Club at http://www.sacbee.com/leisure/the movieclub/reviews/review_archives/97/romeo/romeo.html
The film has its own extensive home page at http://www.romeoand juliet.com/
The Sydney Morning Herald
1/2/97 page 4 news item by Candida Baker, `Baz takes Bob to task over censoring his craft'
5/2/97 page 14 two letters to the editor, one by Ruth Lane and the other by Robert Wickham, both under the heading, `Romeo and Juliet relies on drugs'
8/2/97 (Spectrum) page 7 comment by John Bell, `No holds bard'