...Luhrmann’s Modern Day Shakespeare The 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet provides viewers with the same theatrical influence as the original play. Baz Luhrmann was able to accomplish this through modern filmmaking techniques and visual imagery. Luhrmann’s adaptation maintains much of the same elements of the original play. However, Luhrmann was able to make it more appealing to modern audiences by integrating modern elements into the film, thus turning Shakespeare’s original love story into a more modern yet controversial, interpretation of the original love story. In today’s society Shakespeare’s poetic language would leave viewers perplex. Luhrmann is able to keep Shakespeare’s original language by incorporating creative cinematography, editing, and style. Luhrmann recognizes early on that it is imperative to modernize the prologue in order for viewers to fully comprehend the film’s plot; any misperception would leave viewers confused and not emotionally involved. He is able to accomplish this through the use of dialogue, written text, and visual images. In order to reach modern audiences, Luhrmann has to be inventive in his filmmaking techniques; therefore he integrates modern-day media language. By adding news media and displaying selected pieces of text onscreen he is able to intensify the romantic teen tragedy, thus turning Shakespeare’s original play into a distinguishable film for modern audiences. Luhrmann’s use of visual imagery...
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...Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare Pre-reading 1. Vocabulary: Match word and definition. Words that may come in handy. Match the words in the left column with the explanations in the right column, and write the word over the definition. imagery | Word: Simile a comparison using “like” or “as” | soliloquy | Word: Run-on lines which the sense runs from one line to the next; lines which are not end-stopped. | blank verse | Word: Assonance the repetition of vowel sounds | tragic flaw | Word: Imagery language that produces pictures in the imaginations of people reading or listening | scene | Word: Blank verse unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter | personification | Word: Dramatic irony difference between the situation as known to the audience and as supposed by some or all the characters of the play | stage | Word: Rhyming couplet two lines of verse of equal length that rhyme one after the other | assonance | Word: Dialogue verbal exchange between two or more characters on the stage | antithesis | Word: Iambic Pentameter a ten syllable line of verse with five stresses: di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum | metaphor | ...
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...Post-modernism in Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet: a comparison of two creative works from two different periods. In 1996, Baz Luhrmann directed “Romeo + Juliet”, a modern twist on the famous tragedy play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare in 1597, in which the main characters Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet where portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. While some praise the strange interpretation of the old tale, there are also those who condemn the rendition as destructive and disrespectful to the great work of Shakespeare. There will always be two sides to every story and this study will take that into consideration as well as comparing the two different yet similar works to see how post modernism has played a role in Luhrmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet. Postmodernism has been given many definitions. Some say it’s simply the outlook that the generation of late twenty first century has on life which entails the mistrust and dismissal of theories that existed before such as religion, ethics and law. According to these youths, the difference between right and wrong or what the meaning of life is based solely on that individual’s perspective. In film, the idea of postmodernism is somewhat similar as it’s an artist medium in which to undermine social norms and present one’s individual belief. The difference lies in that postmodernism in film concerns bringing in many aspects of popular culture to produce something...
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...When students walk into English class excited to work on their interpreted works of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, they get right to work as they do different scenes ranging from a Valley Girl balcony scene to a Asian-Indian Mercutio's death scene to a Star Wars version of the classical death scene. Keeping Shakespeare’s works within the school’s curriculum allows for the students to be creative have a broader view of the world. Shakespeare and most of his works (e.g. Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet) have become famous throughout the world. Romeo and Juliet, along with other plays, has been transformed into several movies and plays with their own interpretations. For example, a Romeo and Juliet film, from 1996, was made which was directed by Baz...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET By ARTHEA J.S. REED, PH.D. S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an excellent introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically...
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...Romeo and Juliet | Shakespeare homepage | Romeo and Juliet | Entire play | ACT I PROLOGUE Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. SCENE I. Verona. A public place. Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers SAMPSON Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. GREGORY No, for then we should be colliers. SAMPSON I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. GREGORY Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. SAMPSON I strike quickly, being moved. GREGORY But thou art not quickly moved to strike. SAMPSON A dog of the house of Montague moves me. GREGORY To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand: therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away. SAMPSON A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. GREGORY That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the...
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...Choice, Sports, Stem Cell Research, Steroids, Terrorism, Violence, War on Drugs, more... Business - Advertising, Business, Buy Web Sites, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Sell Websites Education - ADHD, Learning, Philosophy of Education, Privatization, Public Schools, School Violence, School Vouchers, Teaching, Technology and Education, Test and Testing, Writing English Composition Essays - Analitical, Autobiographical, Argument, Cause/Effect, Classification, Compare/Contrast, Comparison, Conversation, Creative+Writing, Critical, Deductive, Definition, Descriptive, Description, Dialog, Division, Exploratory, Expository, Informative, Interview, Inquiry, Journalistic, Narration, Observation. Personal Narrative, Place, Profile, Process, Proposal English Literature and Literary Analysis - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A & P, Antigone, Apocalypse Now, Araby, The Awakening, Barn Burning, Beowulf, Beloved, Bible, Birthmark, Blade Runner, The Bluest Eye, Candide, Canterbury Tales, Catcher in the Rye, Cathedral, Chrysanthemums, A Clockwork Orange, The Color Purple, Comparing Literary Works, Crime and Punishment, Death of a Salesman, Death in Venice, Desiree's Baby, A Doll's House, Dr. Faustus, Epic of Gilgamesh, Everyday Use, A Farewell to Arms, Frankenstein, The Grapes of Wrath, Great Gatsby, Great Expectations, Glass Menagerie, Gulliver's Travels, The Handmaid's Tale, Heart of Darkness, The Iliad, Invisible Man, Jane Eyre, The Joy Luck Club, The Lottery, ...
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...‘John Tucker Must Die’ & ‘Mean Girls’ An analysis in terms of generic conventions in the trailers for the movies “John Tucker must die” and “Mean Girls”. Genre is defined as ‘A large category of stories united by their particular settings, characters, themes and narrative conflicts’ (Worland 2007, pg15). This assignment will look at the generic conventions a coming of age/ teen film (what we expect to see), aspects such as typical situations, stock characters, style, icons and setting. In terms of themes in coming of age (teen films) (subjects that are dealt with within the text) they tend to focus around, first love, rebellion, and conflict with parents, teen angst or alienation. In terms of what we would typically see within the genre ‘teen/coming of age’ film it is in the interest of the target audience and making the plot relatable and focus on their interests. The first trailer to be analysed is “Mean Girls”, a teen movie released in 2004. The style of “Mean Girls” is glossy, the use of high key lighting creates an expensive look and the contrast of high/bright colours makes the film more vivid and eye catching the use of the bright colours encourages a cheerful and young audience. In the first shot we see ‘Kady Heron’ in class she looks bland and has no character and is introduced as the new ‘student’ which is typical for the plot of a teen (coming of age movie) and the non-diegetic sound tracking playing in the back background gives us insight into the genre...
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...> By David Haglund Ever since Baz Luhrmann announced that he was adapting F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—and especially after he revealed that he’d be doing it in 3-D—much digital ink has been spilled about the hideous sacrilege that was sure to follow. Nevermind that Luhrmann’s previous adaptation, William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, was quite true to both the language and the spirit of that legendary play; Gatsby, as David Denby puts it in The New Yorker this week, is “too intricate, too subtle, too tender for the movies,” and especially for such an unsubtle filmmaker as Luhrmann. So the argument goes, anyway. In fact, Fitzgerald’s novel, while great, is not, for the most part, terribly subtle. And though it has moments of real tenderness, it also has melodrama, murder, adultery, and, of course, wild parties. In any case, we can put aside, for the moment, the larger question of whether Luhrmann captured the spirit of Gatsby, which is very much open for debate. There’s a simpler question to address first: How faithful was the filmmaker to the letter of Fitzgerald’s book? Below is a breakdown of the ways in which the new film departs from the classic novel. The Frame Story Luhrmann’s chief departure from the novel arrives right at the beginning, with a frame story in which the narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), some time after that summer spent with Gatsby & co., has checked into a sanitarium, diagnosed by a doctor of some sort as “morbidly alcoholic...
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...various art forms and mediums. These multiple artists have managed to entrench themselves as pioneers and leaders of their respective genres and interests due to creativity and quality. Some of these composers have even shaped new forms of art and creative outlets. One such artist is William Shakespeare, the famous English poet behind plays like Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Shakespeare’s plays have managed to gain and maintain cult followings for hundreds of years. Shakespeare is arguably one of the biggest and most notable names in literary history thanks to his extensive contribution to the English theatre. With such great influence and cultural reach comes...
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...Shakespeare is interesting! People need to cast aside the bias and stereotypes of Shakespearean plays to be able to truly enjoy it. Although many high-schoolers complain about studying Shakespeare in school, they really shouldn’t. Shakespeare’s works contained extremely similar storylines of modern entertainment.The acknowledgement of this correlation also gives a sense of how the play-goers were, back then. In fact, they were much like us today! They enjoyed similar plot twists and drama, just as we do. Although their live theater and our animated films are disparate, they all narrow down to a common basis of entertainment. This shows that there is an inherent aspect of human nature that really doesn’t change much, even over centuries. We enjoy the concept of star-crossed lovers, and vengeance against evil. It appeals to us, despite the form it comes in. Although technology may advance from Shakespearean theater to high-quality films, the basic meaning and plot structure remains, and people enjoy it,...
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...standardized, thus name spelled in different ways • Shakespeare, Shakspere, Shackspere, Shaxper, Shagspere, Shaxberd, etc. Shakespeare: The most well known playwright of Elizabethan times is Shakespeare. But there were also other writers who in their time were just as, or even more famous than him. WHAT MAKES SHAKESPEARE STAND OUT? – The volume of his works Plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare ■ 14 COMEDIES – funny play – with amusing events – ended in marriage / or happily o Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing… ■ 10 HISTORIES – Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV… ■ 10 TRAGEDIES – ends in death ← Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Julius Caesar… ■ 4 Romances – ( chivalry and love) Pericles,...
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...Film i Engelsk Bilag 1a FILM ANALYSIS – an introduction (Source: http://www.filmeducation.org) – bearbejdet af Mi og LK, Favrskov Gymnasium Reading a film is just like reading a book, except that instead of looking at a written page we are looking at the cinema screen. Reading a film works in exactly the same way as a written text, or a picture, except that the tools that are used to create meaning are different. We call these tools film language. The opening sequence From the moment we first start watching a film, we begin to get involved. The first few minutes of a film (the opening sequence) are very important to us as they give us lots of clues about the film: 1) what will the film be about (conflicts/themes); 2) who are the most important characters (hero, villain, love interest); 3); what is the setting of the film (time and place); 4) the genre; and finally, 5) what sort of film language characterizes the film? We look at all these elements and begin to put them into context. Based on their environment, how they look, what they say and what we see them do, we make assumptions about the characters, their roles in the film and their relationship to each other. We also recognize so-called genre markers (things we associate with one particular genre) which tell us if we are watching a Western or a Sc-Fi film and, thus, form specific expectations about what is going to happen during the rest of the film. At the same time, we listen to the sounds and the music...
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...OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE • Palaeolithic nomads from mainland Europe; • New inhabitants came from western and possibly north-western Europe (New Stone Age); • in the 2nd millennium BC new inhabitants came from the Low Countries and the middle Rhine (Stonehenge); • Between 800 and 200 BC Celtic peoples moved into Britain from mainland Europe (Iron Age) • first experience of a literate civilisation in 55 B.C. • remoter areas in Scotland retained independence • Ireland, never conquered by Rome, Celtic tradition • The language of the pre-Roman settlers - British (Welsh, Breton); Cornish; Irish and Scottish Gaelic (Celtic dialect) • The Romans up to the fifth century • Britain - a province of the Roman Empire 400 years • the first half of the 5th century the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (N Germany, Jutland) • The initial wave of migration - 449 A. D. • the Venerable Bede (c. 673-735) • the Britain of his time comprised four nations English, British (Welsh), Picts, and Scots. • invaders resembling those of the Germans as described by Tacitus in his Germania. • a warrior race • the chieftain, the companions or comitatus. • the Celtic languages were supplanted (e.g. ass, bannock, crag). * Christianity spread from two different directions: * In the 5th century St Patrick converted Ireland, in the 7th century the north of England was converted by Irish monks; * in the south at the end of the 6th century Aethelberht of Kent allowed the monk Augustine...
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...The novel takes place over three days in December 1949. Holden begins his story at Pencey Preparatory, an exclusive private school (fictional, though based on Salinger's own experience at Valley Forge Military Academy) in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditionalfootball game with rival school Saxon Hall. Holden ends up missing the game. He is the manager of the fencing team and loses their equipment on a New York City subway train that morning, resulting in the cancellation of a match. He goes to the home of his history teacher named Mr. Spencer. Holden has been expelled and isn't to return home until after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday. Spencer is a well-meaning but long-winded middle-aged man. To Holden's annoyance, Spencer reads aloud Holden's history paper, in which Holden wrote a note to Spencer so his teacher wouldn't feel bad about failing him in the subject. Holden returns to his dorm, which is quiet because most of the students are still at the football game. Wearing the new red hunting cap he bought in New York City, he begins re-reading a book (Out of Africa), but his distraction is temporary. First, his dorm neighbor Ackley disturbs him, although Holden is patient about it. Then later, Holden argues with his roommate Stradlater, who fails to appreciate a composition that Holden wrote for him about the baseball glove of Holden's late brother Allie. A womanizer, Stradlater has just returned from a date with Holden's...
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