Romeo + Juliet

Sorry for the late posting, I'm horrible about these things. Here is a link to a review of William Shakepeare's Romeo+Juliet movie directed by Baz Luhrmann. This link was found on Amazon as the "most helpful" movie review by a user.

I watched this rendition of Shakespeare's work my Freshman year of high school after finishing our Shakespearean reading, and I must say that I think that it was an excellent idea and it executed exactly what it needed to for it's audience. This contemporary, gangster-like film stars Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes and just really was a homerun for me. Not because it had wonderful acting or special effects (those aspects of the film were actually poor), but because it used Shakespeare's verse in contemporary times, which is normally something I'm horrible about interpretting and brought it to life in a modern-day setting with guns, gangs, violence, etc. Everything that appeals to our generation. And I thought that this would be incredibly helpful for students or interested persons who just didn't find what they were looking for in the text and needed to view some action that they could relate to. I know that some may see it as a disgrace to Shakespeare's amazing story and whatnot, but it serves its purpose and offers and interesting point of view in a more recent setting. The story remains the same, and think about it... it's an over-exaggerated tragedy... the acting and setting aren't poking fun at his work, they're simply recreating it in an interesting and fun way.

Now, for the record, I'm not saying that movies are better than books in many ways, or any ways. I am simply saying that when it comes to complicated and often misunderstood verse and language, or even other aspects of literature that make it difficult for the less intellectual to understand, movies can be helpful as a visual aid, or to engage an otherwise disinterested audience to well-known or good stories.

Obviously, in my opinion, and in the opinion of most, books are almost always better than movies. This hold true for a number of reasons that have been discussed in previous posts, and also because, though one cannot see exactly what is going on, he can relate to the character moreso and be exposed to finer details and more importantly, unspoken thoughts and feelings that movies cannot capture. While movies do a very nice job of translating text, as in the Harry Potter movies, the audience cannot identify as closely and miss important points, thoughts, and things that are not spoken aloud by the characters, and aren't thrust completely into the heads and imaginations of characters as they are in books. But, if something is meant to be a play originally, as in my Romeo + Juliet example, it is easier to translate the original text to the big screen, because it was meant to be acted out and the author took into account that we wouldn't be exposed to private thoughts of the characters unless they were spoken aloud on stage. So I think that movies like such are more successful as the directors have been given an easier time.

My questions are:
Have you seen this version of Romeo and Juliet? If so, what did you think of it? Were you in favor of what it was trying to prove and did it do a decent job of appealing to its target audience?

If you haven't, do you think that after reading the Amazon review that you would agree or disagree with it?

Hamlet and Harry Potter

I'm sure we've all read Shakespeare's Hamlet at some point. When I read it in one of my english classes we watched the 1996 movie (the one with Kate Winslet) as we read. I still enjoyed the play more than the movie, but I have to admit the movie was extremely helpful. They stay very close to the actual script and plot. This made it easy to picture what was going on and understand the action of the scenes a little better. This review also gave the movie positive feedback, saying it "engaged [his] intellect, senses, and emotions."

In this situation, the movie was a success and I'm glad it was available; however, this is not always the case. Movies like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter tend to stray from the original text. It's not that the movies are bad, but I'd rather they stick to the plot or go a completely different way, like use the same idea, but change up the plot and title so the book can be its own being. The Harry Potter series, for instance, seems to mean all things Potter - books, movies, board games, etc.

It seems like books become movies to appeal to a larger audience. So many people say "Oh yeah I've seen the movies, I just haven't read the books." For Harry Potter, many people just don't want to spend the time reading thousands of pages, when they can just sit back and watch the movies. This is what's frustrating because in my opinion, the books are so much better. It's not just the storyline that is more compelling, but the way Rowling tells the story. She is actually a good writer, unlike so many series-authors today (i.e. Stephanie Meyer).

In my opinion, a movie rendition can change the value of a book, in the public's eye. The Potter series was unique in that it grew up with a generation. The first book targeted 3rd graders; the last one featured gory death scenes aiming for teenagers and young adults. You can't see that in the movies, its just not the same. Before the first movie came out, everyone went out and bought the book to see what all the hype was about. Now they just rent the movie and say, "that was decent."

In contrast, movie-Hamlet does not change anything about the original Shakespeare piece - that's what's so great about it. Everyone would still rather read the play for the experience of reading Shakespeare. This is one example of a movie that doesn't spoil the original literature, and I'm sure there are more out there. So it goes both ways, in my opinion, but more often than not, the movie doesn't live up to the book's standards.

Here are my questions:

1. What do you think about movies that are based on a book - or real life events - that have a different title and storyline (i.e. The Vow, Rambo, Die Hard)?
2. What about movie propaganda? Do transformers action figures and party favors have any impact on the cultural significance of the film?