As an avid theater nerd, I live,
breathe, and bleed Shakespeare. I have grown up knowing that he is this genius playwright
that he is both serious and playful at the same time (two of the most important
parts of a play.) I also really respect Shakespeare because, as a playwright, a
lot of the things I know about the shape of a play, comes from him. I agree
with Fosters assertions about how other authors use Shakespeare to create works
of their own. Often when I am reading or watching a film and I recognize the
story, I see more concrete details that I didn’t realize before, and it helps
me understand the theme and idea of the plot.
Ever since we read Romeo and Juliet in Mrs.
Gay’s class, freshman year, I fell in love with it. Granted, I was a sappy
hormonal 14 year old girl who loved love. However, what I really fell in love
with was the despair and sadness. Ok… I promise I am not a weirdo and I know
that a lot of girls my age do not like Romeo and Juliet because of that. What
makes me upset is that there are so many renditions of Romeo and Juliet out
there that depict a happy ending taking a twist on the actual story. This is
wrong. Romeo and Juliet’s love is supposed to be eternal, and Shakespeare
showed that by having the love die with them. To me, that is one of the most
important plot choices within the play and no one ever honors that.
One movie that I saw a while ago was Warm Bodies,
it is so funny how they adapted this classic love story into an apocalyptic
zombie movie. It’s about this zombie guy that falls in love with a human girl(
hint hint star crossed lovers) and they change the world. It is different from
the original because it ends happily. It is almost backwards because the Romeo
character is technically dead (zombie) until he meets his Juliet and it brings
him back to life.
Another
cute, but not so accurate spin off is Gnomeo and Juliet. It is way less sad than
the original because it is a children’s movie. Essentially, two lawn gnomes
from different lawns fall in love and it is forbidden. They seek love anyway
and it’s happily ever after for them. It is not my favorite adaptation but if I’m
babysitting it’s a cute thing to watch with children.
I am
still waiting for a good, sad adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and maybe if it doesn’t
happen, then I will go out and write it myself. I think it is really important
to recognize that a lot of authors use Shakespeare’s ideas in their own bodies
of work and I think it is equally important to recognize that the changes
within the story are significant to how it will be portrayed. For example,
taking a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet, and turning it into a sappy little love
story with a happy ending.
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