Romeo og Julie

Skolevisning av Shakespearefilmer er vanligvis mest aktuelt for studieretningsfaget Engelsk II A (hovedmoment 4a), og brukt som pensum sammen med tekstutdrag. Med den nye filmatiseringen av Romeo og Julie er det kommet en film som bruker Shakespeares tekst (uendret, men selvsagt forkortet) på en slik måte at det vil være synd ikke å benytte anledningen til å gi elever på alle trinn i videregående skole en introduksjon til klassisk drama. Settingen er dagens USA, med henvisninger til mafia, bandekriger og maktforhold i sin alminnelighet. Familie/firmanavnene Montague og Capulet står med store bokstaver på toppen av hver sin høye kontorbygning. Filmens visuelle uttrykk, musikk og dens gjenkjennelige scener fra konflikt- og actionfilm-genren appellerer til unge seere.

FORSLAG TIL ARBEIDSGANG:
1: Jobbe med de generelle oppgavene.
2: Lese tekstutdraget. Diskutere hvordan det kan "utføres" på teater og på film. Er det forskjeller?
3: Se filmen.
4: Gi rom for umiddelbare reaksjoner, og jobbe med oppgavene til filmen.
5: Lese tekstutdraget en gang til.

FORSLAG TIL TEKSTUTDRAG:
I alle tilfellene kan det være interessant å se på norske oversettelser, gjerne flere der det finnes.
Forbered elevene på ord som: 'tis, thou art, thee, thy, dost, doth, found'st.

ROMEO OG JULIE
Prologen (14 linjer!), fordi den introduserer konflikten og fordi den er spennende modernisert i filmen ved at den er lagt i munnen på en nyhetsoppleser i TV.
Balkongscenen (akt II, scene II, hele, eller et utdrag fra starten, til Juliet's replikk "By whose direction found'st thou out this place?"), fordi den er så berømt og fordi den er så vakker.
Sluttreplikken (6 linjer), sagt av Veronas fyrste, i denne filmen politisjefen.

GENERAL QUESTIONS ON SHAKESPEARE AND TRAGEDY:
For these questions check textbooks, books on history and literary history, CD-roms, or the Internet, or have your teacher help you answer them.

1. What do we consider to be the characteristics of the Renaissance? How did the view of Man change in this period? What does "Elisabethan" mean?
2. What is a tragedy? Find out about the elements that constitute a tragedy and try to distinguish between the way we normally use the word "tragic" and what it means in terms of dramatic art. If you paint your room and end up disliking the colour you may call it tragic, but it will not be tragic in the other sense of the word. You may have encountered a similar problem with the word romantic.
3. Find out about the action of the play you are studying, so that you know the basics before you read your excerpt.
4. What is a "tragic flaw"? Try to define this flaw in the main character of the play you are studying.
5. Does the play that you are studying have a historical or literary background? Find out as much as you can.
7. What are blankverse and iambic pentameter? Find examples of this in your text.
8. You will be watching a film, not a stage play. Try to notice the use of filmatic devices such as close-ups and interior monologue, that are typical of film but alien to the theatre.

QUESTIONS ON ROMEO AND JULIET:
1. What are your reactions to this film? Changing the setting (time and place) of a play is often done. Do you think it is ok to do so? In this case, does it change the essence of the play? Better/worse?
2. Did you recognize any of the music used in this film? What do you think about the choice and use of music? Did the two families, any of the characters, or any of the scenes have a special "leitmotif"?
3. Did you notice the "colour-coding" and different styles of the two families and their followers? Is this done just to make it easier for us to keep them apart, or does this happen in real life?
4. Compare the way the play ends with the ending of the film.
5. It has been said that Romeo and Juliet is the play that has always made young people feel Shakespeare was their secret ally. Discuss.
6. Many of the scenes in this film have their background not only in Shakespeare's text but in classical standard clichés from the film genre. Try to identify as many as possible of these scenes, and if you can, specific films they relate to (shoot-outs, beach scenes, car racing, gas station scene, pool scene). Shakespeare's swords and daggars of course become guns, but the fighting in the film was there in the play. Getting the letter to Romeo in Mantua was actually stopped by fear of pestilence spreading, but the car/postman scene in this film is a reference to Zeffirelli's film version from 1968 where Friar John has a mule and Balthasar a horse.
7. If you know other Shakespeare plays it is worth watching this film once just for the sake of "namespotting". There are lots of references to characters from famous plays, as owners of hot dog joints, in articles in the newspapers we see etc, etc. Did you see any of these?

Romeo og Julie

Filmstudieark

Fakta