Textual analysis- vanessa carr

The film which I will be analysing is 'Romeo and Juliet’; this film was released on the 1st of November 1996. This film was directed by Baz Luhrmann. The genre of this film is a tragic drama.

The narrative of 'Romeo and Juliet' is adapted from a play; however it follows the generic features of a tragic drama. The film revolves around two characters in love, it also themes around death and jealousy. In 'Romeo and Juliet' the Todorov's equilibrium model starts off when Romeo and Juliet are at their normal state. Romeo being a part of the rich Montague's family does his normal activities with his friends and cousin. Whilst Juliet being a part of the Capulet's family (which is another rich family) follows her usual deeds of pampering and getting ready for the party which her family is hosting. The Capulet's and Montague's family are rivals of each other. The disruption in this film is when Romeo and Juliet meet each other at the Montague's party. They fall in love instantly with each other not knowing their families are rivals. When they discover this more disruption erupts. The resolutions of this problem are sadly ended in a tragic as Juliet drinks poison when she believes Romeo is dead.

 Levi theory of 'binary oppositions' could be applied to 'Romeo and Juliet' this is because in the film, Romeo and Juliet's family are enemies however that don't stop both of them from falling in love. Another example of the 'binary opposition' theory is the fact that they both faced a tragedy because they both died. Usually in a film based around love, the lovers normally have a happy ending, in this film it ended in tears. 'Romeo and Juliet' film is followed in a chronological order. This is because 'Romeo and Juliet' was written in the 18th century so a lot of the issues back then are shown in the film. Back in those days when the film was written ladies were meant to behave in a well expected manner and they were not allowed to go out with someone if it was not approved by their family. 'Romeo and Juliet' is a closed narrative because at the end of the film we know that both the characters die and the way they died is shown. The narrative is not restricted because, when Romeo and Juliet die it is apparent to the audience how they die and what lead them to their tragic death.

In the film the characters are represented typical for the time era of the film. This film was written by William Shakespeare. The characters are all well spoken in an old English accent, the women are dressed in fancy groomed clothing and the men are dressed in suits. This is typical for the era of the film. Throughout the film the facial expressions are happy, smiling, shocked; these facial expressions are mainly expressed through the main character. This in which is quite typical for the tragic drama genre as a lot of conflicts and drama occur throughout these types of films so there is a lot of different facial expressions. These generic conventions are also shown in the film 'Titanic' which is also a drama genre film. The body language used is affectionate, hugging, tense, flirting, defensive and frightened. All these body language are quite typical for this type of tragic drama as there was a lot of love scenes as well as violence between the enemies, where all the conflict takes place. In 'Romeo and Juliet' all these aspects are used to represent the typical generic features of a tragic drama. 

  The storyline of 'Romeo and Juliet' is typical because in a tragic drama the expected themes are love, jealousy, destiny and death. In 'Romeo and Juliet' these themes are used as their family are strongly against their love and will do anything to depart them, their love is so strong in the film and they cannot live without one and another. This in which causes Juliet to kill herself at the end when she mistakenly thinks Romeo is dead, he however also kills himself when he see's she is dead. Non digestic sound is used at the beginning of the film when the characters are going to the party; the music is used to show that everything is calm and happy. When Romeo and Juliet first meet digestic music is heard, romantic music is played as the character first lay eyes on each other. These sounds are typical because it is used to show the drama film at its normal state. Another non diestic sound is used when the Capulet’s and Montague’s have a fight against each other, the tension music used is typical as it builds up the tragedy which is about to occur in the film. High angle and close up shots are used when Romeo and Juliet are in the pool together; the high angle shot is used to represent their secret love, as they are almost seen by the security guards. 

The close up shot is used of them being intimate in the pool. These shots are typical because its emphasising how limited there time is together is this tragic drama film. Shot reverse shot, jump cuts and straight cuts are used, these editing techniques are typical because it moves at a fast pace, to stress the limited time they’re going to spend together in this tragic drama. The setting is in a mansion or on the streets these are where the main conflicts and romance takes place. The main props used are a gun and poison these are typical as they represent the tragedy. Whenever the main characters are shown they are always positioned in a medium frame together, this is used to show they can’t be separated from each other. This could be used to foreshadow there death together as they cannot be separated even in this tragic drama.