When it comes to hosting a movie review radio show, it is never hard to find material to discuss. But when the show gets kicked to the evening by its third episode and covers all kinds of challenging, visceral subject matters, it gets tricky to find guests to come on the show.
That was the conundrum I fell into when I decided to interview Tom Hrach, advanced media writing professor and my longtime graduate advisor. Love stories and sports films, that’s what I had to work with.
The result? “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” the classic Shakespeare play that has stood the test of time and is one of the many, shining, examples of a “universal story.” The idea of a universal story certainly applies to all genres of film, but it is the universal love story that is of the greatest interest. Why? People just love romance stories and their cheesy appeal, or heartbreaking tragedies.
Hrach and I certainly diverge when it comes to our movie tastes, but in the area of the Shakespeare classic, and its numerous adaptations, we discussed, dissected, on what it means to be a universal story.
We started the top of the show proper with how we even came together on this show and ending the introduction with the reveal of the film and a statement from Hrach that set the stage for the rest of the discussion.
“I think that’s a great choice, of course, it is a love story, it’s not really a happy ending, but it’s a story that’s been told many, many times on film. “ Hrach said, who then steered the discussion to the films of the episode.
Shakespeare wrote the original play in the 1590s, although an exact date or year is hard to pinpoint. Since the original publication date, the play has been adapted into film more than 30 times over and has been performed on stages, the world over, countless times. It is lazy to describe an amount like that, I’m aware, but when it comes to Shakespeare adaptations, it is extremely easy to lose count along the way.
The films in the show, the most famous film adaptations in my point of view, were the 1968, 1996 and 2013 versions of “Romeo and Juliet.” All are vastly different stylistic and directorial approaches for “Romeo and Juliet,” but are prime examples of how “Romeo and Juliet” is a universal love story.
“Romeo & Juliet” is a story that everyone knows by heart at this point. Two powerful families, Montagues and Capulets, feud and fight in the streets of Verona, much to the chagrin of, well, literally everyone else who lives in Verona and have to deal with the antiquity equivalent of a gang brawl.
Through the chaos, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love, but their turbulent relationship comes crashing to a tragic end, largely because of the mistakes made by their parents and greater families.
A gigantic family feud, tragic lovers, the “star-crossed lovers,” love at first sight, young love (I could go on and on) but the subjects and themes Shakespeare tackles in “Romeo and Juliet,” and the way they all come together over the course of the play, are a large part of why this story has been cemented as a universal one.
Every love story, let me make clear, owes something to what “Romeo & Juliet” has done, even in the most unexpected subsets of romance films. “West Side Story,” a loose adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet.” “Shakespeare in Love,” a historical fiction film about a fictionalized affair Shakespeare has while writing “Romeo and Juliet.” Of course, just as an authorial sidenote, there is Orwell’s “1984,” which features a relationship between its main characters (Winston Smith and Julia) that follows a similar trajectory to Romeo and Juliet’s.
“The whole idea of the star-crossed lovers, two people falling in love at first sight, and then working hard, working hard to get together, get together, but, obviously, never really happens. Let’s face it, all romantic comedies are based on that basic theme right there - two people falling in love and figuring out how to get together.” Hrach said.
The discussion shifted away from these points about theming, to the adherence adaptations of “Romeo & Juliet” have with the original text. Adaptations are already a dime-a-dozen in the film world, with varying levels of changes across them all.
Few adaptations, however, maintain the level of adherence and respect to the base text quite like the ones for “Romeo & Juliet.”
Three films were discussed on the show tonight, the 1968 version by Franco Zeffirelli, the 1996 version by Baz Luhrmann (a personal favorite of mine largely because of its emphasis on making this feud the biggest spectacle it possibly could) and the 2013 version by Carlo Carlei.
Zeffirelli’s version of the story, it’s a classic in high school classrooms for good reason, the reasoning being Zeffirelli’s complete adherence to the text.
Luhrmann’s version is the one that stands out the most for its decision to set the story in a contemporary setting, complete with shootouts, flashy pistols, loud music, colorful visuals and making both families into criminal organizations. The dialogue, however, is still the original from the text, unaltered despite the modernized setting.
Finally, there is Carlei’s 2013 take on R&J, an adaptation that moves the action back to Verona in Italy during the period it was set, but modernizing the dialogue.
Despite all of the stylistic changes, the basic story structure remains the absolute same, adhering to the source text near-religiously. Romeo and Juliet still fall in love, their families still hate each other’s guts and their relationship ends with both of them dead in the family crypt.
“Are there any other Shakespeare plays that have gone through so many adaptations? Maybe ‘Julius Caesar?’ I think ‘Romeo & Juliet,” I can’t think of a piece of literature that has been retold in film and books.” Hrach said.
Retellings of the play extend beyond the world of film, with the tragedy of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet cementing itself in the world of paintings, ballet, manga and any and all forms of artistic expression.
From our show, the dual definition and context of the universal story comes into view.
A universal story is a piece of work that has gone beyond its original medium and set the stage (pun intended) for what followed. “Romeo & Juliet” was, and still is, seen as the bible for tragic love stories and the reverence it maintains in the world of literature and theater is still palpable. A universal story is also a story that, no matter how it is adapted or brought to life, still retains the most important, core elements. The story of “Romeo & Juliet,” no matter the adaptation, always ends the same way:
A young couple at the height of their love for each other, snuffed out by the mistakes of their feuding families who can’t see beyond petty street brawls and pride.
"For never was a story of more woe, Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”
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