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Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music

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Abstract

This chapter explores the significance of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet represented in the films and pop music. By the theories of cultural theory and popular culture, I explore the examples, including: (1) Director Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ musical film West Side Story on racial immigrants’ conflicts in America. (2) Director Franco Zeffirelli’s film Romeo & Juliet starring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting, the teenagers’ chemistry imbues freshness. (3) Director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) is on spectacle and hyper-reality. (4) Italian Director Carlo Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet has a classic aroma. (5) Taylor Swift’s MV song “Love Story” modernizes Shakespeare by pop music. (6) “Late Late Show with James Corden” performing the soundtrack with Emily Blunt is humorous.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Romeo and Juliet (1968)—What Is A Youth (Music Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQMlyXMRJE

  2. 2.

    Jameson, “Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” 74.

  3. 3.

    Recent Indian Adaptation Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYnJq-AcKJE

    This 2014 Indian musical comedy film Romeo and Juliet is full of Bollywood dance and singing style, which is extremely radically adapted or we shall say just inspired from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. So this Indian film is not included to be explored in this article. The modern Indian Bollywood comic musical film stars by Jayam Ravi & Hansika is directed by Lakshman. In music design, D. Imman scores hummable & groovy songs for this relaxing film for entertainment in the pop culture. They twist Shakespeare’s tragedy into finding out what love is all about nowadays as a funny comedy in this cosmopolitan world.

  4. 4.

    The lyrics of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” can be heard in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E

  5. 5.

    That show clip can be found in the Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1obijnKoIQ

  6. 6.

    Modern Songs That Relate to Romeo & Juliet

    1. (1) 

      “Early Mourning—Alesana”

    This song gives you the feeling about the end Romeo’s depression when he sees his beloved Juliet dying in the tomb belonging to the Capulets in the churchyard in Act V Scene III. The lyrics of the song are as follows:Verse

    Verse “Why not one more night? Our last kiss goodbye… My sweet love tonight” “I hope the stars Still spell out your name… Where you are…” “Kiss my closing eyes.”

    Through this song, the strong impact of the sorrowful emotion of Romeo can touch your heart.

    1. (2) 

      “Hey There Delilah-Plain White T’s

    This song describes the situation that the lovers in a distance cannot be together. It is similar to Romeo’s situation after his banish punishment, he and Juliet who are deeply in love but they cannot see each other.Verse

    Verse “In the distance… Close your eyes… Oh. What’s to the meaning?”

    1. (3) 

      “I Miss You (Acoustic)-Incubus”

    This song sounds like something the characters in Shakespeare’s play would be thinking, that kind of “AWWW love struck feeling throughout the play. The lyrics below:Verse

    Verse “In your dream… That I cannot explain… I miss you….”

  7. 7.

    15 Modern Songs That Relate to Romeo & Juliet

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ujaVN2vQw

    1. (1)

      “Bad Blood—Bastille”

    2. (2)

      “A Thousand Years”—Christina Perri

      “I love you for a thousand years.

    3. (3)

      “Red”—Taylor Swift

      “Legend…let him be red”

    4. (4)

      “They Don’t Know About US”—One Direction

      “They don’t know that I love you.”

    5. (5)

      “Love Don’t Lie”—The Fray

    6. (6)

      “The Distance”—Hot Chelle Rae

    7. (7)

      “Alright” —Hot Chelle Rae

      “You hear everything is great. But fade…”

      “So would you come back in the middle of the night…

      Everything is gonna to be alright.”

    8. (8)

      “Storm Warning”—Hunter Hayes

    9. (9)

      “Half a Heart”—One Direction

      “I am half a heart if without you.”

    10. (10)

      “Enchanted”—Taylor Swift

      “All I say is that I am enchanted from you.”

    11. (11)

      “Long Live”—Taylor Swift

    12. (12)

      “I Won’t Give Up”—Jason Mraz

    13. (13)

      “Sad Beautiful Tragic”—Taylor Swift

    14. (14)

      “Thinking of You”—Katy Perry

    15. (15)

      “If I Die Young”—The Band Perry

  8. 8.

    The Youtube film of DESLblitz can be seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV1s3StTgco Retrieved on April 24, 2019.

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  1. National Chiao Tung University, Jhubei, Taiwan

    Iris H. Tuan

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Tuan, I.H. (2020). Shakespeare and Popular Culture: Romeo and Juliet in Film and Pop Music. In: Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7297-5_2

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