"Please Hate the Players, Don't Hate the Game": Romeo and Juliet

Now, no one is more of a skeptic than me, especially in the case of a barely teenage girl and a boy of some indeterminate age but who's definitely not old, get together and think that the Sun, Moon and Stars were hung in honor of their undying love for one another

That is all that needs to be said about that.

One second read however, a lot of more of the subtlety and language comes through. You realize that yes, this may well be the origin of the "Love at first sight" cliche but that does not make what is being said less valid, only the figures themselves and their desire to be together without any thought toward long-term goals or the family feud that's been waging for however many years.

"Hate the player, not the game." This reversal of the adage makes sense in their context because Romeo and Juliet, along with Mercutio, Tybalt and all the other bastards are merely players on a stage, taking part in Shakespeare's epic game.

What is his game exactly? Why, to show the mercurial nature of teen hearts? To ultimately punish and therefore train the Montague's and Capulet's for their misdeed? To send a message to parents of the time: keep a close eye on your kids?

I have no idea what the central idea of this play is. It offers the reader a look at decision making and cause and effect outcomes in a visceral and poisonous way. It develops the idea of history and the importance of knowing where you came from but also that evolution of thoughts and ideas is necessary for survival. It's a satirical commentary on the state of relationships and arranged marriages of the era.

Whatever it is that is occurring behind the scenes in Shakespeare's mind, we all have to keep in mind that although we are sick of Romeo and Juliet and their thousands of reincarnations, someone somewhere made the unwise decision to keep these things in circulation so let's learn from them what we can so we can finally put them to rest.

Romeo and Juliet is Insane

My first reaction to watching Romeo and Juliet (the one with DiCaprio) was, holy @#$! this is crazy. There is no subtlety, no restraint. And... on thinking about it, that was really appropriate. I mean, yes this goes more crazy than Shakespeare certainly intended, cross dressing Mercutio being one obvious example, I feel that it worked. Not in a serious light in any way, but it seemed to have fun going completely crazy and I did enjoy a bit of it. At least I enjoyed the first half of it.
The second half was where it went downhill for me. The first half was so over the top, it seemed almost a parody, for it then to go more serious seemed dumb. To have a gun fight with a freaking gas station exploding and then for me to be worried about a character being wounded? A GAS STATION BLEW UP. YOU ARE HAVING GUN DANCES. YOU CANNOT EXPECT ME TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY.

And before you give the argument that the same happened in Shakespeare. NO. In Shakespeare it works because having a happier beginning only serves to more starkly contrast the tragedy that would follow, AND the beginning, while more jovial, was still tense and somewhat serious. Yes, there was good times had by Romeo and company, but that was intended to make us like and care for the characters in the play. So when they actually die, we care.
If you're going to go insane, go fully insane. Make it all a joke. But by having the giant contrast between the first and second half, and not doing it in a deliberate and skilled way, it weakens the movie, putting it somewhere between a parody and a serious take.
(An example of a hilarious parody of Romeo and Juliet[and Shakespeare in general] is this The Complete Works of Shakespeare(Abridged):Romeo and Juliet )

As for the update to modern times, or any other times that was not intended in Shakespeare, It can work. One amazing example of a change  that looked really cool was this interpretation of Julius Shakespeare that used African Americans for Romans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q7apiYunEU
I feel that what makes Shakespeare, Shakespeare is the language. If you can make his writing sound natural I feel that you can make any Shakespeare play work. The imagery, the characters, heck even the plot can be changed(as the Abridged Shakespeare proves), but the language is the most important for maintaining the identity. The language isn't everything though. While I feel it is important, and the most signifying part of a Shakespeare play, the play is still made up of the acting, props, costumes, the stage. While changes can be made, they need to be made in way that maintains some sort of internal consistency and logic, as well as working.

And finally, and on a slightly less relevant note, I love the beginning scene of Romeo and Juliet, Do you bite your thumb at me Sir?