I went to see the Zeffirelli R & J for a class trip in ninth grade and it etched itself deeply into my heart and mind at the time. I also saw the very memorable short film version of BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR. >(Save Romeo & Juliet before someone let's them live!) > >On the R & J note, I think even a selective comparison of Franco >Zefferelli's film with Bas Luhrmann's (?) recent 'modernized' version >would be very useful for kids. When I was in 6th grade, a group of us put >on a condensed version of the play, so the story was always familar to >me--I couldn't imagine not knowing it. > >However, around the time the recent Romeo & Juliet came out, I met an 11 >year-old girl who she was really excited about going to see the movie. >She had seen the trailer and asked me about the part where Romeo is >climbing up a wall to Juliet in the window--she thought Juliet had been >kidnapped and he was coming to rescue her. I was shocked--she said she >had never read the play--then her 14 year old brother chimed in that he >had never read it either. I said, well, you must know the plot, its been >retold in movies time and time again--the boy and girl from thw opposite >side of the tracks, from rival groups--star-crossed lovers?... They >looked at me blankly. Not even West Side Story? They'd never heard of it. > >Essentially, it occurred to me what a tragedy (no pun intended) it would >be for these kids' first and perhaps only familiarity with Romeo & Juliet >to come from the music video version. I myself enjoyed it a great deal >for its *differences*, but I can't imagine not having something to >compare that to--especially Claire Danes vs. Olivia Hussy (I think that's >the name of Zefferelli's Juliet). > >I even remember a Wonder Years episode about Zefferelli's R & J being the >fad movie for all of those kids to go see. > >Just some thoughts, > > > >Susan Vaill > >MFA Film Production Program >University of Southern California >School of Cinema-Television > >(213) 650-6199 > >---- >Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite >http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/screensite