Monday 6 December 2010

Postmodernism Essay Structure- Romeo + Juliet, 1996, Baz Luhrmann



After spending the last days, doing some research for my essay, understand it (what possible in such difficult subject), i'm ready to write the 2000 words. For that matter, I had to find the question, so the question I will be asking is: 

How is the Death of the Author Expressed in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet? 

and despite many topics I could go for I will concentrate my essay in 2 "heads" of Postmodernism, Death of the Author and Fragmentation.

So here is the structure for my essay. 

Introduction: 200 words

-Here I will introduce the essay, presenting and explaining my question, and also mention the sources i took most of the research from. 


Main Body: 1600 Words

-Introduce and put in context the cultural movement Postmodernism, historically and culturally, as well as presenting briefly some of the main thinkers of this movement(e.G Roland Barthes).

- Present the idea of death of the author as stated in the essay by Roland Barthes, explaining the theory and maybe give one example. 

Leads to:

- Fragmentation, where I will introduce the theory and therefore explain it in depth so I can apply to the film.

So having the theories explained I can now, present the the original play by William Shakespeare, to inform the reader, and then present the film, I will mention that the synopsis is similar to the play, and therefore deconstruct some individual elements from the film and play, compare them with the original play and realise where fragmentation has been used. [Verona Beach( Hispanic-American beach), crime and adolescence mischief , the abundant use of religious elements, the modernisation of the weapons from swords to guns, etc.] Connect them with real-life elements, which where the source of inspiration for the film.

Conclusion: 200 Words

Conclude my findings. That despite the author wrote the play,due to the new interpretation of writing 
(Death of the Author) individual interpretation and collaborative authorship have an importatn role nowadays. ' the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.' (Barthes)


Source: Barthes R. ,1967,Death Of the Author. 
Found At: http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/barthes06.htm

3 comments:

Charlotte said...

Postmodern Hollywood: what's new in film and why it makes us feel so strange.

Just a recomendation for quotes and such. I'm not sure if it has Romeo and Juliet in it but it did have a lot on Moulin Rouge which I'm writing about for Death of the Author. Hope it helps.

Ruben Martins said...

Thank you Charlotte for the recommendation, i will try to look into it.

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