I mentioned that briefly, that the only way to tackle the communications issue and lack of the parental control of the Elizabethan period was to try for some kind of dystopia. A religious dictatorship, like something from The Handmaid’s Tale would definitely fit the parameters of keeping teens from communicating and having the freedoms they do in our current society.
I absolutely agree. West Side Story is as close to a pitch perfect modernization as I think we’ll ever see of Romeo and Juliet. Even the change in ending where Tony dies at the hand of the kind of gang rivalry that is present in the original story but Maria doesn’t kill herself is much more realistic for modern times than the double suicide.
Thank you! That’s an excellent thought, as well, to use an updated version as a study/commentary on social media, not just as the story changed to fit the times. I’d like to see such a production.
I disagree. I know many people who have run away. Especially in severely oppressive families, if the option is a) be with the one you love in a different city/state or 2) kill yourself, I do think that option a) would at least be attempted. I do like the idea of a crisis as the reason for the lack of communication. It would make for a very interesting production.
I agree! This is an interesting point. I’m glad other people are thinking about this stuff, too!
That sounds like a fantastic production. I really like the idea of looking at the dysfunction within the family instead of just between the two feuding families.
I definitely understand the finality of the teenage mind, and especially a mind prone to suicidal ideation. But it still seems to me that the first option would be to try to be with the lover before taking their own life. Now, if the lover was already dead, then I’d consider that suicide would be the first option. But with the freedoms most teens have now, I don’t think suicide would be first. But we’re talking hypothetical fictions here, so it’s really not too big a deal to agree to disagree. ;)
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