Modern Comic Romeo & Juliet

http://youtu.be/6RBdcSxAepM

The sun of my mountain.

If you are asked to depict the play ROMEO AND JULIET within one word, what profound vocabulary would you like to pick from the dictionary? As for me, the first volunteer jumps out from my brain is “mountain”. In the full sense of the word “mountain”, there should be lands a lot higher than flats; there should be cliffs a lot more dangerous than stairs; there should be fog a lot heavier than that in cities. Nevertheless, there are also forests providing residence for fairies; there are rivers singing songs of happiness; furthermore, there are high peaks reaching the bright, fantastic sun. You can find all these features of mountains in this play, which I will explain little by little. Although climbing the mountain is tough in many ways, I still appreciate the precious experience, which makes me admire, makes me laugh and makes me think deeply.

To start with, it is acknowledged that no matter old or young, cynical or secular, silent or outgoing, every woman would not be able to refuse Romeo’s confession of love in Act 2 Scene 2. In fact, despite the “resentment” I have for the old English and the way Romeo speaks, which are high lands and dangerous cliffs needed to be cross over, I would immediately fall in love with Romeo, who expresses his love straightly and romantically. The peck of the speech, in my opinion, is when Romeo says:”It is the east, and Juliet is the sun(2.2 3).” Not only the “moon(2.2 4)” that Romeo mentions is jealous, even me envious Juliet when reading Romeo’s confession. Juliet must be the happiest woman in the world, who has a lover regards her as the brightest, the most important thing in the world. 

Since Juliet is in fact a young girl, many of her behavior and language are cute and innocent which attract me more than any other description of her. After sending the Nurse to Romeo, Juliet become nervous and diffident, not as calm like a princess as usual: “In half an hour she promised to return. Perchance she cannot meet him. That’s not so(2.5 2).” In this scene, Juliet is murmuring all the time, worrying about what happens to Nurse and Romeo. This behavior is exactly what people do when falling in love with others. It is clear that when you fall in love with some one, you will lose the ability to control your emotion. Juliet’s behavior suggests that she wholeheartedly loves Romeo and cannot help thinking about him. 

Can you match the features of mountains with the play ROMEO AND JULIET now? Let’s see if you are doing correctly. The high lands are the old English; the cliffs are the indirect way those characters uses to speak; the fog, as you can see, is the mysterious plot that leads our emotions all the time. The fairies, clearly, are those characters with various traits; the songs of happiness represent youth, innocent and friendship which occur through the entire play. Last but not least, the high peaks are representations of love, which could get over death, pass through evil and light up the world. Climbing the mountain with me and feel the masterpiece in the world!

Juliet's speech

Oh Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo?

Please deny your father and abandon your name, 

Or if you do not want to do this

Only because of love

I will not be a Capulet

Only your name is my enemy

You are yourself, you are not a Montague(you are not my enemy)

What is a Montague? It is still hands, feet, arms and face.

Oh please take another name for a man 

Romeo and Zhu Yingtai.

“ROMEO AND JULIET”, the universally famous love story, has widely spread around the world, perceiving tons of tears from 5-year-old boys to 95-year-old grandmothers. As the most authorize representation of love, Mr. “ ROMEO AND JULIET” never hesitates to change his outfit when appearing to the public. Unfortunately, Mr. R&J in fact has a powerful competitor in China, whose characters have finally become two butterflies when their parents refused them to get married, regarded as the Chinese Mr. R&J. For me, my very first impression of Mr. R&J is from that story “BUTTERFLY LOVERS”, which is originally named from the two lovers: Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai 

When I started to get older, being able to read and understand English, I was luckily enough to reveal the mysterious veil of Mr. R&J. He was wearing a costume of movie screen, standing in the coast of Los Angeles in 1996 when he first showed up in front of me. Definitely a romantic story, no one has ever exaggerated his powerfulness. The most significant impressions for me, are Romeo’s disappointed face and gentle smile. These two emotions seemed to connection every scene in series. Every emotional change of Romeo has presented a distinct long story. I was moved by the plot wholeheartedly, despite all the unrealities and affections in the movie. However, you might think it to be funny, but the most significant theories I have learnt from the movie were that, never make impulsive decisions and always keep contact with others.

Picking up an already-known story seemed to be tediously for me before I reread the play version of ROMEO AND JULIET. If the movie is a treasure, the script would be a treasure map, marking all the secrets and clues clearly, in order to lead people to the correct direction. After getting rid of handsome face of Leonardo Dicaprio, I feel my self better to understand the personalities of both main characters. 

To begin with, every hair of me would stand up when I read about the rhetoric language Romeo says. How could a teenage young man speaks like that! Like a little girl believing in fairy tails and trying to ornate every single word. He does not directly says that he is falling in love, instead, he says something that no one might understand: “I have lost myself. I am not here. This is not Romeo”(1075). If I have a boyfriend who speaks to me like that, I would definitely run away from him. However, it is not hard to find out that Romeo is innocent and faithful for love. He is silent and sentimental, easily to be trapped by love, which foreshadows his tragedy in the future. As for Juliet, she acts in Act 1 as a quiet girl who respects and obeys her mother well. When her mother is talking about her marriage, she says nothing until the end of the conversation: “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move. But no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make ‘it’ fly”(1491). 

I have just walked two steps on the treasure map, and I believe that the adventure would be more fascinating when I get deeper of the story. No matter how many versions of movies have you watched for ROMEO AND JULIET, I sincerely recommend you to read the script, which is the origin of the masterpiece. All in all, the origin is the authority; the origin is the pure; the origin is the best.

Summary of 1.1&1.2

Servants of the Capulet family has started a fight with people of Montague family. This fight becomes more and more drastic that nearly the entire city has involved in. Eventually the Prince who controls the city shows up and stopped the fight. He asks both powerful families to stop the fight, or he will punish him by penalty. Romeo's fathers finds that he was in a really bad mood, and Benvolio asks him the reason, figuring out that he is falling in love with a young women who has decided not to get married for her entire life. 

A rich man called Paris is asking Capulet to allow him marry with Juliet, the only daughter of Capulet. Thinking for his daughter, Capulet decided to raise a party and let her daughter to choose a man she like. Capulet lets a servant who cannot read to invite guests on a list. Accidentally, the servant finds Remeo to read for him. Since the girl he liked is going to go to the party, Romeo decide to go to the party with his cousins in masks.

How to adopt a book to a play?

“THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME”, a play adopted by the namesake novel, describes an unusual experience during a detection of Christopher. Suffered from autism, Christopher has a different view of the world from others and a special sentiment towards animals. Realizing that his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, is killed at a midnight, Christopher starts his discovery of the murderer. During his process of investigation, he accidentally finds out many secrets and finally flee to live his mother. All of his experience has been recorded in his own book, which is the primary content of both novel and play. Nevertheless, despite the similarity in the main plot, the play version of the story has differed from the novel in some details, which are confusing for audience or hard to perform.

To start with, the play version has reduced many actions of the characters and cut some long parts into small pieces of scenes. The novels contains abundant movements and emotional changes of characters while a play mostly needs dialogues to present everything happens. The play writer Stephens Simon sets Christopher’s book as the base of the plot and smartly let Siobhan to read the book out when Christopher shares it with her. In this way, there is no need of another person to read out and explain the plots any more. 

Furthermore, some parts which are difficult for audiences to follow are deleted or lessened. For instance, Christopher is described as counting prime number every time when he feels uncomfortable. The novel actually listed dozens of prime number when he is counting. Nevertheless, hearing numbers on the stage would be annoying for many audience like me who are not good at math at all; prime numbers would absolutely confuse me. May base on this reason, the play has only few parts mentioning actual prime numbers.

Last but not least, the play writer omits the parts which are unable to perform. Some parts might be too time consuming and others might need to take too much efforts. In the novel, Christopher vomits after knowing that his father has murdered Wellington and lied to him about his mother. It would be a harsh task for an actor to perform this scene on a stage and actually turn he or herself into a mess. Thus, the play emphasize on how Christopher curls himself like a ball to show his sadness and madness. 

In conclusion, the play writer has changed the script a lot from the original novel to control the time and present the best show for audiences. For my own, the play is a lot easier to read since there are fewer words which could already present most of the plot in the novel. Nevertheless, the novel has a high literature value. Details in the novel can help readers understand the story better. Furthermore, the story of Christopher triggers my attention to autism, and people who are in the same situation as Christopher. Both version have well presented the aberrations and difficulties of Christopher and appeal the society to care more about this certain kind of people who are different from us. 

How's Shakespeare's theater special?

0. there were all male actors

1. It was globe

2. It was open-aired

3. There was no light or speakers

4. The duration of play ran shorter

5. People can stand in the front of the stage

6. It was the major entertainment and everyone could enjoy

7. The play would be affected by weather

8. Actors were invited to perform in noble houses and royal courts

9. Actors needed to travel to perform, like circuses.

10. The play often on showed during afternoon.

11. Audience were not quiet and polite during the play. 

12. Young boys played women

13. Experience seats were far away from the stage

14. No musicals

15. Directors were less important

16. 

 

Cherrie, Ryan, Olivia, Sophia

The Map Theory

According to Merriam- Webster Dictionary, literature means “written works that are considered to be very good and to have lasting importance.” Performance means “the way an actor performs a part in a play, movie, etc.” A play means “the stage representation of an action or story” and a novel means “: a long written story usually about imaginary characters and events”. Disregard these complicated explanation, those four genres of art are all different kind of maps for me. You might think this idea to be ridiculous, but I would absolutely convince you in the following passage.

To start with, literature is the map of world. On the huge map, different countries represent various types of writings. The United States is a science fiction, depicting the fast developing economy and technology; England is a romance, portraying the brightness and darkness of love; China is a biographer, recording the long river which has flowed for 5000 years. Through this map, we could discover the world easier and clearer. Every secret of the world has hidden in the little pieces of map.

Furthermore, Google Map can be the best epitome of performance. Not only reading, people are required to join in and to add emotions to the map. We can use the real time Google Map to observe the world every second, choosing all kind of format such as 3D or downward angle. We feel confident when we “walk on the road” we are familiar with and get disappointed when we “lost” in the similar concrete. In a play, we actually involved in and accumulate all kinds of emotions in a short time experience. 

As for a novel, the map in the game World of Warcraft could best exemplify. Does not like in the real world, the map in game is full of mysteries, challenges and imagination. Although the map is clear just like the outline of the plot of a novel, you will never know what would happen the next second. A monster? A hero? Or a trap? The novel always gives us surprises and leads our mind of thinking as well.

Last but not least, a computer game called Minecraft could be the best choice to explain a novel. Instead of having a limited map, Minecraft only gives players an outside restriction and specific rules, similar to the role of script in a play. Except those prescribes, all of other conditions are controlled by players themselves; the purpose of the game is to build a world of ones own. It is likely in a play that the sets, movements, emotions, costumes and other factors are all decided by performers or directors. 

Are you convinced and even fall into one of those maps? Next time when you are trying to distinguish these genres of arts, don’t forget to use my “map theory ”. Furthermore, I believe that you could actually come up with more maps, which are amazing and imaginative. Having fun walking in those maps and enjoy the tail of the summer!

Script VS. Paly

In my opinion, I wholeheartedly agree with the statement from HOW TO READ A PLAY that, “a script is obviously less than a play, while a production is more”. As for me, a script is static, while a play is actually alive. A script only contains dialogue and crucial movements of actors, like a map we could find anywhere. Nevertheless, a play requires a lot more design of sets, actions and emotions, which is similar to the experience that I am really standing in a strange city, using a map to figure out my way. I might choose the wrong turn and therefore spend a long time loosing in the huge city, orI might understand the map correctly and easily find out my destination. This is a play, filled with uncertainties and challenges, filled with amazements and surprises. For me, I should firstly learn to understand the script, the language and the hidden information. After that, the more important part is that I should learn to express the emotions and to put myself in to the script. In conclusion, the production of performing is not acting to be someone but actually becoming someone with my own traits.

Nice to meet you😬

How is your lunch in dinning hall today!

Instead of asking how are you like people normally do, I, Super Sofia would prefer to greet you with the sentence above, which is the most curious question I’ve ever wanted to know. “Super”, in Webster Dictionary, means “a high grade or quality or an extreme or excessive degree”. However, In Sofia’s Dictionary, the full sense of “super” turns to be “starving”, “stubborn” and “sanguine”. 

To start with, please form an image in your head that a little bunny is eating a huge carrot, with eyes blinking greedily. Isn’t that cute? You are actually looking at me, who always feel hungry and regard foods as the stars of the sky. In my self introduction, complaints about the food in dinning hall have never been presence. In fact, eating delicious foods makes me feel safe and, vise versa, when I feel secure, my stomach would start shouting for more cates. If you are a zealot of cuisine, you should absolutely be my friend; we will rob every taste in the world. If you have trouble accepting putting foods in your mouth, you are even more needed to be my friend; I will open the door of a new world for you.

Ernest Hemingway has stated that “a man can be destroyed, but not defeated”(Hemingway). As super Sofia, I am undefeated at all, just like the a little daisy, spreading everywhere in any condition and never surrender towards predicament. Since I was a little girl, I have seemed to have many bad personalities. For instance, my mother always laugh at me when she recalls that I refused to answer my father’s phone for two weeks just because he derided my bed-wetting at two. Twelve years have passed and my mother feels not surprise to see my little flaw growing up with me. Nevertheless, the flaw transforms to be more positive and supports me for every of my decision. From “never give up ‘revenging’ my dad” to “never give up my goal”, my tenacity companies me to become a more strong individual. 

To tell the truth, I was not an optimistic person, until I met the turning point of my entire life: 30-day challenge. Some of you may not understand what I am saying, but I believe that a smile has already hang on Ms. Guarino’s mouth. The writing plagues led by Ms. Guarino destroyed my soft and placid heart, pushing me to an insane horse that dragged out every single word and shouted most of the time to defeat death. Eventually, I won the battle, with sequelae of a distinct writing style and a strong, self-believing heart. 

I am a dust in the universe; I am the center of my planet.I am normal; I am unique. I am timid; I am real. I am Sofia, Super Sofia. I do not know who you are and where you live, but since the world is huge and we may not meet again, I would like to say:

Nice to meet you.