This week in Honors English 9 the students got to watch the 1968 movie Romeo and Juliet. Since the class has been reading the famed tale for the past two weeks, the excitement to see the Shakespearean tale told through a visual production was through the roof.  

Once we came into the classroom, Mrs. Kessler, the teacher, told us that we were going to be watching more of Romeo and Juliet. We were all very excited to be able to watch the dramatic last two acts unfold on screen as we sat with all the blinds closed and the lights off. Mrs. Kessler turned on the movie and we started where we left off, which was right after Juliet’s father, “Capulet”, threatens to disown her if she does not marry Paris. We finished the movie and then moved on to discuss what we thought of the movie and how it compares to the play version that we are reading. 

This was a really fun class because not only did we get to watch a film but we also got to sit and talk about our modern take on the older tale. It was really fun to be able to talk about the dramatics of the characters and the impulsiveness of Romeo and Juliet. Although most of the class wasn’t a big fan of the story itself, we all decently enjoyed watching the older version of the movie. 

As known the story of Romeo and Juliet is told in many different ways throughout the years. Another way we experienced the story was watching Gnomeo and Juliet. Gnomeo and Juliet is a modern telling of Romeo and Juliet through garden gnomes and gardens. This was a more comedic take on the tale being heavily influenced by Elton John’s music, which also brings some extra fun to the movie. It is probably my favorite re-telling of all time because of all the silly extra pieces. 

Lastly, my favorite part of this whole class was being able to experience it with my friends. We all got to sit and giggle about the actions and teenager feel to the drama that Romeo and Juliet experienced. This really was the best class of the week.