DE SHAKESPEARE A ZEFIRELLI E WISE: A LITERATURA E O CINEMA, DIFERENTES LINGUAGENS QUE CONTAM A MESMA HISTÓRIA

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate whether, in a filmic adaptation, the narrative structure of the original text is preserved, considering the different languages and their distinctive features, highlighting the specific elements of each one and pointing which were creative solutions adopted by the media involved here. To do this research, it was chosen the Shakespeare’s plays, more specifically. One of the most popular pieces from its extensive work and it has been adapted several times for the cinema, Romeo and Juliet. The adaptations that will be part of this study and serve the purpose of this analysis are: Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zefirelli made in 1968 and West Side Story, a free musical adaptation of the same work that was successful on Broadway and then, became a classic movie. To reach the research object of this study, first it will be shown briefly the history of the creation of cinema, highlighting its greatest exponents, as well as the evolution of its language and its features. Then, the study will address the relationship between the cinema and literature as a whole, including in this regard the great novels and dramas most revered and indicating which the first records adapted theater films for cinema were and, especially, indicating the meeting of cinema with Shakespeare. Further, the study will make a brief summary of the life and work of Shakespeare, reporting on the formation of his family, cultural and artistic influences that the Bard of Avon received, and which were its main pieces and their historic context of creation. Finally, the study arrives at its main object is to analyze the film adaptations of the play Romeo and Juliet for the cinema, specifically in two different versions, Zefirelli and Wise, but not before making a short overview of André Bazin and Robert Stam’s theories about fidelity and integrity of film adaptations. The problem raised for this study is to analyze and understand if a movie version of a classic work can change the understanding of the plot due to the difference between their languages and their realities? After the theoretical research, comparisons between the original text, the classic film adaptation and the musical adaptation, this was the answer to which this work was proposed. And at the end of all readings, researches and studies, it has come to the conclusion that a story may have several narratives, but remains similar in essence. Each of these narratives will tell the story according to its idealizers and therefore, will become distinct works of the same text.