#my Romeo and Juliet rants

[essaytime]

A lot of productions (or production ideas) for Romeo and Juliet come up with elaborate aesthetics for both of the feuding families, and there is definitely a charm as well as a large degree of blessed creativity to this, but honestly, the more I think about the play, the more I feel the most resounding choice with me, given the play's meaning, would be to make the Montagues and the Capulets' costumes very, very similar. Almost identical - the same silhouettes, materials, everything. Have the only thing signalling which family it is be a ribbon or band tied around the arm, a particular embellishment at the collar of a dress or shirt, maybe some item of clothing that's easy to take off, like a vest or small cape, or a scarf. Maybe aside from the Lords and Ladies of both surnames, they could wear something that's entirely in their family's chosen colours/symbols, but the rest of the family and their supporters? Just these details. Because that's really one of the things that hit so hard in the text: there is literally no reason for the feud. There's no logically existing divide. We have two influential families of equal standing, who live by the same customs, whose children probably have the same education, who employ people with the same mindset and themselves presumably have the same mindset. They could very well live beside each other, they could very well switch places and be each other. These poor teenagers in Romeo and Juliet are forced to live in a world shaped by something that just doesn't exist. And they're mistreated, and they struggle, and they die - at more or less fourteen or fifteen! - for something that doesn't exist. Because at this point there is no reason to go on with this conflict, if there even was one in the first place, which I doubt. I think there is a lot of sense in the fact that we never learn why the Capulets despise the Montagues and vice versa. I wouldn't be surprised if during the time of the play there was just no one that could remember it. But still, this conflict, this absolutely empty, pointless, senseless conflict, wrecks the community of Verona, pitting citizens against each other and leading to innocent kids dying. And I think if I were directing the play, that's the thing I would emphasise: that they are really the same. Have Lord Montague make a similar scream, speak in a similar tone mourning his son as Lord Capulet did mourning his daughter. Have the servants at the beginning of the play use exactly the same gestures and mannerisms. Have the dear uninvited party-sneakers get along with Capulet youth at the ball and genuinely have fun together. And have the citizens at the end be all the same in their surprise and grief, virtually indistinguishable save for this ribbon or embellishment they can just rip off of their costume, becoming one whole crowd. All of these people could pass each other, say hello, gossip on the street with no problem - if it weren't for these details that somehow make them part of two different entities. For there is no border between the Capulets and the Montagues other than the artificial one they try to create themselves. And people die for it.

[hyperfixated-on-musicals]

I want to rant about my babygirl uwu 'he hasn't done anything wrong' cinnamon roll bisexual boy for a moment.

Just look at him.

He's my soft adorable little guy :3

*steals his jacket* It looks so cool!

He also has a dagger which is so bloody cool like gimme that I'm jealous! I wanna be Romeo.

Oh no...

I don't know whether I wanna be him or date him. The gender envy goes hard though.

I relate to Romeo a lot especially in this song. I just wanna live my life but other people keep trying to tell me what to do. So, you know what, I'm just gonna do things my way because living isn't forever.

Things Romeo and I have in common

Bi

No upper body strength

More of a lover than a fighter

Broken

Hated by a lot of people

Terrible family

A lot of feelings

Romeo: I have no upper body strength.

Me: Same, Romeo, same.

Romeo: I'm a mess...

Me: You're not a mess. You're a hot mess. You're still a little messy but at least you're hot!

Romeo: You think I'm hot?

Me: *realises what I just said* Uh... fuck, I mean... I WANT TO CUT YOU UP INTO LITTLE STARS!

Romeo: *stunned* Like with a knife?!

Me: I think it's supposed to be a metaphor but I have absolutely no clue what it means...

Romeo: Me neither. Wanna be friends? Everyone seems to hate me right now even though I came back from the dead.

Me: From the dead? That's super dope!

Romeo: You say that too?! That's my catchphrase!

Me: Really? Yeah, let's be friends. *smiles*

End scene

Self insert go brrr

[anixknowsnothin]

hey guys i'm playing juliet's nurse in romeo and juliet

[jaemiecook]

The weirdest/funniest (well to me at least) thing that happens in Romeo and Juliet is that no one cares when not one but TWO members of the ROYAL family die. Mercutio and Count Paris both die and they are related to the prince and for some reason no one really cares.

1. When Mercutio is killed, Romeo and Benvolio are saddened cause their best friend is dead. Because of that Romeo kills Tybalt and for whatever reason, Tybalt’s death is more important than Mercutio, like Mercutio is just like forgotten. The Prince banishes Romeo because he kills Tybalt but seemingly he just forgets that he’s COUSIN got killed by Tybalt. I feel like he should have thanked Romeo for getting rid of the man who killed HIS COUSIN, but no Romeo gets banished. It’s almost as if everyone just forgets about Mercutio (which hurts me deeply cause he’s my favorite character)

2. The scene where everyone finds Romeo and Juliet dead, it seems that everyone just ignores the dead COUNT. RoMEo AnD jUiLet dIeD FOr eAch OtHEr hOW tRaGic, dude there is literal DEAD ROYALTY WHY IS NO ONE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE DEAD COUNT PARIS. Don’t get me wrong i disliked Paris (disliked is a weak word), but like why does everyone in Verona including the Prince just gloss over when someone who is royalty dies.

[hauntingblue]

Santiago is such a hater..... can't not respect it kinda

[owlbelly]

perpetually frothing at the mouth over Robin Hobb's dedication to an entirely textually-unsupported "100% straight" Fitz Farseer, at the expense of her own goddamn themes & craft as a writer

honey no one has ever done it like you & i hope no one ever does again!!! to write a 16-book romance complete with a magic allegory for queerness that parallels the main character's journey of self-acceptance, featuring years of pining, multiple kisses & declarations of literal soulmate-level love between a character who is on-the-page-queer & a "completely heterosexual" unreliable narrator whose massive defining flaw is the way he lies to himself about things that make him uncomfortable

& then have the gall to look down your nose at fans who pick up the not-even-fucking-subtext you've been laying down & tell us "that's ridiculous, he has sex with women, he can't be any kind of queer" i mean. i am so sorry for reading what you wrote & believing it lmfao next time i will make sure to ignore the story on the page in favor of whatever the hell is going on in your head!

[montygatorguy]

i think one of the reasons i relate to romeo so much is the line “sick of being told who i am, been put into a box- no, not again.” from one more try.

i’ve been the golden child for years, straight a’s and all that. my mom has told me over and over again when i say i wanna be a teacher “you better marry rich, you won’t be making much money.” and yknow what? i don’t give a fuck. all my life, i have been the good golden child who has met every expectation they put on me and the SECOND i want to share my dream they shoot it down. im my own person independent of my academics.

also when juliet tells frankie “it’s like- just because they raised us that makes them think they can decide our whole lives!” i feel that so hard. im so excited to get to live by myself and be independent.

[dnatalok]

I have to say, re-watching Gnomeo and Juliet after I’ve had to dissect the play with my blood, sweat, and tears, I’m digging into the parallels more than I should.

The obvious Romeo and Juliet

Forbidden love, love at first sight, etc etc etc

Montague and Capulet

They hate each other

We even have a Paris and Nurse parallel

Tybalt

The angry dude that dies fighting Romeo

These two ending the family feud only when their families are in ruin and they think their children are dead.

But the thing that I still can’t figure out is the role of Mercutio and Benvolio.

Sure, his name is Benny, probably short for Benvolio, and he sticks to Gnomeo’s side the whole time.

But honestly?

He’s more of a Mercutio

Because

Mf is an instigator. Always looking for a something to do or to fight

He fights Tybalt, almost gets him and Gnomeo caught when vandalizing, and he was the catalyst for the whole lawnmower situation that nearly killed everyone.

These two, I feel, are more Benvolio material.

They’re kind, patient, and actually helpful. Stark contrast to whatever Benny/Mercutio were.

Anyways, that’s it. Just had to point that out.

[assortedantics]

I love Shakespeare, but I feel like that’s either extremely obvious because it’s Shakespeare it extremely pretentious because it’s Shakespeare.

[danyayeni2]

Shoutout to signorina amore

[v0id-bl0gs]

I think people should start recommending me books that describe very little but also a lot

(Reading is hard but I like it)

[essaytime]

I think the main thing that absolutely infuriates me about the "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb, horny teens" take is this implication that because they were so young, their relationship had to boil down to them being dramatic and inventing some great romance to moan about, or lust and hormones. As a teenager, it makes me want to tear the speaker apart with my bare hands. Interchangeably with stabbing, maybe.

When you look at the text, you can clearly see that there is some emotional connection between Juliet and Romeo. Their first conversation is literally a sonnet - which already indicates some sort of understanding and mutuality, and it's also beautiful poetry. They are the only characters in the entire play that they are really fully comfortable talking to. The adults are caught up in the feud, Nurse loves Juliet, but cannot understand her (and makes a dirty joke at her expense in Act I, which for a person Juliet's age would be awfully unpleasant), Romeo's friends, though I Iove them, don't get his sensitivity - Mercutio laughing at it and Benvolio worried by it - which Juliet, in turn, appreciates. They speak of each other with respect and admiration, quite unusually in Verona, where all is conflict and even Juliet's own father insults her: look at the sonnet, the balcony scene, Romeo comparing his sweetheart to the sun or a jewel (in contrast to his earlier quotes about Rosaline, which are literally a compilation of clichés stacked on top of one another). Even when Juliet awaits their wedding night, in a speech clearly centered on sexual matters, there is a visible softness and affection with which she treats Romeo ("cut him out in little stars"...). She waits for the night because it's him, not "I want to sleep with someone because I want to sleep with someone". The two genuinely care about each other, and are fond of each other. Of course, we can wonder if this love would last if they were given an opportunity to grow older, but when the play takes place, this love is there, and it's beautiful.

(Off-topic, I'd also like to note that this is an Elizabethan play that takes place in even earlier times, presumably late medieval - early renaissance Italy. They wouldn't live in the modern world where you can date many different people and settle well into your thirties or fourties. The average marriage age for girls in Shakespeare's time was about twenty, in fifteenth century Florence it was eighteen. Both of them were from wealthy families, so they'd likely be expected - even if Juliet's parents did not force her into a marriage with Paris - to marry earlier, for financial and political purposes. There couldn't be a "growing older" like we imagine it. Even their hypothetical different relationships would be early relationships for today's standards)

And it makes my blood boil when the visible genuine bond between these two is reduced to just "dumb kids being horny". The motive behind these words being partly, of course, the high-school-acquired All Required Reading is Nonsense edginess, but also a deeper issue - the inability to comprehend the fact that teenage love is also often real love.

Being capable of having deep and meaningful romantic relationships does not come baked into your birthday cake when you turn eighteen or attached to your first ever bill. Not every single feeling a teenager might harbour is at its core shallow lust and wanting to get laid. Of course, there's lots of cases of shortsighted infatuation where the pair really have nothing in common! I could name at least a few examples I have seen personally. But still, on every street and every corner of the world, and often a few metres from these pointless infatuations, teens fall in love because there's something more to it. Because they find they have a lot in common, because they get along well with each other, because they are able to see the good in the other person - their kindness, their intelligence, their enthusiasm, you name it. "Teens" including the younger teens, from thirteen to fifteen. And this love is a deep emotional bond. Sure, in most cases it will not last until death (and to be honest, relationships not working out is not really a teenage-specific phenomenon and a sign that young love of all is inherently doomed and it has to die so the curse of growing up is fulfilled), but it doesn't make it less of a love when it still remains, and it includes all the things love is about. Young couples go on dates, and have fun. They confide in each other. They support each other through hard times, they show care, they sometimes make sacrifices for their loved one's good. As any person in love does, at any age.

When I fell in love four months ago, I did not fall in love because I wanted to sleep with someone so bad. In fact, I do not want to - not for the next several years. I realise it's something I might want someday, but it's not today; and above all, I'm way too young. If anything, what I want is to kiss someone, or run my fingers through his hair, or read with his head in my lap - but it's not something I'd go out of my way and date a random person to get, come on. I fell in love because he is actually the first boy that reminds me of myself so much, the first I can understand so well. Because I also have a penchant for history and writing, I also tend to use formal and flowery language in very informal situations, I also enjoy people's attention (though I seem to worry more about being a potential inconvenience than he does), I also believe that we should judge people as individuals, because there's too much nuance in one person to make proper statements about large groups - and I find in him so many things that I can relate to, though of course I can't say I know him well enough to speak much for sure. Besides, he's simply a wonderful person, not flawless, of course, but he has a good heart. He is always kind, and well-mannered, and intelligent, and you can laugh with him. I think he would care if something bad happened, no matter if he says that he wouldn't. I think I know him well enough to say this at least. And if he loved me back (a thing I consider unlikely for now, but not entirely impossible), would we stay together forever? Heaven alone knows! Maybe not! It is up to the higher power. But even if we broke up, that wouldn't erase the fact that I loved him, and I would have done a lot for him, and we were able to have meaningful conversations. Just because a love isn't forever, doesn't mean it was never there.

Because - what the "dumb kids" people don't seem to grasp - teenagers are also human beings with a functioning, even if not fully developed, brain, capable of having complex feelings and thoughts just like an adult. Note that Shakespeare's leads, at least Juliet, actually do that - hence the pre-wedding night monologue, the "deny thy father and refuse thy name", her statement (I don't know the English original of that one, to be honest) that she is too soft and loving towards Romeo already, but it's because she has such profound feelings for him she can't even pretend to be strict. It's noticeable that she has some emotional maturity, at least - she shows some critical thinking abilities, she understands the consequences of many actions, she is able to see that the feud is pointless and a name is just a name. She's a teenager, and someone in their teens is also a Homo sapiens specimen, not a being from a different planet. Teens think and feel. It might not be the same reality as the adult one, and they don't deal with emotions with such ease as an adult would, but that doesn't mean they are unable to truly love and care, to enjoy talking to someone and want the best for them, like grown-ups do - as developing an affection for someone that makes you happy is a very human thing, and I can guarantee you a thirteen or fourteen-year-old is a developed enough human being to experience it.

So, to sum it up, if I hear any "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb kids being horny" on my watch, the author of this statement will presumably be mercilessly killed, and then I'll do as Fulvia allegedly did to Cicero and stab something through their tongue, except instead of a hairpin, I'll probably use one of the darts my little brother got for Christmas. They are very sharp. We have several holes in the floor already.

[thisghosts-obsessions-again]

On a more exciting note!!! Is that promo image with the balcony kissing scene an upcoming story??? Is it Romeo and Juliet inspired??? Please! I need to know!

[glossytoothpick]

Oh man I did a lot of these. Let’s see… I did, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julis Caesar, and the Tempest, and I liked none of them.

I have the most beef with Hamlet tho, fuck Hamlet.

If I have to do another packet of over-analyzing every single scene in that book, I’m going to scream.

Hamlet (the protagonist) is VERY unlikeable. I don’t think I liked any character in that story other than like. Ophelia and Horatio. Horatio was a real one. But hey, at least we got the Lion King out of it.

[ghostlychief]

I recently rewatched warm bodies (2013) AND I FORGOT HOW GOOD OF A MOVIE IT WAS

comfort movie fr

[tempests-bards-and-birds]

my loathing for romeo and juliet is pure. concentrated. unadulterated. absolute. consuming. ever-blazing like the fire in the pits of hell-