Close Reading No. 2

For this post, I chose another Slate article, "Romeo and Juliet," which can be found at: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2013/10/romeo_and_juliet_directed_by_downton_abbey_s_julian_fellowes_reviewed.html

This article is a movie review of the newest film inspired by Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.  In it, the author, Dana Stevens, offers mixed feelings about the film, leaving the reader with the idea that it is a rather well-made movie rendition of this story but with some flaws, which probably will not appeal to a wide audience under 20.  Stevens uses three main areas of rhetoric to achieve this meaning: visual imagery, an interesting mix of diction, and effective selection of details.

Stevens uses imagery to highlight both the good and bad elements of the film.  And since this is a film review, it follows that most of it is visual imagery.  Stevens was especially impressed with the settings of the film, which she praised as "gorgeous."  She writes, "Every scene seems to take place in a different fresco-adorned palace or pristinely preserved church."  This sentence helps reinforce her interpretation of the setting by allowing the reader to paint pictures of idealized Italian villas and cathedrals; these pleasing images allow the reader to sort of forget Stevens' previous qualms with the film.  On the other hand, Stevens also uses imagery to criticize the film, especially as she discusses the lack of chemistry between Romeo and Juliet.  For example, she uses the phrases "model-handsome" and "magazine-ready looks" to describe Douglas Booth, the actor portraying Romeo.  These images contrast with Stevens' picture of Hailee Steinfeld (Juliet), who she describes as "pretty in a normal-girl-on-the-street-way."  Stevens creates these different images within the reader's mind to reinforce her argument that the two characters do not play well together, which causes the movie to lack the important focus on their relationship.  Thus, by allowing the reader to visualize certain elements of the movie, Stevens helps the reader understand her mixed feelings about it.

For the most part, Stevens' diction is pretty colloquial, making the article easy to read.  In many of her descriptions, Stevens uses words at a basic level that anyone with a basic high school vocabulary could understand, such as "swooning" and "idealism."  These words are simple, straightforward and easily engender the positive meanings that Stevens is looking for.  However, she also uses plenty of elevated words that stick out from the rest of the article, which speak to her expertise in the area as a movie reviewer.  For example, the words "martinet" and "melange," which are rather uncommon (or at least the first one, which was completely new to me), are added into her "abusive" description of Juliet's father and the description of Romeo and Juliet's failed on-screen love, respectively.  In addition to the air of literary knowledge that such words exude, they also have very specific meanings that help the reader get a better sense of the movie.  For example, her characterization of Juliet's father as a martinet gives the reader an overly strict, negative image of the character.  Though the average reader might not understand them, these word choices added in a level of sophistication to the piece.  Through this mix of diction, Stevens adds to her different arguments, and leaves the reader with an impression of reliability.

Many of the specific details that Stevens includes in the article act to reinforce her differing ideas on the movie.  In the beginning, she includes the fact that the script was written by the same person who did Downton Abbey, a show which has become popular for its high ratings and awards.  This fact leaves the reader thinking that the film has to be at the same level of quality of that show, which Stevens believes it is in certain areas.  In particular, many of the details of the review, such as the chemistry of Hessey and Whiting (another Romeo and Juliet pair), are used to compare the film in the context of other renditions of the story.  These details act as evidence for Steven's points as well as reference points for the reader to generate their own conclusions on the film.  Another example of this would be the reference to the recent appeal of fantasy stories like Twilight or Harry Potter to teenagers, which Stevens uses to prove her point that the film would not appeal much to a younger audience.

In this review, Stevens encourages her readers to try out the film for many of its great attributes, but she also warns her audience not to get their hopes too high due to some major defects, especially the failed on-screen pairing of Romeo and Juliet.  Through the rhetorical techniques of imagery, diction, and details, Stevens successfully imparts this message to her audience.