The Power of a Modern Soundtrack: Exploring the Musical Legacy of Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet

Peyton Price
Vanderbilt University

Abstract

On November 1, 1996, director Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet hit the theaters and debuted at the top of the box office charts. This was no ordinary Shakespeare adaptation; there were guns, a queer Mercutio, and, of course, 90s heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio. A New York Times article from 1996 commented on the film's massive success, describing it as “a sexy, violent and almost psychedelic interpretation of the love story that -- to the surprise of Hollywood -- opened No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Even more surprising, a majority of the audience appeared to be teen-agers.”^[1] The film was a hit with young people, and this was intentional. In the same article, Luhrmann commented on just that: “We wanted to make a movie that was tremendously relatable to young people. It was a very targeted campaign. We said: 'This is what it is. Either you get it or you don't.'” But it wasn’t just the film that took popular culture by storm, but also the soundtrack. When looking deeper, it is clear that the musical choices in the film were a key part of Luhrmann’s “targeted campaign” to bring Shakespeare to a modern audience.

In this paper, I analyze how the musical choices in Romeo + Juliet put the film at the forefront of pop culture in the 1990s and worked to bring the classic story to a young generation by appealing to their familiar, modern world. By drawing on fifteen reviews from the timeframe the film was released, I am able to identify common takeaways in the critical response to the film, specifically Luhrmann’s bold style that aimed to draw young people in. Also, I contextualize the contemporary meaning of the film for modern readers through original research analyzing twenty-five TikTok videos that center around Romeo + Juliet. Through this, we can see how young people today are continuing to engage with the film, largely through the popular music of today. Additionally, I draw on the modern television series The Summer I Turned Pretty which is a prime example of the model Luhrmann crafted with Romeo + Juliet being replicated today. Ultimately, I argue that Luhrmann’s model in modernizing Shakespeare and bringing it to a young audience through music played an essential role in keeping Shakespeare alive and accessible for generations to come.

Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet is set in a modern-day city called Verona Beach, and this is one of many reasons that the film was so appealing to a young audience. One scholar discusses in detail the way that the setting of the film connects the state of America in the 1990s with the themes of Shakespeare’s original story:

Luhrmann uses both ethnic and economic lines to draw the feuds between the two families. And these feuds are shown through violence and bloodshed. According to Sarah L. Lorentz, “this version of Romeo and Juliet fast-forwards the play four hundred years to where it applies exactly: an inner city gang culture with a bizarre blend of wealth and barbarism. If you think feuds and duels are gone, turn on the news in a large city. You'll shake your head and wonder why people do such mindless, violent things, and it’s because they live in that same disordered, dysfunctional world of the Montagues and Capulets where honor and blood are inseparable.”^[2]

Yumnam pulls out this quotation from Lorentz to support the idea that Luhrmann’s choice to set Romeo + Juliet in an American city filled with conflict relevant to what was happening in America at the time with gang violence and large economic disparity makes the themes of the play relevant to a modern audience. Warring families may not have been applicable to 1990s America, but gang violence was. Luhrmann’s model was designed with the intent of relating the story to a modern audience and the modern world.

Another important piece of context when looking at Romeo + Juliet is the trends in popular culture at the time it was released. Specifically, we can see how Romeo + Juliet marked the start of a new trend in Shakespeare adaptations. To explain this phenomenon to a modern-day audience, Broey Deschanel, a 28-year-old creator with over 440k subscribers who discusses film, politics, and pop culture, made a YouTube video analyzing what we saw happen with Shakespeare adaptations in the 1990s and 2000s. Deschanel connects this to postmodernism, a greater cultural trend of the late 20th century. She explains how Luhrmann worked to bring Shakespeare to a modern audience even though it meant going against the trend throughout the 1900s of historically accurate adaptations (think Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet).^[3] Broey Deschanel explains that following Luhrmann’s adaptation, “the gates were opened on a tidal wave of low culture Shakespeare adaptations in the late 90s and early 2000s.” So, Deschanel is arguing that Romeo + Juliet played an important role in ushering in a new wave of Shakespeare adaptations that took a modern approach and appealed to young people with results such as 10 Things I Hate About You (a rom-com film loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew) and She’s The Man (a modern, high-school retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night). Deschanel points out that Romeo + Juliet is different from these popular films that you likely would not guess are based on Shakespeare unless you are very familiar with the original stories. In Romeo + Juliet, Luhrmann’s choices worked to bring Shakespeare and his original themes in their authentic form to a young, modern audience. And perhaps the aspect of the film that most represents this is the music because of its connection to popular culture at the time.

Especially today in 2024, there is something deeply iconic and nostalgic about nineties music. Rachael Hope makes a point that 1990s “music trends were eclectic. It was the era of vibrant contrast, creative fusions between genres, and a delicate waltz between counterculture and the mainstream.”^[4] Hip-hop music ruled the decade, but that’s not to say that pop, alt-rock, and countless other genres didn’t have prominent popularity and growth throughout the decade. And thanks to media platforms like MTV (something quite relevant to Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet) and the expansion of the internet and popular culture engagement, youth culture greatly influenced music and young people were incredibly invested in music.

Just like how Luhrmann used inner-city gang culture to reflect the themes of Romeo and Juliet, he used popular music to reflect themes of the play, thus meeting young people where they were. Music has a special ability to portray emotion and universal truths, and this was certainly the aim of the music in Romeo + Juliet. In his book Dramaturgies of Love in Romeo and Juliet: Word, Music, and Dance, Jonas Kellermann explores how music and dance were used in different versions of Romeo and Juliet throughout history and specifically how music can present romantic themes. Kellermann writes that “According to early romantic thought, music was uniquely suited to make the infinite quality of the sublime manifest in finite aesthetic form…” and points to Liddle’s strategy of “musical evocation and arousal of a sublime experience in the listener.”^[5] Through this, Kellermann draws parallels between Luhrmann’s approach to using music to evoke emotional themes and that of the early romantic era. In a story as emotional and dramatic as Romeo and Juliet, music plays an instrumental role, and Luhrmann worked to build a soundtrack that would have this emotional impact on a young audience.

From the start, the music in the film is attention-grabbing, vibrant, and scattered, not unlike the musical trends of the nineties. One minute, you are hearing an opera aria and the next a hip-hop song. We see an overarching summary of the soundtrack in an analysis from Filmtracks, which states that “Luhrmann merged a classical score with heavy rock, punk, and R&B tones, usually in stark contrast to one another from scene to scene…Melodramatic orchestral and choral bombast can segue to pulsating techno and R&B material in an instant and vice versa.”^[6] Clearly, the soundtrack was packed with diverse influences, and Filmtracks explains that not everyone loved this about the soundtrack. But, the self-consciously disorienting soundtrack was actually quite intentional and enhances the modern representation of Romeo and Juliet Luhrmann aimed to create. Mary Lindroth sees Luhrmann drawing to the Y2K audience through many of the choices in the film, including the music. On the music, she claims that “Luhrmann, following Shakespeare's model, achieves the effect of the stage convention of musicians with the cinematic device of an unusual soundtrack that mixes classical music with rap.”^[7] For instance, the classical song “O’Verona” plays during the prologue scene of the film and “Pretty Piece of Flesh” by One Inch Punch, a grunge, hip-hop song, plays when Romeo goes to buy poison when he hears about Juliet’s death. Throughout the film, there is constant musical-genre whiplash, and Lindroth argues that “the soundtrack entertains the audience—something marketing departments capitalized on by releasing soundtrack CDs alongside the film's debut. However, as Luhrmann’s film illustrates, the soundtrack also shapes the audience's experience of both the film and Shakespeare.” Maybe the most entertaining musical moment in the film comes during the Capulet party where Mercutio performs “Young Hearts Run Free” by Kym Mazelle, a disco-pop song that creates an electric, lively atmosphere at the party. In this scene, the music works to portray the Capulet’s extravagance and really makes the viewer feel a part of the party. Overall, the soundtrack was entertaining and popular, but it was also substantive and developed themes of Shakespeare (R+J 0:24:30).

Now, let us delve into what is widely considered the most iconic scene of the film: The scene where Romeo and Juliet first see each other on opposite sides of a fish tank. Completely inseparable from this legendary image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Clarie Daines gazing at each other through blue water and a hundred fish is the song playing over the scene: “I’m Kissing You” by Des’ree. Lindroth describes this scene and how “Static shots dominate as Des'ree performs the song…As the song continues, Romeo gazes at luminous fish in an aquarium, and his eyes meet Juliet's. The camera lingers as Romeo and Juliet exchange meaningful glances through the aquarium.”^[8] From when I first watched the film as a Freshman in high school studying Romeo and Juliet in English class, this scene and its music stuck with me as emotional and deeply romantic. “I’m Kissing You” is performed live at the party and begins with just piano when Romeo pops his head out from being submerged underwater in a nearby room. Then, the vocals begin and accompany the piano as Romeo notices the grand fish tank and gazes at the fish. As the song reaches the chorus, Romeo and Juliet make eye contact and start smiling at each other and pressing their faces against opposite sides of the tank. Then, the Nurse comes in and steals Juliet away. Romeo chases her out back to the main party room where Juliet is dancing with Dave Paris, and the string instruments come in which builds the intensity of the scene. The vocals take a pause and the piano increases in volume as the Capulets are angrily discussing Romeo. The song hits its climax as Romeo delivers the famous line “Did my heart love ‘till now…” as he watches Juliet from across the room. Then, the music quiets back to the vocals and piano as he continues to watch Juliet. All in all, the use of this deeply romantic and dramatic ballad that shifts in intensity throughout the scene captured the hearts of viewers from around the world and made it the most memorable moment of the film (R+J 0:25:40).

Throughout the film, hip-hop music is used to represent scenes with the Montagues and to relate to the feud between the two families. Because of hip-hop’s popularity in the 1990s, this modernized the film and hooked a young audience in. At the same time, classical music is present throughout the film, such as the extremely emotional and romantic orchestral performance during the pool scene with Romeo and Juliet. Other popular bands were featured in the soundtrack such as Everclear and The Cardigans, and this continues to bring the film to a modern audience. Perhaps the most notable band featured in the soundtrack was Radiohead with the song “Talk Show Host.” In a 2016 article, Josh Modell describes how this “song got a second life when it was remixed by superstar producer Nellee Hooper for the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet…The song ended up making a big enough splash that it’s now part of the band’s Greatest Hits collection, a B-side that made its way front and center.”^[9] This is yet another example of how popular the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack really was and how it made an actual impact in popular music.

Romeo + Juliet was clearly a smash-hit because of how modern it was and how much it appealed to young people. Between the music, the casting, and Luhrmann’s production style, the film was extremely popular and successful. But, ever since Romeo + Juliet was released, there has been debate about its merit as a Shakespeare adaptation. Some praise the film while others see it as an over-the-top, overly-modernized, MTV-version adaptation of the greatest love story of all time. Through my analysis of over a dozen reviews from around the time the film was released, I found a common sentiment expressed: Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet certainly is over-the-top and one-of-a-kind, but it also does a good job at drawing the attention of young people and bringing Shakespeare to them. Summarizing this, a 1996 review from Sydney Morning Herald explained that “The film attracted mixed reviews from US critics, and has been variously described as Pulp Fiction for teenagers, and more MTV than the Bard…Luhrmann said that the reaction had at least been passionate, whether for or against, and had helped fuel its box office blitz.”^[10] It is certainly true that the extreme opinions, both positive and negative, are to thank for the film’s massive success. One 1996 article from The Daily Telegraph describes critics as “sounding somewhat like the warring Montagues and Capulets” with their thoughts on the film and highlights a particularly negative review from Jay Carr of the Boston Globe: “Shakespeare goes out the window pretty quickly in Baz Luhrmann's new updating and MTV comes in the door followed closely by artistic disaster…What we get beneath the aggressive imagery is a vast pool of nothingness.”^[11] The MTV comparison was a common one, and Carrclearly did not see this as a positive thing that enhanced the Shakespeare story. With that being said, many other critics agreed that the film leaned into the MTV-style and utilized “aggressive imagery,” but saw positive value in this. The main purpose of this over-the-top, modern style was to appeal to young people and many critics acknowledged the success of this strategy. Thompson in a 1996 review from Philadelphia Daily News asserts, “Peel back the wacky surface, and you'll find this "Romeo and Juliet" to be a heartfelt, serious-minded attempt to contemporize Shakespeare's great tragedy…it gradually becomes clear that there is a method to his madness, and it can be found in the director's determination to make this story matter to his audience.”^[12] Thompson gets to the heart of what Luhrmann was trying to do with the film which was to bring this legendary story to a modern audience, and his strategy to do this was to be bold and maybe even a little “mad.” Several reviews were extremely positive toward this approach, such as one from Albert & Logan News that praises “Baz Luhrmann’s amazing vision” which presents Romeo and Juliet “in a way it’s never been seen before.”^[13] Now, if we want to see how the film was received by actual teenagers in the 1990s, we can turn to a review that was actually written by a teenage girl in which she argues that “the modernization adds dramatic effect. This new version offers a link that appeals and relates to teen-agers of this time.”^[14] This perspective supports the idea that the film successfully appealed to young people in the 1990s. So, how exactly were critics explaining the modernization of the film? A 1996 CNN news show describes Romeo + Juliet as being “a cross between a music video, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", and an apocalyptic vision.”^[15] This idea of the film being “an apocalyptic vision” is represented across most reviews, both positive and negative. The music in the film was also received as all over the place and unique, with one critic writing that “ Luhrmann pumps up the volume, but it's still the Bard who's singing the songs. Except, of course, when the Butthole Surfers are.”^[16] This quote captures the mix between musical styles in the film, and we previously saw how that contributed to the modernization and effectiveness of the film. All in all, the critical reception shows us how the film certainly shocked people and was the first of its kind, but many certainly did see the purpose in Luhrmann’s modern and bold choices.

The truth is, Shakespeare’s work in its founding form intended to appeal to a mass audience, just like Luhrmann’s adaptation did. Shakespeare was incredibly popular in his time, and his plays appealed to people of all classes, and the idea of Shakespeare being “elitist” has only emerged in more recent times. In the YouTube video from Broey Deschanel, she describes this transition from Shakespeare being something that appealed to all classes to something that’s seen as elitist: “Since Shakespeare’s death, his plays have undergone a process of cultural elevation. During his time, the live performances of Shakespeare’s plays were produced for audiences of all classes.”^[17] Again, we can see that there is value in Shakespeare today appealing to all ages and types of people because that is what Shakespeare aimed to do during his lifetime. In addressing the criticism of using popular music and appealing to young people, Luhrmann explains that “Shakespeare used popular song. We used popular song. It was simply about grabbing the attention of the audience and making it available to everybody. We worked together on the music and it was about popular song. Shakespeare just stuck popular songs in that said something.”^[18] When Shakespeare was making his plays, he utilized music and things that were popular at the time in order to appeal to his audience. Luhrmann argues that he is just doing the same thing for a modern audience. If Shakespeare can use popular songs to grab the attention of his audience, there’s no reason why people in the 1990s and even today can’t do the same. Of course, there are times for historically accurate adaptations, but there is also value in making Shakespeare accessible for a young audience. The paper from Mary Lindroth discusses the music in Romeo + Juliet in depth and also comments on the way that Luhrmann was able to connect with his modern audience in the same way Shakespeare connected with his audience: “The cinematic devices which update and transform Shakespeare's play are substantive and come closer than any other film to date to recreating the relationship between performance and audience that the original 1597 performance sought to create with its audience.” ^[19] Again, we can see how the 1597 performance of Romeo and Juliet doesn’t need to be the exact same as one made nearly 400 years later; there is purpose in adapting it for and making it appeal to a modern audience.

Analysis of Collected TikTok Videos

It wasn’t just in the 1990s that the music in Romeo + Juliet made the film accessible to young people, but also today. The film continues to have a lasting legacy because of its music and because of the ways it targeted a young audience and engaged them with Shakespeare. Romeo + Juliet is still relevant to young audiences today, and social media platforms such as TikTok make this clear. As we saw in the analysis of the film’s reviews, Romeo + Juliet and Luhrmann’s production style is often compared to MTV. In many ways, TikTok is the MTV of Generation Z; it is the way that young people today discover and engage with music. Radovanovic explores how TikTok has transformed music and the experience of making and consuming music, and he writes about TikTok that “we can see that the viral sound pool consists of well-known pop music songs, classical music, remixes, and original sounds created by authors for TikTok in order to provide mood-based background music or a soundtrack of any kind.” ^[20] It is certainly true that TikTok has a lot of power and influence over music; success in the popular music industry today is closely tied to your ability to create a viral TikTok sound. Because of that, TikTok can show us the continued popularity of Romeo + Juliet and its soundtrack and how young people today are using music to engage with the film. As a participant observer in TikTok culture, TikTok is important to me for understanding contemporary culture.

I systematically collected twenty-five TikTok videos that focused on Romeo + Juliet. In order to find these videos, I searched “Romeo and Juliet” and then selected the videos that were about the 1996 adaptation, which was around 20% of the top search results. I also did a few searches that included “Baz Luhrmann” and “1996” in order to find more relevant videos, although most were found from that initial “Romeo and Juliet” search. In keeping with best practices around confidentiality, I only collected videos that are in the public domain and have been posted for the world to see. Based on my perspective as a 19-year-old on TikTok who has seen content related to the film, the twenty-five videos I analyze are an accurate portrayal of the cultural conversation happening around the film today. These TikTok videos can be found in the TikTok table in the appendix of this paper. I’ve categorized the twenty-five TikTok videos into two separate groups. Group One is videos about the film in its original context and Group Two is videos that show how the film has been connected to pop culture today. As you can see in the TikTok table in the appendix of this paper, far more of the videos fall into the second category and those videos generally go more viral, receiving more likes and engagement. Group One harkens back to Deschanel’s YouTube video, with a focus on Romeo + Juliet in its original form.

Following the previous discussion on how interconnected TikTok is with music, it is no surprise that several of the TikTok videos focused on the music in the film. One TikTok video shows a nearly three-minute clip of the infamous scene where Romeo and Juliet meet and gaze at each other through the fishbowl. Of course, the song “I’m Kissing You” by Des’ree plays as the audio, and the text over the TikTok video reads, in all capital letters, “The chokehold this song still has,” emphasizing the strong legacy of this song because of its use in the film.^[21] Two of the TikTok videos I collected center around the song “Talk Show Host” by Radiohead, another song made popular by the film. This song is played when Romeo first appears in the film, and one of the videos is a short edit of different clips of Romeo from throughout the film with the guitar riff in “Talk Show Host” as the audio.^[22] Another TikTok video comically shows a young woman whose jaw drops with text that reads “Everyone after seeing Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo in the sunset to this song in english class,” and the song playing is “Talk Show Host.”^[23] Again, these are examples of videos that show a connection to the original scenes and music in the film.

One theme we will see throughout these TikTok videos is that they frequently center around Leonardo DiCaprio, and we can’t ignore his role in the film’s popularity. But, we can see from these two videos that “Talk Show Host” is very much associated with DiCaprio and with Romeo in the film. Several of the other collected TikTok videos center around Mercutio and the Capulet party scene where he performs “Young Hearts Run Free” by Candi Staton, a memorable song in the film. For instance, one video features a woman explaining in depth why she loves Harold Perrineau’s performance as Mercutio^[24] and another is simply a clip of Mercutio performing to “Young Hearts Run Free” in the party scene.^[25] The choice Luhrmann made to portray Mercutio as a flamboyant queer character was certainly a modern one, and we still see today how this helped the film connect with a modern audience. Another video featuring a direct clip from the film shows the scene where Balthaser informs Romeo that Juliet is dead and Romeo famously cries out, “I defy you, stars!”^[26] So, even unedited clips from the film are still finding an audience online today.

Some of the videos also highlight the way that Romeo + Juliet is used in English classes to help engage students with the story. Interestingly enough, the most viral video in this category (with over 387k likes) is about watching Romeo + Juliet in English class. It shows a woman with text on the screen that reads “my english teacher putting on romeo and juliet” and then switches to images of Romeo with text that reads “this mf,” and this casual profanity reminds us of the nature of TikTok videos.^[27] This video highlights the way teenage girls particularly have been drawn into the film through DiCaprio, and the virality of this video supports how widespread this experience is. Now, finding DiCaprio in the film attractive does not necessarily imply a deep engagement with Shakespeare’s work, but we can see how this film successfully hooks young people into the story because of its inherent appeal to teenagers. We can see evidence of this being done through another video with over 21k likes that shows a young woman mouthing along to the prologue in the film (another example of a modern interpretation with the prologue being read on a news show) with text that reads, “gonna miss learning about romeo and juliet not gonna lie” and a caption that reads, “loved english lessons.”^[28] This one video is an example of Romeo + Juliet serving its most significant purpose: to engage young people with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet through its accessibility.

The second group of videos connect Romeo + Juliet to modern pop culture, particularly through modern, popular music. In this way, TikTok engages Generation Z with Romeo + Juliet through music that is familiar to them in the same way that Baz Luhrmann used music to connect with teenagers in the 1990s. To begin, several of the videos collected are edits of the film to songs by musical artists that are very popular with Generation Z females, most notably Taylor Swift and Lana Del Ray. For example, one video begins with a clip from the scene where Romeo asks Juliet to marry him and then edits together many clips throughout the film, concluding with the death scene.^[29] The audio for this video is the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift which, of course, is inspired by Romeo and Juliet. Another TikTok video features the scene of Romeo crying out, “I defy you stars” and a popular TikTok remix of the song “cardigan” by Taylor Swift plays in the background.^[30] Several videos also utilize music from Lana Del Ray, and she is an artist with emotionally evocative songs that are used to mirror the emotions in the film. One of the videos that highlights this shows clips of Romeo kissing Juliet when he thinks she is dead as well as Juliet seeing Romeo after his death. The song “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Ray plays with the lyrics “Kiss me hard before you go, summertime sadness” written on the screen.^[31] In this case, the lyrics match the story and the dark and emotional mood of the song only adds to the devastation of the scene. The most viral of all the TikTok videos I collected with over 797k likes merges clips of Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet as well as Titanic with the song “GUY.exe” by Superfruit, released in 2017, as the audio.^[32] This certainly shows the continued popularity of DiCaprio with young people today, as we saw in other videos, but also the use of modern music to back up these videos. We can also see how young people are actually using modern music to represent the characters in the film. One video edits clips of Juliet from throughout the film together uses an unreleased song by popular Generation Z artist Clairo called “lying has to stop,” and the caption states, “she’s the definition of a clairo song.”^[33] In this example, we see the creator using a modern artist whose music is light and romantic to describe Juliet as a character. There are several other examples of videos that edit together clips from the film and use modern songs such as “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele,^[34] “Brazil” by Declan Mckenna,^[35] “Attention” by Charlie Puth,^[36] and “Beaches” by beabadoobee^[37] in order to support the story in the clips. Just like how Luhrmann used popular music from the 1990s to back up the themes in Romeo + Juliet, young people today are making connections between their favorite songs and the story they see in the film. Through this, the film continues to be brought to new audiences, and the fact that many of these videos are reaching hundreds of thousands of likes shows that even though the film is nearly three decades old, it is still very much alive and relevant. This highlights the success of the Luhrmann model; he created fan engagement by utilizing modern music in the film, and fans today continue to connect modern music to the film.

It is not just on TikTok that we can see the lasting legacy of the music in Romeo + Juliet and how music continues to be used to tell the story, but also in other facets of popular entertainment. As an observer in the TikTok orbit, I was inspired to explore the music in Romeo + Juliet because of one of the most popular TV series for Generation Z females over the past couple of years: The Summer I Turned Pretty. The Summer I Turned Pretty is a TV series that went extremely viral on TikTok, and the soundtrack was a large reason for this. Author and creator of the series Jenny Han designed a soundtrack chock-full of songs that young people today love, whether it be songs by Taylor Swift or Tyler, The Creator. Like Baz Luhrmann, Jenny Han chose songs that weren’t just popular and beloved by young people, but also added to the story she was trying to tell. You would frequently see lyrics from an Olivia Rodrigo song match up with the emotions of main protagonist Belly.

The TV series replicated Luhrmann’s model of utilizing modern music to encourage fan engagement, not just on a general level but even in detail. In fact, in Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, released summer of 2023, the song “I’m Kissing You” by Des’Ree was featured in a pivotal scene in the series. In an article about the music in the series, Mendez writes that “One of the most beloved throwback songs of the season is Des’ree’s ‘I’m Kissing You,’ which was originally written for Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film ‘Romeo + Juliet.’ The tender pop ballad plays as Belly and Conrad have sex for the first time. The track gives the scene emotional weight…‘If you really listen to the song, where [Des’ree] gets to, “Where are you now,” that’s where it’s sort of hitting the climax of Belly and Conrad seeing each other again…’”^[38] As we can see here, not only is the song “I’m Kissing You” a throwback that triggers the emotions present in Romeo and Juliet, but it also helps develop the scene in The Summer I Turned Pretty. Again, we can turn to TikTok to see how young people were interacting with this musical choice in the series. One viral TikTok video has “I’m Kissing You” playing as the audio with some text over the video describing the meaning behind the scene in The Summer I Turned Pretty. But, the caption is most interesting, which states “This song belongs to romeo and juliet in my head tho.”^[39] So, even though young people are engaging with the song in its context within The Summer I Turned Pretty, it is also bringing them back to Romeo + Juliet.

The lasting relevance of the soundtrack in Romeo + Juliet in pop culture doesn’t end there - it has also inspired modern popular music. Gabrielle Sheets explores Romeo and Juliet music adaptations and specifically talks about how popstar Halsey was inspired by Romeo + Juliet in making her album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. Sheets explains how Halsey felt a deep connection to the film and asks, “Why did Halsey feel such a connection to Luhrmann’s adaptation as both an audience member and a music creator? Perhaps it was because this version places Shakespeare's canon within a contemporary context. Romeo + Juliet (1996) acts as “a translation of an elite work into one that is popular and colloquial.”^[40] Again, we can see how there is a need for Shakespeare to be made accessible and relatable for a younger audience. This is ultimately important because it allows for continued connection with Shakespeare’s work and his universal themes, even as the years since he first wrote his plays increase.

A film like Romeo + Juliet has also worked as an entryway into Shakespeare’s work as a whole because of its accessibility. An article from Stephanie Zacharek, who labels herself as someone who was initially critical of the film, expresses this idea: “Yet Romeo and Juliet might be the most important Shakespeare: It’s the one almost everybody reads first…it’s also the gateway drug to one of the richest, most resonant bodies of work in the English language…so many of today’s grownups who saw Romeo + Juliet as kids will never forget it. And that is how a play lives forever, reinvented again and again across the centuries, even as its bones and its heart remain intact.”^[41] Zacharek describes the story of Romeo and Juliet as a “gateway drug” to Shakespeare’s work, and Luhrmann’s adaptation can certainly be viewed as the “gateway drug” for a modern audience. It’s easy to be critical of this sort of adaptation, but we have to realize that this has been the entry way into the world of Shakespeare for so many people. In fact, a paper written by a teacher at an all-girls school named Angela Keam supports this idea that Romeo + Juliet can get young people engaged with Shakespeare and that “Unsurprisingly, and like most teachers intent on making Shakespeare's most famous romance tragedy accessible to students, I have found Baz Luhrmann's box office smash William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996) to be an invaluable teaching resource.”^[42] In this paper, Keam focuses on Claire Dane’s performance and how young women can access the story through relating to her, but this idea of the film being accessible to young people applies to the music. Young people can be drawn into the film through the familiar, exciting soundtrack, and this allows them to enter into the greater themes and emotions of Shakespeare’s work.

In conclusion, it is clear that Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet utilized music to bring the classic story to a modern audience. The soundtrack related the story to what was happening in America in the 1990s and to what was relevant to a young audience. Through this, the themes of Romeo and Juliet were made accessible to a new generation and the film and its soundtrack have had a lasting legacy because of that. Perhaps this can all be surmised in the description of the William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet album on Apple Music, which states that “Baz Luhrmann remembers struggling through his pitch for Romeo + Juliet until someone suggested talking about the music. As he recounts to Apple Music, he told the executives, “‘There’ll be hits. Hundreds of hits.’ And they all sort of laughed.” Of course, that’s basically what happened (the album went Gold or Platinum in more than 10 countries), but you could understand why they were skeptical: You want to take a 16th-century love story and one of the most famous pieces of dramaturgic literature in history and put Garbage and The Cardigans on the soundtrack? But for Luhrmann, that was the point. “The contemporary music is a door into something that might seem rusty and inaccessible,” he says. In other words, Romeo and Juliet never heard Radiohead, but they’d get it if they did.” Luhrmann said it himself: The music wasn’t just popular for the sake of being popular, but it allowed modern generations to access the boundless depths of Shakespeare’s works.

Luhrmann’s model is important as we continue to think about how to make Shakespeare relevant and valuable for generations to come. Future directors and those working to adapt Shakespeare’s work should look to Romeo + Juliet and how it achieved multi-generational longevity while still capturing the essence of Shakespeare. Moving forward, we should also make sure to recognize TikTok as an essential tool in understanding the impact of entertainment.

Notes

Bibliography

@beasouzs. TikTok, posted September 4, 2022. Video, 30 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@beasouzs/video/7139754939701677317?q=Romeo%20and% 0juliet&t=1727039748827

@brianna._.716. TikTok, posted May 27, 2023. Video, 8 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@brianna._.716/video/7237933383009963307?q=baz%20luhrman&t=1729363849797.

@cinespiala. TikTok, posted April 27, 2022. Video, 36 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@cinespiala/video/7091417903999946030?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487.

@dandyhaze. TikTok, posted August 13, 2023. Video, 12 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@dandyhaze/video/7266941532245101856?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@dicaprioedits. TikTok, posted May 18, 2022. Video, 14 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@dicapriioedits/video/7099009267088330011?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@dicxprio.editsss. TikTok, posted September 18, 2024. Video, 13 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@dicxprio.editsss/video/7415934517824752912?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@drcoreyemanuel. TikTok, posted April 29, 2023. Video, 2 min., 52 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@drcoreyemanuel/video/7227363574887255338?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487.

@edit.shakira. TikTok, posted May 16, 2023. Video, 11 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@edit.shakira/video/7233793258189589786?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@evereacts. TikTok, posted May 22, 2022. Video, 1 min., 33 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@evereacts_/video/7100429669987536129?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487.

@filmshxts. TikTok, posted June 15, 2023. Video, 11 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@flmshxts/video/7244842146317012251?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1727039748827.

@girlief1lms. TikTok, posted September 17, 2024. Video, 40 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@girlief1lms/video/7415749603280162054?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@hanna_drz. TikTok, posted May 13, 2024. Video, 13 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@hanna_drz/video/7368564001015385377?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@kelseyisamilf. TikTok, posted January 10, 2023. Video, 11 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@kelseyisamilf/video/7083243112428047659.

@kilcherry. TikTok, posted February 8, 2022. Video, 44 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@kilcherry/video/7062447192212032774?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1727039748827.

@lalaloopsy.doll. TikTok, posted July 15, 2023. Video, 15 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@lalaloopsy.doll/video/7256241011930893614.

@nazarethhh.2. TikTok, posted May 23, 2021. Video, 10 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@nazarethhh.2/video/6965660035795946758?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@voorheesy. TikTok, posted August 28, 2024. Video, 21 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@voorheesy/video/7408139400263093522?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997.

@xwnt.v. TikTok, posted March 23, 2024. Video, 32 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@xwnt.v/video/7349657296408005931.

@yourtvgirl. TikTok, posted February 20, 2024. Video, 1 min., 27 sec. https://www.tiktok.com/@yourtvgirl/video/7337750993129475370?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487.

Adamek, Pauline. “Baz Luhrmann Interviewed for ‘Romeo + Juliet.’” ArtsBeat LA, April 5, 2020. https://www.artsbeatla.com/2020/04/baz-luhrmann-romeo-juliet/.

Broey Deschanel. “When Shakespeare Got Cool.” YouTube, posted November 17, 2020. Video, 13 min., 24 sec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KZgIOje85Q.

Clemmensen, Christian. “Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrmann).” Filmtracks, October 3, 1996. https://www.filmtracks.com/titles/romeo_juliet.html.

Fogelson, Marni. “‘Romeo + Juliet.’” Richmond Times Dispatch, November 8, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Hope, Rachael. “‘90s Music Trends That Shaped a Decade.” Sound of Life, July 6, 2022. https://www.soundoflife.com/blogs/mixtape/90s-music-trends.

Keam, Angela. “Claire Danes’s Star-Body, Teen Female Viewers and the Pluralisation of Authorship in Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.” English in Australia 43, no. 2 (January 2008): 39–46. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.454470522981787.

Kellermann, Jonas. Dramaturgies of Love in Romeo and Juliet: Word, Music, and Dance. Routledge, 2021.

Lindroth, Mary. “The Prince and the Newscaster: Baz Luhrmann Updates Shakespeare for a Y2K Audience.” Studies in Popular Culture 22, no. 3 (April 2000): 55–68. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23414522.

Mendez, Malia. “Jenny Han Explains How Taylor Swift’s Songs and Other Pop Music Are Central to ‘Summer I Turned Pretty.’” Los Angeles Times, August 19, 2023. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-08-19/summer-i-turned-pretty-music-jenny-han-taylor-swift.

Modell, Josh. “How Romeo + Juliet Turned a Radiohead B-Side into One of the Greatest Needle Drops of the ’90s.” AV Club, May 27, 2016. https://www.avclub.com/romeo-juliet-turned-a-radiohead-b-side-into-a-greate-1798280858.

Paget, Dale. "Baz's brave new film not strictly Shakespeare." The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), November 2, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Radovanović, Bojana S. "TikTok and Sound: Changing the Ways of Creating, Promoting, Distributing, and Listening to Music." INSAM, no. 9 (2022): 51–73. https://doi.org/10.51191/issn.2637-1898.2022.5.9.51.

Rea, Steven. "Montagues, Capulets, Firearms and Fast Cars.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 1, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Rocky, Yumnam. "Romeo + Juliet and Luhrmann’s America." The Criterion: An International Journal in English 8, no. 1 (2017): 958–68. https://www.the-criterion.com/V8/n1/124.pdf.

Sheets, Gabrielle. “‘The Most Insistent Subject of Popular Music’: An Exploration of Romeo and Juliet Music Adaptations and Their Expressions of Modern Cultural Issues.” Honors Projects, Bowling Green State University, 2021. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/honorsprojects/595/.

Thompson, Gary. "Montague-Capulet Gang War Furnishes Feud for Thought.” Philadelphia Daily News, November 1, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Turner, Brook. "Strictly Standing Room Only for Romeo." Sydney Morning Herald, November 5, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Tush, Bill, and Sherry Dean. “Modern-day ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Debut,” CNN. November 2, 1996. Nexis Uni.

Weinraub, Bernard. “Audiences in Love With the Doomed Lovers.” The New York Times, November 5, 1996. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/05/movies/audiences-in-love-with-the-doomed-lovers.html.

Weston, Paula. “Classic on Steroids.” Albert & Logan News, January 8, 1997. Nexis Uni.

Zacharek, Stephanie. "I Panned Romeo + Juliet in 1996. Now I Think It’s One of the Best Shakespeare Adaptations." Time, October 28, 2021. https://time.com/6111561/romeo-juliet-baz-luhrmann-anniversary/.

Appendix

TikTok Data Table

These TikTok videos were collected by searching phrases such as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Baz Luhrmann” and “Romeo and Juliet 1996.” I filtered through the videos and selected only those related to the 1996 film adaptation. The videos are presented in the following tables in random order. Captions to videos are provided because they provide insight into the creator’s perspective.

Group One

Link:	Creator:	Date:	Likes:	Length:	Caption:
https://www.tiktok.com/@brianna._.716/video/7237933383009963307?q=baz%20luhrman&t=1729363849797	@brianna._.716	5/27/23	140.4k	0:08	Thank you Baz Luhrman for this scene #leonardodicaprio #radiohead #romeoandjuliet #bazluhrmann #romeo
https://www.tiktok.com/@evereacts_/video/7100429669987536129?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@evereacts_	5/22/22	8,459	1:33	I defy you, stars! #RomeoAndJuliet #MovieClips #BazLuhrmann
https://www.tiktok.com/@bitchypuppystarlight/video/7318236361272741162?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@bitchypuppystarlight	12/29/23	3,229	0:45	“If love be rough with you, be rough with love” - Mercutio #mercutio #haroldperrineau #romeoandjuliet #bazluhrmann #quotes #movies #1996
https://www.tiktok.com/@cinespiala/video/7091417903999946030?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@cinespiala	4/27/22	4,286	0:36	Young Hearts Run Free [heart emojis] #romeoandjuliet #bazluhrmann #young heartsrunfree
https://www.tiktok.com/@drcoreyemanuel/video/7227363574887255338?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@drcoreyemanuel	4/29/23	5,756	2:52	“I’m Kissing You” is a song by British singer Des’ree. It was written by the singer with Timothy Atack for Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film Romeo & Juliet. #romeoandjuliet #imkissingyou #nostagicmovies #90smovies #leonardodicaprio #clairedanes
https://www.tiktok.com/@yourtvgirl/video/7337750993129475370?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@yourtvgirl	2/20/24	12k	1:27	R+J is Baz’s cvntiest movie, not his best (Moulin rouge), but def his cvntiest bc of Perrineau and Leguizamo
https://www.tiktok.com/@flmshxts/video/7244842146317012251?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1727039748827	@filmshxts	6/15/23	3,924	0:11	[Cross and moon graphic]
https://www.tiktok.com/@hanna_drz/video/7368564001015385377?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@hanna_drz	5/13/24	21.2k	0:13	loved english lessons
https://www.tiktok.com/@nazarethhh.2/video/6965660035795946758?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@nazarethhh.2	5/23/21	387k	0:10	i screamed whenever he came on screen
https://www.tiktok.com/@weirdfizhes/video/7291357271651601696?q=baz%20luhrman%20romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729446650487	@weirdfizhes	10/18/23	24.9k	0:20	actually its a niche movie reference to the 1996 romeo and juliet directed by Baz Luhrman [glasses emoji and finger pointing up emoji]

Group Two

Link:	Creator:	Date:	Likes:	Length:	Caption:
https://www.tiktok.com/@girlief1lms/video/7415749603280162054?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@girlief1lms	9/17/24	24.1k	0:40	i’ll be her for halloween [swan emoji]
https://www.tiktok.com/@girlief1lms/video/7415749603280162054?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@xwnt.v	12/29/23	115.4k	0:18	my panning looks weird
https://www.tiktok.com/@grandeism/video/7361948617328086318?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@grandeism	4/25/24	2,765	0:20	“Hte this but this might b my favorite movie ever rm kinda”
https://www.tiktok.com/@kleogang_/video/7369685250760379681?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@kleogang	5/16/24	606.7k	0:26	The best Romeo [praying emoji]
https://www.tiktok.com/@dandyhaze/video/7266941532245101856?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@dandyhaze	8/13/23	26k	0:12	she’s the defenition of a clairo song
https://www.tiktok.com/@izzyfilms_/video/7073594598802590982?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@izzyfilms_	3/10/22	20.5k	0:18	:(
https://www.tiktok.com/@newts.vspp/video/7351885352212221216?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@newts.vspp	3/29/24	381.6k	0:24	help my teacher started giggling when he was on the screen
https://www.tiktok.com/@voorheesy/video/7408139400263093522?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@voorheesy	8/28/24	33.5k	0:21	Romeo + juliet >> (I cropped a bit out of it because it was silence for a bit)
https://www.tiktok.com/@dicxprio.editsss/video/7415934517824752912?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@dicxprio.editsss	9/18/24	24.2k	0:13	couldnt understand every word in the movie but [smiling emoji]
https://www.tiktok.com/@dicapriioedits/video/7099009267088330011?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@dicapriioedits	5/18/22	797.9k	0:14	this duo >>>
https://www.tiktok.com/@edit.shakira/video/7233793258189589786?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1729362891997	@edit.shakira	5/16/23	156k	0:11	this song [heart eyes emoji]
https://www.tiktok.com/@beasouzs/video/7139754939701677317?q=Romeo%20and% 0juliet&t=1727039748827	@beasouzs	9/4/22	305.8k	0:30	Romeu e Julieta (1996)
https://www.tiktok.com/@kelseyisamilf/video/7083243112428047659	@kelseyisamilf	4/5/22	10.6k	0:09	“Thus with a kiss I die”
https://www.tiktok.com/@kilcherry/video/7062447192212032774?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1727039748827	@kilcherry	2/8/22	12.6k	0:44	A era de beleza do Dicaprio [kneeling emoji]
https://www.tiktok.com/@xwnt.v/video/7349657296408005931	@xwnt.v	3/23/24	272.1k	0:32	tragedy
https://www.tiktok.com/@weepfilms/video/7010061996645158149?q=Romeo%20and%20juliet&t=1727039748827-	@weepfilms	9/20/21	441.1k	0:08	romeo and juliet behind the scenes [sparkle emoji]

---

Scaffold: A Showcase of Vanderbilt First-Year Writing, Volume 7, Spring 2025

Scaffold is a digital collection of first-year writing curated by the Vanderbilt Writing Studio. To highlight the developing writing processes and learning experiences central to the growth of new college writers, the collection pairs each piece with a recorded reflection from its author. Visit Scaffold’s website to listen to the authors reflect, to learn more, and to tap into this collection as a resource for college students and instructors alike.

The copyright to this work rests with the author. Proper attribution required. Vanderbilt retains a non-exclusive right to distribute the work as part of this collection.