biggesthalseystanxoxo - Tumblr blog

[biggesthalseystanxoxo]

romeo and juliet are hopeless now

"Good artists copy; great artists steal."

Was this quote uttered by Steve Jobs when he declared that he was willing to engage in thermonuclear warfare with Android in 1996? Or Pablo Picasso, who was misquoted as he referred to Igor Stravinsky's iteration, while they both borrowed from T.S Elliot's dictum, "Immature poets imitate, mature artists steal." Well, to be honest, it doesn't matter too much because everyone who uttered almost the same message moulded it to fit their own requirements. Regarding art at face value makes us see it as just stories and paintings to be hung on walls or choreographed into melodies and built into cities when there's so much more behind it.

For example, at a quick glance, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is nothing more than a story of two immature children who disregard their parents wishes to get married. But the tale of loverboy and manic pixie dream girl acts as a cautionary tale, a warning for foolishness, impulse, and rivalry; eliminating the repercussions the characters faced from their actions would remove the deterrent, and the play would lose its significance. And that - is what makes his work timeless. 

So timeless that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has been picked apart and scrutinised hundreds of times; in fact, in terms of movie adaptations alone, this 16th-century story has been staged for the screen over fifty times. But this time, we're having a look at singer/songwriter Halsey's take on iconic literature in the setting of her own discography. Instead of fair Verona, Halsey's entire album released in 2017 titled 'Hopeless Fountain Kingdom' is jam-packed with references as it plays with Shakespeare's original script, and she decides to set the two-hour traffic of her stage in Anorev (wildly creative; I know) - the fictional city housing her modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet.

And while you may already be familiar with many of Shakespeare's works after being obligated to tap along to his iambic pentameter and pick apart his prose, Halsey has managed to take the cult classic film (Romeo + Juliet 1996) by Baz Luhrmann and reinvent it for herself. She chose to maintain critical concepts and themes like lust, conflict, the inevitability of fate, the idea of death and love that blinds but adds her own like same-sex love, betrayal, female sexual liberation and modern romance. 

The houses alike in dignity are Aureum as the Montagues and Angelus as the Capulets. Our main characters are now Solis Angelus and Luna Aureum, which mean sun and moon and represent Juliet and Romeo, respectively, making the quote "star-cross'd lovers" literal. Halsey says that Solis was chosen as the name for Juliet since, in Act 2 Scene 2 of the play, Romeo confesses that Juliet is his sun but, contradicting him, is Luna, meaning the moon. Throughout the music videos, we do not see the original Romeo's homie-o's Benvolio and Mercutio. However, we know that Solis's best friend is [SPOILER ALERT] the traitor, but the audience has no other means to identify him or relate him to since all we see is his withering lack of loyalty. To my excitement, we see some Rosa (depicting Rosaline) content in the music video about the song that describes Luna (or, well, Halsey) reflecting on her relationship with Rosa she had been trying to move on from (just like Act 1 Scene 2 in the original but with the same-sex love twist). 

Halsey has chosen not to follow the exact chronological order in Shakespeare's script, but she incorporates key points into each of the five music videos that conclusively create her circular plot. In the 'Strangers' MV, we see Luna and Rosa physically fighting in a boxing ring - symbolising their break up early, and towards the end, Luna meets Solis for the first time. The 'Now or Never' MV depicts Luna and Solis finally getting closer together and realising they love each other. Luna goes to a tarot reader, and he tells her their love is pure, yet there is interference, and before she gets to ask any more questions, she is forced to leave. Shortly after, Solis confesses to his best friend (who is unnamed, thankfully, or else I'd have started using his name to curse), who conveys Solis's secret to the elders of the house of Angelus, and warfare begins and ends as quickly as it started, resulting in bloodshed and civil hands staining with civil blood. This continues directly into the next MV of the song called 'Sorry', which is more of a lamenting ballad where Luna walks through the ruins of the battlefield as she sings apologetically. In the 'Bad At Love' MV, Luna is on the run/banished, much like Romeo after he murders Tybalt. She comes across the same place she took a tarot reading but finds it abandoned.

Meanwhile, back in the comfort of his home Solis quickly sprawls a message onto paper telling Luna he loves her and sends a messenger to deliver it immediately. Again, Mr McTraitorFace (aka Solis's best friend) meddles in other people's business and switches the letters so that it reads as if Solis wants Luna dead and that he hates her (referenced in the lyrics of her sidetrack titled 'Lie' - "I get the message you wish I was dead"). Luna receives this message, and the audience collectively winces as, just like in Shakespeare's original work, another untimely misconception occurs, and the phenomenon of blatant miscommunication strikes once again. Ultimately, the 'Alone' MV shows Luna moving over Solis at a party (which is visually similar to the Masked Capulet house party) and thus, we are back again to the start of the story - where an opportunity may arise for new love to be found. 

Halsey herself quotes her story to be a "celebration of death" because it's the end of their "death-marked love", and she's rejoicing as she's revolved once around the circle, and it's time to spin around another chapter while making way for new art to be created.