So, big shocker, I’ve never really liked Romeo and Juliet. Sure, the writing is Shakespeare at the top of his game, but the main two characters, if you can call them that, have always left something to be desired. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were flawed evil people, the Midsummer characters were silly and obscene, and so far they’ve based quite a few shows on the intricacies of the character of Richard III.
So why does Romeo and Juliet fall flat in so many versions, and how can anyone fix it?
I’m going to bypass the idea of seeing Romeo and Juliet as this epic love story for now, as well as the controversy of the ending, and focus on just the main premise- two people from warring sides fall in love. The obstacles are not simple two-dimensional villains but real people whose own arbitrary hatreds get in the way of their family’s happiness.
There are two key facets to making a Romeo and Juliet story work. First, the two main characters need to be likeable, relatable, and interesting. Second, the hatreds between the two groups need to be both arbitrary and equal between the two sides.
In, say, Pocahontas, Disney’s Native American spin on the Romeo and Juliet tale, both of these facets are broken. The story goes out of its way to both make the Native American nobility mannequins in an attempt to right the wrongs of past Disney movies, which might have seemed like a good idea, but it had the unfortunate side affect of 1. making the Native Americans clearly on the right side of the conflict, which, while historically accurate, does not work to make both sides equally loathsome in the dispute, and 2. making the main characters uninteresting because the writers spent so much time making Pocahontas look majestic and not enough time making her a character. And with neither one of those main parts working, the Romeo and Juliet story falls flat. There is also the minor facet that none of the minor characters are interesting nor critical to the story, in the way the original story had them. But that’s not something that would break the story in the same way as much, although it is a byproduct of the other two points.
Now let’s talk about Saga. Saga is an Image comic book series about a sci-fi/fantasy version of Romeo and Juliet. There’s a lot more to it than that, but the short version is the people on "Juliet’s" planet have wings and the people on "Romeo’s" planet (well, moon- like I said, long story) have horns. Like the original Romeo and Juliet, no one knows how the war began between the two sides, and while both sides are badmouthed by the other for certain events it is very clear that neither side is especially wrong in the way the English especially wronged the Native Americans. The main characters, Marko and Alana, are (unlike the original story) interesting and their behavior is both very human and very heartwarming. On top of that, the minor characters are also nuanced and incredibly critical to the story, and are evenly divided between both sides of the conflict, so there's a good balance of both personal vendettas and character development.
To say any more about Saga would be a spoiler. All I can say is, please, please read it. Even if you don’t like the original Romeo and Juliet, even if you don’t like sci-fi fantasy romps. It’s gross and vulgar but it’s also beautiful and hilarious and a triumph of the human experience. It’s one of the few stories I’ve ever read that truly understands love in the midst of hatred, and why it matters so much to see passed centuries of bloody conflict in order to create any hope for the future. Saga is as out there as it is real. Read it if you haven’t already.
