11.26.07
Romeo and Juliet: Third Post (Serious Creepiness)
Ok this took a weird turn. The prince thing still bugs me (especially since they call him “the prince”), but the fact that Juliet is thirteen and all mentions of her age are left in is by far the creepiest thing. “Younger than her are happy mothers made” is one thing when the story is set in a time when that was the norm and, thus, totally culturally acceptable, but this is set now. I get that it’s set in Japan, but even there thirteen-year-old mother aren’t really seen as culturally desirable. It puts a really creepy spin on Juliet’s parents trying to marry her off, on Romeo and on everyone in on the lovers’ marriage. It just doesn’t work.