Romeo + Juliet and Adolescent Desires

While building a larger argument about the film Romeo + Juliet (dir. Luhrmann, 1996) as a tragic romance, examine the ways in which race and ethnicity work to develop the lovers’ prominence in the film. Given the film’s setting, why does racial and ethnic visibility make a great deal of sense? How are these logical, perhaps expected, visual and behavioural cues for race and ethnicity then used in the film, and to what end? How does Mercutio’s queer identity connect to race and larger plot concerns? Support and expand your arguments by making clear reference to key examples from the film.