Transgressive Catholicism

Abstract

This article focuses on the omnipresent religiosity that permeates Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). The film creates an unconventional combination of a dystopian world – where violence, love, wealth and Catholicism are closely intertwined – and keenly focuses on the Capulets’ and the Montagues’ troubling relationship with religion. Drawing on previous studies by critics such as Christopher Baker, James N. Loehlin and Alan Hager, this article deals, first, with the various ways in which Luhrmann shows transgressions of Catholic faith and practices; second, how his film transgresses the original source text in religious terms; and third, how these transgressions also relate to a spiritual journey towards reconciliation.