Comedian summarizes 'Romeo and Juliet' plot in Gen Z slang and it's seriously brilliant
This might just be the best Shakespeare plot summary ever.
Shakespeare slaps in Gen Z slang.
High schoolers have been studying Shakespeare plays for generations, grappling with the bard's language as they learn to appreciate his brilliance. The further we get away from Shakespearean English, though, the more challenging it is for young people to understand it, giving teachers the formidable task of helping their students relate to 400-year-old English.
What better way to prep them for it than to translate Shakespeare's storylines into their language?
That's what comedian Richard Franks did by summarizing "Romeo and Juliet" entirely in Gen Z slang, and teachers are praising him for it. Watch him leave no crumbs:
From Juliet seeing Romeo as "an absolute snack" to the Capulets and the Montagues "beefing hard" to "it's giving bruh, just check your messages" when Romeo mistakenly believes Juliet's really dead, it's modern translation perfection.
It's meant to be comedy, but it has real educational value
English teachers in the comments were thrilled to find a fun, engaging way to introduce "Romeo and Juliet" to their students:
"As an English teacher, this is going into my lesson on R&J with Year 9 next week. 💥"
"I'm humiliating year 10 with this first thing Monday morning."
"This is brilliant. I had a professor who would sit on the edge of his desk and tell us all about The Canterbury Tales. Just the major highlights, some interesting background and then say go read it. They are such hilarious raunchy tales that everyone went off, struggled through the Middle English and read it. I was an English teacher and this is how you keep them engaged. Amazing."
"I have spent 40 years working with high school in college students, editing, papers, grading papers, and this honest goodness is the best explanation of Romeo and Juliet I have ever heard. I am laughing tears.😂😂"
"As someone who has majored in Shakespeare, this is downright hilarious 🤣"
A lesson in Shakespeare, but also a lesson in Gen Z slang
People are also loving Franks' skit as much for the Gen Z slang lesson as the other way around:
"This is beyond brilliant because it works two ways: kids can understand Shakespeare, and olds can understand kids. The level of your intelligence and comedic genius is off the charts!"
"You think you're teaching Gen Z Shakespeare. But really you're teaching Gen X modern slang. Thank you for your service."
"As a 52 year young Olds, I actually finally understood some of the new young slang taken in the context of the play recap!"
"YAAASSS!!! 😂 My knowledge of Shakespeare was translating the Gen Z lingo for me 😅"
"This is the best break down of Romeo and Juliet I've ever heard...And I'm Gen X 😂."
This is not Franks' first foray into translating Shakespeare into Gen Z. He also has a Macbeth breakdown that's equally brilliant:
Arguably, that one's even more impressive as "Macbeth" is a harder plot to follow in many ways than "Romeo and Juliet."
As one commenter wrote, "This is brilliant - and beyond the humor, it is a fascinating study of language. Shakespeare as written is not really anything close to any kind of modern English at all, and even many familiar words had different meanings or usages/connotations. But the story itself, if we can manage to understand it at its core, is tragic and brilliant. Language is constantly evolving—if he were alive today, I bet Shakespeare would get an enormous kick out of this.👏👏👏"
Shakespeare probably would have loved this
Several commenters shared that they thought Shakespeare would enjoy this, and considering the way he played with language, invented words and used slang himself in his writing, they may be right. Language is ever-evolving, but few people in history have had more of a direct impact on the English language than Shakespeare. As much as English has changed since the late 1500s, there are many words widely believed to be created or first used by Shakespeare that we use regularly today, including "lonely," "rant," "obscene," "gossip" and more.
So Gen Z's distortion or invention of words to communicate is right up Shakespeare's alley. The famous poet and playwright didn't just invent words but created phrases we use today as well. "Breaking the ice" and "heart of gold" are Shakespeare's babies, so Gen Z phrases like "main character energy" are basically giving Shakespeare vibes.
From an educational standpoint, Franks' videos are great for illustrating how ideas can be expressed in various ways, even when people speak the same language, in addition to helping hook young people into Shakespeare's stories by putting the plot into terms they relate to. What a fun jumping off point for a lesson on Shakespeare, all from the mind of a comedian. Shakespeare would surely be proud.
You can follow Richard Franks on Instagram for more comedy.
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