“What is Mine Will Never Do Thee Good”: Exploring Domestic Abuse in Romeo and Juliet through Fan Adaptation

Abstract

Building off of Michelle Yost’s work on folk art, this article argues that fan art is a modern extension of folk art’s community story-telling function. By close-reading Jules and Monty (2014), a web series adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by Tufts University students, this article demonstrates the way fan adaptations contend with the real political concerns of the young women who create them. In Jules and Monty, the story of young love is overshadowed by the threat of domestic abuse and concern over the way college institutions can be slow to hold young men accountable for their actions, even violent ones. This fan adaptation centers the actions taken by women to protect themselves and each other. By foregrounding the violence against women in the original play, Jules and Monty uses the characters to explore the causes and impacts of domestic violence on college communities, and it questions the ability of these communities to resolve that violence fairly.