Disney has made a trend of making fairly sad fairy tales into happy endings over the years, creating the popular trend of turning sad stories into cute kid movies. I thought it was so creative how someone took a tragic tale such as a Shakespearan tale of all things and turned it into a funny comedy about a bunch of gnomes. With how great and funny the movie turned out, it can be easy to overlook two very important characters in the movie; Ms. Montague and Mr. Capulet, the rivaling gnome groups’ owners. We do not really know much about them other than them being elderly neighbors who seem to despise each other and always throw insults whenever they see one another or the other’s garden. I always wondered why they lived next door to each other if they couldn’t stand one another. After all, they are both full grown adults who seem to share a passion for both gardening and gnomes. So why was there so much beef between them?
In the original story, the Montagues and Capulets were rivaling kingdoms due to some kind of disagreement among each other, hating each other to the point where they would battle one another. It isn’t until the death of Romeo and Juliet that each kingdom decides to put their differences aside and end their feud. Clearly in “Gnomeo and Juliet”, Mr. Capulet and Ms. Montague do not live in a kingdom, which makes their feud seem somewhat ridiculous. Is it because they’re competing in some kind of gardening competition….or something much deeper? There are many differences from the sad play and funny kid movie we could cover, but I think one difference is very important that could be the very reason for the disgruntled owners’ bitter attitudes.
Unlike the kid movie, in the original play of “Romeo and Juliet”, Romeo and Juliet have both of their parents, though not supportive they still had them both in their lives. In “Gnomeo and Juliet”, each of our beloved main gnome characters has only one parent but lacks the other. Though we do not know what happened to their missing parents, their fates are implied by their single living parents. “You’re father would’ve been so happy. He built this garden with his own two hands.” Lady Bluebury said to Gnomeo upon viewing the flowers. “I won’t lose you like your mother!” Lord Redbrick tells Juliet upon gluing her to her post for her safety. It is implied that Gnomeo’s father died of natural causes while Juliet’s mother most likely died in some traumatic event. This then got me thinking: Do gnomes give birth? As we can see from the movie, it would be impossible since the gnomes are clearly made from glass, so how can they have children?
Then I thought of the owners and came to my own conclusion. So here is my theory: The dead parents were not gnomes…but humans. Not only did these people create the gnomes and their gardens, but they were also the former spouses of each of the separated groups’ disgruntled owners. Basically Gnomeo’s “father” was once alive and married to Ms. Montague, just as Juliet’s “mother” was once the live and kicking wife of Mr. Capulet. These feuding neighbors are in reality grieving widow and widower who want to keep their departed spouses alive in their memories by keeping up with the gardens they started. Lady Bluebury represents Ms. Montague reminiscing over her dead husband’s flower beds and how she would do anything to make him proud and so is distraught when she finds her flowers dead. Lord Redbrick represents Mr. Capulet wanting to be protective over his children, evident by how Mr. Capulet calls Tybalt his little innocent garden boy like its his child. We then find out in “Sherlock Gnomes” that Mr. Capulet and Ms. Montague fall in love and get married, bringing their gnomes together in a less impressive excuse for a garden.
I believe Ms. Montague and Mr. Capulet “hated” each other in the beginning because they were just alone and devastated by their losses, burying their emotions into maintaining their gardens for the sake of their departed loved one. “Love Built A Garden” song really takes on a different meaning if you think about it in this light. Each of them secretly shares a pain in seeing the others’ garden and suspects that neighbor will do anything to destroy what they have and so are defensive every time they see one another. It isn’t until both their gardens are destroyed that their feud seems to end. They finally find each other and understand the other’s pain and so decided to start a relationship. These two never found gardening fulfilling, demonstrated by them moving to a home where there’s no room for a real garden.
