10 Things I Hate About You (10th anniversary edition)
Staring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger
Directed by Gil Junger and Mark Irwin
Released in 2010 by Touchstone Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment
ASIN: B00447L4KA
Genre – Romance
Sub genre – Comedy, Teen Angst
Reading Level/Interest – 15-18
Plot Summary –
Borrowing heavily from “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, 10 Things I Hate About You has the same basic plot. Kat is a typical graduating teen, smart, pretty and pretty determined to avoid all things that have to deal with boys, partying and hanging out with anybody she deems unworthy. Her younger sister Bianca wants to go out and have fun, but her father comes up with an ingenious plan, Bianca can not go out and party or date unless Kat does, thus eliminating his worrying about the girls, because Kat could care less. The new boy Cameron, falls for Bianca at first sight, and upon learning the situation seeks a boy that Kat cannot scare off. He lands his sights on Patrick, a known troublemaker. Cameron makes over Patrick in a bid to make him more desirable to Kat and Patrick reluctantly agrees with the promise of money to change hands.
Over the course of the wooing period, Kat begins to warm to Patrick and Patrick to Kat, even as Kat puts him through absolute Hell at first, at one point even kicking a soccer ball straight at his face. On the Bianca front though, she has enticed Cameron to go through this plot in order to get her out of the house to date a different, somewhat vapid boy.
Critical Evaluation –
The dialogue is witty, fast paced and there are so many subtle and not so subtle nods to Shakespeare in this movie. The movie is also not afraid to make fun of itself and there are some wonderful moments like when Bianca is talking to her friend, “You can be underwhelmed and overwhelmed, but can you just be whelmed?” Which sounds incredibly vapid, till I looked it up and found out that whelmed and overwhelmed have the exact same meaning, making it a valid question. Another gem is the moment where she tries to puzzle out love and like, “I like my Sketchers, but I love my Prada backpack.”
In an interesting diversion from the original Taming of the Shrew, it is Katherine’s father that wishes her to marry, and in this adaptation, Kat’s father is actually proud of the fact that his daughter doesn’t date, and wants her to not go away to college, and stay at home. He is way overprotective and his daughters can take care of themselves.
A theme of the movie, is the overall confusion and plotting that goes into a Shakespearean play. Because Cameron wants to date Bianca, Bianca senses this and exploits him, making her already smarter and more devious then we first think she is, because she wants to date Joey, who is handsome, but vapid like her. Joey is down with the plan and hires Patrick to take out Kat, and the only one not really in any of the scheming is Kat, who just wants to be left alone. All the hilarity of the movie comes from the schemers stepping on each other’s toes as they try to outmaneuver each other to each get their end game. Patrick wants money, Cameron and Joey want Bianca, and Bianca wants Joey. Of course, when the end of the movie comes, Cameron is the only one who gets what he originally wanted, the rest all have a change of heart.
Watcher’s Annotation –
Bianca wants to date, but she can’t until Kat does. Kat likes to make boys cry. What will Bianca do to get Kat to date?
Curriculum Ties –
The Taming of the Shrew
Booktalking Ideas –
Updating classical literature. What classic plays or books would you want to see updated?
Challenge Issues –
Language, Nudity, Underage Drinking
Why Did I Choose This?
The film received awards like Best Musical Performance, Young Star Awards, Most Promising Actress, and Best Casting for Comedy Film.
Reference –
Young Adult Materials Blog 