10 Things I Hate About You vs Shakespeare

Appropriation is the process of taking one composer’s themes, techniques, and language features and re-contextualizing those features to address similar concerns that are relevant in a different context. The taming of the shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies. Although it may have appealed to the audience in its time, an appropriation of the play into a film may have been essential in order to reach a modern, 21st Century audience. Since film has the ability to reach a mass audience a more modernized version of Shakespeare’s play was created -“10 things I hate about you”, directed by Gil Junger. Although different in its appropriation, by comparing, -‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘10 Things I hate about you’ it is evident that the modern appropriation ’10 things I hate about you’ is successful in shaping the understanding of a modern day audience, so that they can further understand and appreciate the original plays. Shakespeare’s work is as popular today as it was in his time, and continues to be re-examined, reinterpreted and presented in a range of different ways. Appropriations of a text help viewers of a different context, better understand the subtext of the original piece.
The plot of the original is very much similar to that of ’10 things I hate about you’. The play is set in Padua, where we meet Baptista Minola and his two daughters: the popular Bianca and Katherina the Shrew. Petruchio endeavours to woo the seemingly un-winnable Katherina so that he can take her dowry and so that his friend Hortensio may marry Bianca who has sworn not to wed until her sister has found a husband. The money motive is also an issue within ’10 things I hate about you’, as instead of dowry, Patrick – (Petruchio in the play) accepts money from Joey, to take Kat out, so that Bianca can also date. Although the events have been modernized the thematic concern of the motive based on money, not love is expressed through both texts, and is still relevant in today’s society