A Comparison and Contrast of the Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew from the Elizabethan England period and Gil Junger’s teenage film Ten Things I Hate About You, released in 1999, share many similar elements but at the same time seem completely different from each other. Although both stories work with similar plots, many aspects of the Ten Things I Hate About You, which is an appropriation of The Taming of the Shrew, have been altered to suit the teenage audience of the late 1990’s. Both stories deal with relationships with families, the roles and expectations of women and men, and the nature of a romantic relationship, yet vary deeply in the way the composers chose to present. The film and the play also reflect on many values and attitudes of their time through the issues which are handled.
The nature of relationships within families is quite similar in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You. In both cases, Kat and Bianca do not share a cl ,ose bond with each other as they have completely different personalities. A constant sibling rivalry between each other can still be seen in both stories. Junger used specific filming techniques such as a panning shot from Bianca to Kat to show the great differences between the two sisters. In The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca openly criticises and insults Kat about her shrewishness and unpleasant behaviour which highlight more of the dissimilarities of the siblings. On the other hand, in Ten Things I Hate About You, Bianca and Kat does not show as much respect to their father as they do in Shakespeare’s play. In the film, Walter Stratford is more of an irritating nuisance than a role-model. This shows that the 17th century placed a strong emphasis on respect and can be seen in the play when Kat is forced to marry Petruchio by his father’s commands. Junger demonstrated the lesser respect to parents by showing the girls showing their backs to their father while being lectured and the use of sarcasm and high-tempered voices towards them.
The nature of relationships within families is quite similar in The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You. In both cases, Kat and Bianca do not share a cl ,ose bond with each other as they have completely different personalities. A constant sibling rivalry between each other can still be seen in both stories. Junger used specific filming techniques such as a panning shot from Bianca to Kat to show the great differences between the two sisters. In The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca openly criticises and insults Kat about her shrewishness and unpleasant behaviour which highlight more of the dissimilarities of the siblings. On the other hand, in Ten Things I Hate About You, Bianca and Kat does not show as much respect to their father as they do in Shakespeare’s play. In the film, Walter Stratford is more of an irritating nuisance than a role-model. This shows that the 17th century placed a strong emphasis on respect and can be seen in the play when Kat is forced to marry Petruchio by his father’s commands. Junger demonstrated the lesser respect to parents by showing the girls showing their backs to their father while being lectured and the use of sarcasm and high-tempered voices towards them.