The film retains this quality of early modern theater, showing Cameron and Michael as the masterminds behind the plot to get Patrick to date Kat, while they eventually manipulate Joey to back them with money. More often than not, these performances also feature deeply complex schemes put in motion by different characters in order to enhance the complexity of the plot and increase narrative stakes. Shakespeare's comedies are often the site of a number of plots and subplots that intersect at the end of the performance. Bianca is able to learn from her sister before it is too late, as she upends audience's own expectations of her by becoming more like Kat at the end of the film – foregoing peer pressure, rejecting Joey, and punching him in the nose. Finally, Kat admits to Bianca that she was not always that way, explaining that she once succumbed to major peer pressure by having sex with Joey. Kat represents a challenge to peer pressure as she consistently and intentionally attempts to stand out. Bianca is pressured by her friend, Chastity, to ignore Cameron and pursue the self-absorbed Joey instead. Peer PressureĪs 10 Things I Hate About You is first and foremost a film about high school romance, it features a significant number of moments related to peer pressure. That both couples end up together by the end of the film showcases the movie's (and the play's) interest in representing surprising but fulfilling love. The second unlikely pairing is between Bianca and Cameron, as Bianca's popularity originally spurs her interest in Joey rather than the timid and nerdy Cameron. The first pair is, of course, Kat and Patrick – two rebellious and difficult personalities who eventually come to appreciate in each other what everyone else finds so undesirable. The film, like the original play, derives much of its entertainment value from its representation of unlikely pairs. However, the film itself can be considered feminist in the way it rewrites Shakespeare's original plot to render Kat and Patrick's romance a naturally occurring event rather than the result of a man's power over a woman. In this way, Kat's feminism becomes a facet of her obstinate personality that many other characters mock. Morgan points out, Kat is a wealthy white teenager who, while criticizing the English curriculum for not including more women authors, fails to recognize the same curriculum's negligence toward people of color. She listens to punk rock music by all-female bands, reads Sylvia Plath, and has a general distaste for men. Kat is a vocal feminist, but as a young high school student, is still ignorant of some of the nuances that feminist ideology includes. Feminismįeminism figures heavily in the film, both as the butt of jokes and as part of the film's central message. In this way, the film reinvents Shakespeare's original plot (which many criticize as inherently misogynist) and modernizes it for a contemporary audience. Unlike the play, however, the film does not present Kat's character shift as a type of "taming." On the contrary, the film showcases a much more feminist perspective in which Kat's difficult personality is itself rendered endearing, and Patrick's manipulation of her is ultimately condemned rather than celebrated. The play's subplot, featuring a fight amongst suitors for Bianca, also appears in the film version. The film presents modernized versions of the characters' names while also maintaining its central plot surrounding the "taming" of the obstinate woman. 10 Things I Hate About You is easily recognizable as a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew.
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