| "How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways..." |
| This film was hit or miss with the critics with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a fresh rating of 60 %. "The script seems derived less from Shakespeare than from She's All That and other recent teen epics," says John Hartl, Film Dot Com critic. (For a full plot summary of the film, click HERE.) "Turning The Taming of the Shrew into a high-school comedy doesn't take a lot of work, since the sibling rivalry and romantic entanglements work as well in homeroom as in Verona," says reviewer Sean Means. Unfortunately, to do this, it begs for a tired storyline (Ebert). "Boy takes bribe to ask girl to prom, then discovers that he really likes her -- but then she finds out about the bribe and hates him," is Roger Ebert's synopsis of the plot. |
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| 10 Things I Hate About You |
| Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julia Stiles, Larisa Oleynik, Heath Ledger Director: Gil Junger Writers: Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith Buena Vista Pictures |
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| 10 Things I Hate About You does what Clueless does -- it takes a classic text and interprets it into a much more tangible setting. This works in two ways. On the one hand, it exposes the audience to classic literature and may get them interested in reading it. On the other hand, these films are tailored to Hollywood's biggest ticket buyers -- teenagers. The film grossed more than half of its $16 million budget in its opening weekend. Because the film is so different from The Taming of the Shrew, it becomes difficult to judge it as an adaptation. As Ebert says, the film evokes Shakespeare as a talisman rather than remakes him. As such, it's less about Shakespeare and more about situations teenagers can relate too. After all, the film's intended audience is not going to ask how this film lives up to the original. In this sense, the movie is like the play -- it's meant to be enjoyed by the masses, not the intellectual elite. |
| In Conclusion |
| Introduction | 10 Things I Hate About You | Romeo + Juliet | Hamlet |
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| At first glance, 10 Things I Hate About You seems to have about as much in common with The Taming of the Shrew as the Jet Li flick Romeo Must Die does with Romeo and Juliet. After all, the film's tagline (above) suggests Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets for the Portuguese rather than anything the Bard wrote. In a sense, that fits the film. Patrick wins Kat over after serenading her with "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." Kat is assigned to write a Shakespearan sonnet (that is anything but). In the film, the setting moves from Padua, Italy to Padua High Shool in Seattle. The two sisters are still Kat and Bianca, however, in this film, Bianca is not seeking a husband but rather a prom date. Where as cultural norms keep Bianca from claiming a suitor in the play (the eldest sister would have to be married first), here it is their obstetrician father's fear of teen pregnancy. As their father knows of Kat's hatred of boys, he sets the rule that Bianca cannot date until Kat does. |
| The Translation |
| The Critics |
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