Freeing The Shrew through Ten Things I Hate About You

ELLIE LIVERA celebrates a modern feminist film adaptation of one of Shakespeare's earliest, and most mysoginistic plays

Two comedies, both alike in dignity in this fair blog we lay our scene.

Both follow a young man's efforts to win the heart of his beloved Bianca. Unfortunately, Bianca is forbidden to pursue love until her shrewish older sister, Kathrine is also in a relationship. But, determined, the young man’s scheming found a match for the shrew - a notorious and boisterous fellow motivated by monetary gain. 

However, separated by four hundred years, the fates of the Shrew and her sister change forever.

William Shakespeare is a man who needs no introduction -  his timeless plays are a second skin to English literature. Many famed adaptations of his work have graced the silver screen: A West Side Story -  a retelling of Romeo & Juliet; Disney’s The Lion King - a more child-friendly version of Hamlet (still plenty of murder though).

Adaptations have a chequered reputation, plagued by fans scoffing and rolling their eyes, claiming that nothing can beat the original. But what if I told you there was an adaptation that does … and it is set in a ‘90s high school?!

I present Ten Things I Hate About You: a 1999 romcom directed by Gil Junger, written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith. IMDb also rightfully credits Shakespeare as one of the writers because it is an adaptation of his play, The Taming of the Shrew. According to Berkeley’s website on evolution, “[a]daptations help an organism survive or reproduce in its current environment.” This applies to stories because Ten Things explores a particular element that was ignored by the original. But before we discuss that, I need to set the stage!

Social hierarchies - past and present

Ten Things works so well as an adaptation because of, oddly enough, Padua High (a reference to Padua, the original setting for The Shrew). That is because the social hierarchy of the Elizabethan era translates effortlessly into the social hierarchy of a romcom high school. Similar to most, Padua High plays heavily into ‘cliches’ – you know the populars, the outcasts, the nerds, and the cheerleaders. This goes hand in hand with Shakespeare because the Elizabethan era was heavily classist. Just like high school, your ‘title’ determines your life.

Likewise, in his BBC blog ‘Top of the Class: The High School on Film’, Nicholas Barber (2015) comments on a documentary about the popularity of fictional high schools called Beyond Clueless. There, Catherine Bray, the documentary’s producer said that “[…] people at school are still experimenting with who they are, morally, so you can get away with setting a Shakespeare comedy […] in the present day […] You cut the characters some slack […] but if they were adults, you’d think they were psychotic”.

'Correct' women's behaviour?

Junger, McCullah and Smith take full advantage of its setting because both Taming of the Shrew and Ten Things ask the question: ‘What is correct women's behaviour?’. Both versions explore this question through the sisters but reach different conclusions.

Taming of the Shrew equates femininity with subservience and any woman who does not conform is subjected to humiliation and cruelty. The best example of this is the abusive relationship between Kathrine and Petruchio, in Act Four Scene One. Petruchio delivers the following famous lines as he explains how he will curb Kathrine’s stubbornness and transform her into an obedient wife:

This is a way to kill a wife with kindness.

And thus, I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humour.

He that knows better how to tame a shrew …

Now, obviously, to a more modern audience, Taming of the Shrew is more of a psychological horror than a comedy. So, Ten Things chooses to focus on the turbulent relationship between the desirable Bianca and shrewish Kathrine (called Kat in Ten Things). Similar to Taming of the Shrew, in Ten Things, Bianca and Kat represent polar opposites of womanhood. But, instead of saying which is the ‘correct’ way of being a woman, Bianca and Kat learn from each other.

Dressing the part

Another way Ten Things works as a much-improved adaptation is how they physically translate the sisters into modern times (or at least in the 90s); a good costume is worth a thousand words.

Bianca (played by Larisa Oleynik) is introduced wearing a white sundress with pink flowers that perfectly match her girlish personality. Bianca also knows that her hyperfeminine appearance will get her attention and validation. But, unlike the play, Bianca is not put on a pedestal as being ‘the perfect woman’ but is given realistic flaws.

On the other hand, Kat (played by Julia Stiles) wears camo and baggy pants. She is first introduced with Joan Jett’s iconic 1980s ‘Bad Reputation’ blasting from her car. Not only do the lyrics suggest that Kat is a ‘bad’ girl, but she is loud and abrasive, just like the music.

Sisters doing it for themselves

The sisters in Ten Things provide a great example of clashing and learning from each other - I mean that is what sisters are for. The story best illustrates this by using their estranged mother's pearls.

Initially, Bianca wears the pearls out of vanity, which greatly offends Kat who sees them as a personal item. Bianca's weaknesses lie in her immaturity and vanity, while Kat is grounded and a critical thinker. However, Kat's cynicism and antagonism are weaknesses that Bianca makes up for with her optimism and sociability.

Later on in Ten Things, at Prom, Kat is seen wearing the pearls as a symbol of the sisters’ bond and understanding. But it also shows how Kat lets her emotional walls down and accepts love, but also shows her more feminine side. It is also at Prom where Bianca punches her previous crush, the popular asshole Joey, when she hears of his gross plans, as revenge for not only herself but for Kat and her date, Cameron. Just like how Kat is wearing the pearls, Bianca learns to be more assertive.

Patronising play, feminist film?

Whilst Ten Things I Hate About You has Shakespeare’s characters and story beats, it is a far cry from The Taming of the Shrew. It almost goes without saying but the original play is heavily misogynistic, perpetuating toxic gender roles, and depicting domestic and psychological coercion, which is abuse. The film adaptation is a more feminist approach and is actually, you know, funny. That is why we need adaptations – the original idea had potential, so it gets retold, but changes need to be made to survive the times. In the 1500s, women were either maligned shrews or men's property. Today, women have more choices and agency. Ten Things promotes learning from and accepting each other instead of comparisons.

Written by ELLIE LIVERA (BA Creative Writing and English Literature student, University of Chester, UK)