Critical Review Essay

Critical Review The movie 10 Things I hate About You, directed by Gil Junger adheres to the play The Taming of The Shrew, written by Shakespeare by its key themes and values. Both are considered to be a romantic comedy genre, dealing with relationships and the value of individualism. However, some of the themes had to be altered through the language and form of the play; so the audience would relate to the film. The movie, 10 Things I Hate About You is set in a 1990's American High School (Padua High School). The movie is about a father terrified of his daughters sexuality and certain that they would be unable to take care of themselves. His eldest, Kat, is loud-mouthed and his youngest, Bianca, is pretty and popular. Bianca has admirers, but she is unable to date because of her father’s rules about dating. Bianca can’t go out unless Kat does, and Kat refuses to. In order to free Bianca from her father’s rule, her admirers set Kat up with the intimidating, dangerous-looking Patrick by paying him to go out with her. Cameron, Bianca’s boyfriend-to-be, teaches himself some rudimentary French in order to be her tutor, and win over her affections, as Lucentio does in the play. The play, The Taming of the Shrew is set in Padua, Italy (created in the 1500’s). It’s a play about a controlling father to two girls. His eldest, Katherine, is despised and rebel; while his younger daughter, Bianca, is adored and admired because of her good looks and modesty. Bianca has a crowd of admirers who are competing for her hand in marriage, which includes the three gentlemen Hortensio, Lucentio, and Gremio. In order to make her available and free from her father’s constraints; Hortensio convinces Petruchio, a rowdy gentlemen from Verona, newly wealthy from the money he inherited from his recently deceased father, to ask Baptista for Katherina’s hand in marriage. To win Bianca over, Hortensio and Lucentio disguise themselves as teachers without the other’s knowledge, and they each convince Baptista to hire them as instructors for his daughters. Dating is an inevitable element of teenage life; often something teenagers feel pressured into doing. The 90’s teenage Americans had an obsession with their relationships back then. Around 1500's marriage was a union of a relationship that society was obsessed in that time. For example, in 10 Things I Hate About You; dating has become a form of relationship that everyone obsesses over, especially in high school. Dating is shown as a result of peer pressure, Bianca constantly states, “I’m the only girl in school that doesn’t date.” She feels pressured by her friends, and boys that are constantly asking her on dates, to “fit in” to teenage culture. In The Taming of the Shrew, it was the father's right to marry his daughters off to the man who

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