How does each composer's use of this story reflect the time in which each was composed?

How does each composer’s use of this story reflect the time in which each was composed?

The story of The Taming of the Shrew is one that raises important issues both in the Shakespearean text and in the modern appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You. In both composers’ use of the story, it can be seen how it reflects the time in which each was composed.

In Shakespeare’s time, people would go to the theatre for entertainment whereas nowadays, in a society where popular culture dominates, in order to appeal to a wider audience, The Taming of the Shrew originally an onstage play has been appropriated into the teen flick 10 Things I Hate About You. This is because when Shakespeare wrote his play the only form of entertainment to a live audience was through theatre, while 10 Things I Hate About You was composed in the 21st century when theatre was not as popular as back then. This is due to the fact society’s interests and values have altered and as people often go to the cinema for escapism, The Taming of the Shrew had to be appropriated into a romantic comedy to accommodate for the audience’s needs. Hence, the plot, language and social values too were changed to appeal and relate more to the modern audience.

The style of language used in both texts is notably different. The Taming of the Shrew is written in 16th century English whilst 10 Things I Hate About You uses modern day colloquial language to match the targeted audience. The similarities in language between the two would be the intertextual reference to Shakespeare eg. When Cameron quotes “ I burn, I pine, I perish” along with little snippets of Shakespeare through out the film eg. Padua High School.

The two stories have many similarities and differences some of which are minor and some of which are significantly major. Although today’s culture is considerably different to Shakespearean culture, paradigms such as social hierarchy, social expectations of women and the nature of the relationship between men and women still exist.

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The social hierarchy in The Taming of the Shrew has Baptista and his two daughters occupying the role of an upper class family. Katherine in reality did not want anything to do with this role and her shrewishness results from her frustration concerning this position. She did not want to live up to other people’s expectations and due to the disapproval of the rest of society, she becomes despondently unhappy. In 10 Things I Hate About You however, social hierarchy is shown at school and are split up into groups by the way they dress, their popularity and what they drink.

Social expectations of women in The Taming of the Shrew reflected women in the Elizabethan times when women were expected to marry, stay at home to raise a family, and be fully submissive to their lords. Daughters were to obey their fathers and act in a lady like fashion at all times. It is because of these expectations; Katherine is singled out and labelled as the shrew of the town. As although she is beautiful like her sister, she is stubborn and loathsome and she does not obey her father’s wishes in taking a husband and rejects her womanly duties, whereas Bianca is seen as having all the qualities of an upper class Elizabethan lady. 10 Things I Hate About You however reflect modern society where although we have moved on from the submissiveness, society still contains two types of women. One who is the popular and feminine and the other the independent, outspoken “shrew”. Like in The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca embodies the typical female, feminine archetype while Kat does not. Instead, Kat is independent, anti social and like Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew she is outspoken saying what she thinks.

Both Katherine and Kat from the two texts possess individuality. However, society did not accept Katherine’s individuality in The Taming of the Shrew and she was eventually made to conform. While although there is a certain extent to which we value individuality, Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You was not forced, beaten, physically, psychologically or emotionally abused into transforming.

Costumes changes in both reflect the development in characters. The ridiculous outfit Petruchio wears to his wedding with Kate symbolizes his control over her. Simply by wearing the costume, he is able to humiliate her in front of everyone. In 10 Things I Hate About You we see Kat in her Rambo look most of the time until the scene at the nightclub where we see her for the first time in a skirt. This gives us the sense that this may actually be the real Kat and that the “Rambo look” is a disguise to cover up who she really is. We see Patrick too transform from always wearing black clothing to dressing more mainstream.

In both texts, music seems to be an important part of our lives. In The Taming of the Shrew, Baptista wants both his daughters to learn music, which shows that it is as important to him as education is. In 10 Things I Hate About You, popular music is being played in the film, which appeals to the targeted audience designed for a teen audience. It is appropriate to create mood and atmosphere and may reflect the feelings of characters in the scene or may add commentary through the lyrics. Eg. At the beginning Kat is in her car with the song “I don’t give a damn about my reputation”. This immediately conveys to us what this character is like and along with the visual of the girls in the other car being afraid of her, shows us how other people view her.

The nature of the relationship between men and women in both texts are similar with a few exceptions. In both Lucentio/Cameron falls in love with Bianca at first sight and asks his servant/ friend to help him woo her. In The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio marry’s Kate because of her father’s dowry and also because Hortensio offers to pay him to marry Kate. In 10 Things I Hate About You however, Patrick Verona is paid by Joey Dona to ask Kat out, as he wants Bianca for himself. Although money is involved in both texts, Patrick falls for Kat in the end as they come to understand each other.

Paternalism in both texts is very different as each reflects their society’s culture during that period. Baptista in The Taming of the Shrew sees his two daughters as assets to be bargained with for the highest dowry. He is very proud of them although he makes it very obvious that he favours Bianca more than Kate, which infuriates her even more. Mr Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You nonetheless respects his daughters’ decisions but still tries to protect them. He has set rules in the house and does not seem to play favourites. He has a closer relationship with his daughters as he tells the girls that he is not trying to rule their lives but that he wants to be part of it and that they are old enough to make their own decisions and he is merely a spectator. This shows that in today’s society even though children respect their father and obey them, the father in return respects his children and lets them make their own decisions.

Lastly, another factor that varies in the two texts is education. The Taming of the Shrew is set in the centre of a learning town whereas in 10 Things I Hate About You it is set in a stereotypical high school in Seattle. In 10 Things I Hate About You we don’t see much learning going on in the classrooms which suggest that in this day and age education is undermined and that school isn’t for learning but rather for socialising. The fact that Kat wants to go to college and further enhance her education shows that our values have changed and society respects women for who they are.

In conclusion, the paradigms raised in The Taming of the Shrew have been appropriated to fit into the modern day film 10 Things I Hate About You. Both composers’ use of different techniques in style, language and medium reflect the values of the culture in which it was composed.

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