Other characters are also similar in that their roles in the development of the storyline remain fundamentally the same, however the manner in which they go about contributing to the story differs greatly between the film and the theatrical production. For instance the father of the two sisters, known in ’10 Things’ as ‘Mr. Stratford’ and in ‘The Shrew’ as ‘Baptista’ plays the same, critical, position in both productions – that being the force which ultimately controls the development of the story, however the way in which he does it differs and is in effect toned-down to comply with the social standards that modern, westernized, society has come to expect. While Baptista’s main reasoning behind not letting Bianca marry before Katherine was one of finance and honor (in Elizabethan society a daughter was the respective ‘property‘ of her father up until marriage), Mr. Stratford’s finds his reasoning of not letting Bianca date before Kat does through a comedic paranoia about teen-pregnancy. While the motives behind the two fathers differ, the outcome of their decisions remain the same and in effect open the gates to a host of Bianca’s potential suitors trying to find an appropriate partner for Kat/Katherine.
However, while much of the story and many of the characters found in ’10 Things I Hate About You’ seem to parallel those found in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, it is notable to highlight the vastly different character development throughout the two productions and the impact this has on the final outcome of the plot. In ‘The Shrew’, the only character that really undertakes any major change is Katherine. Through an onslaught of public and private humiliation mixed with food and sleep deprivation and with a pinch of plain abuse, Katherine has the shrewishness driven out of her by her suitor and then husband, Petruchio and by the end of ‘The Shrew’ Katherine is the model image of a subservient, submissive and ‘proper’ 17th century wife. This sort of character change, which is one of the major plot-aspects of the Shakespeare classic, is completely unsustainable and unattractive to a modern-day teenage demographic who are just after some light-hearted entertainment. It is for this reason that while Kat still undergoes a change, it is one that is far more appropriate in this day and age. By the end of the film, she maintains her strong will and is still passionate about what she believes in, but instead she is somewhat ‘softer’, more open to romance and more accepting of others.
Unlike in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, Kat is not the only person that undergoes a notable character transformation. Bianca also changes throughout the movie as she gradually realizes there is more to life than shallow self-indulgence and ‘looking’ the best amongst a crowd of the ordinary. She gradually begins to realize this as she starts to fall in love with one of her two suitors, the nerdy Cameron, and realizes that her other, trendy, suitor, Joey, is really just an arrogant and manipulative pig, out to try and use her. With both Kat and Bianca’s changes is personality, it is only natural that Mr. Stratford should change as well and by the films end he places more trust in his daughter’s, accepting that they are both involved in romantic relationships and even makes a down-payment for Kat’s further education at the Sarah Lawrence College, something he was opposed to at the beginning of the movie. With their new-found attitudes, the Stratford family’s relationships with each other improve drastically and it seems a normal, healthy, family lifestyle has been restored to them. This is a far cry from ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ where close family based relationships were practically non-existent and ultimately played an unimportant part in the production.
As has already been seen there have been major changes to the characters and the plot in ’10 Things I Hate About You’ to make it appealing to a different audience in a different age. As a byproduct of this modernization the original, dialogue, humor and setting have been completely overhauled in favor of more contemporary counterparts.
Firstly, the dialogue in ’10 Things’ has been completely changed from the original Shakespeare text with any direct quotes being used very rarely and as more of a novelty (Cameron saying “I burn, I pine, I perish” when he first lays eyes on Bianca). The language used is now modern, easy to take in and non-formal.
This change has occurred for a number of reasons, primarily that it makes the transaction of on-screen dialogue between characters shorter and far more fluent than it could ever have been if the original text or Elizabethan English was used. Also, much of the teenage audience that this film is aimed at would not be able to easily understand or interpret the Elizabethan English, making the use of informal, modern day, language pivotal to the films success as a teen-movie. Another notable dialogue change between the two productions was the lack of monologues/soliloquies in ’10 Things’. These were fairly frequent in ‘The Shrew’ and often played an important role in the progression of the plot, however their absence in the film is understandable as they would only slow down the otherwise fast pace that it moves at.
With this radical dialogue overhaul comes a huge change in humor. Whereas the play relied on complex punning and wordplay as well as seemingly-masochistic behavior, the movie makes frequent use of simple one-liners (“Why is everyone so hot for this girl, has she got beer flavored nipples?”), strong character stereotypes (like the sex-crazed Miss. Perky) and contextually appropriate, physical, actions (such as Kat reversing into Joey’s Ferrari). This sort of humor appeals to an adolescent audience, unlike the now-outdated humor used in the original Shakespeare comedy which would be lost on the majority of young people today.
Lastly ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ was primarily set in and around the buildings and communal architecture of a 17th century, European, town. In ’10 Things’ the main setting is an American high school, with other minor sets including several modern houses, a library and a paintball park. The choice of a high school setting for this film is relatively unsurprising and follows a common trend among teen-movies which are more often than not based around a high school or university. However, choosing a high school also allowed the producers to parody the whole aspect of different social classes and the great divides between them that were often presented in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ (such as the poor treatment of Petruchio towards his servants and the vast social gap between the upper and lower classes of Elizabethan society). This link was presented in the film by the different social groups at the high school and the way the ‘cool’ group acted superior towards and looked down upon the other ‘nerdier’ groups.
In conclusion, the statement “No one can do it as well as Shakespeare” is true, but only to the extent that no others have ever been able to match his purely creative genius. However, this is not to say that a modern reproduction of a Shakespeare masterpiece cannot be as good, if not better, more relevant and entertaining than the original work. While purists may not agree with this remark, I believe it to be true and that the teen-movie ’10 Things I Hate About You’ is a perfect example of this. While the original work ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ has little value for an average 13-18 year old who will most likely not even follow the play unfolding before them, ’10 Things’ is specially designed to appeal to this demographic and is a thoroughly enjoyable production that young people can easily relate to. It is for this reason that I feel while on a creative level, ‘no one can do it as well as Shakespeare’, the original ideas and stories that he developed in the 17th century can still be used effectively as remakes and can be just as powerful or entertaining to an audience today as the original productions were to the Elizabethan audiences being captivated by them 400 odd years ago.
