Write a Review for 10 Things I hate about you for Empire Magazine

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Rian McMullan 10.11

Coursework: Media

Write a film review for 10 Things I Hate About You for Empire magazine.

Plot

10 Things I Hate About You is one a many ‘modernised’ Shakespeare adaptations, being based on the play The Taming of the Shrew. It is set in a modern American high school. Directed by Gil Junger, the film involves the new boy in school, Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), falling for the popular Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik). The problem is, her father’s rules state that she isn’t allowed to date – until her feminist sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. Cameron will go to extreme lengths to date Bianca, even to the point of asking the school supermodel Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) to pay Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to date Kat…

 

Review

The teenage romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You contains all that a movie of its genre should contain: teenagers, drinking, girls, parties etc; the basic requirements to attract its targeted teenage audience. In fact, you could sit through the entire film thinking that it’s a completely original idea, and actually understand what was going on. Other movies in the same genre as 10 Things could be Can’t Hardly Wait, which stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ethan Embry. The plot is hardly similar to 10 Things but it has the same basic requirements to get teenagers interested, like teenagers, drinking, girls, parties etc. William Shakespeare’s writing is obviously very different from the writing that is published in the present, the reason being that writing styles and vocabulary have drastically changed since the 16th century. It is difficult to understand his writing unless you have previously encountered his work. I personally think it is better to watch or read a modern adaption of his plays to completely get the storyline. For instance, I understood what was happening in 10 Things, but when watching the 1967 adaption which was directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starred Elizabeth Taylor, I wasn’t particularly sure of the plot, even after seeing 10 Things, because it was a direct adaption and therefore I was not used to the old Shakespeare language. That being said, the screenwriter, if adapting the play for a modern audience, may add or remove elements in order to make the adaption more interesting or appealing to the audience. An example of this is that some of the character’s names are changed in 10 Things, like Katharina’s name being changed to ‘Kat’, an abbreviation of her original name, because it would be strange watching someone from the late 1990’s being called Katharina. Even though changing particular things in modern adaptations may make it easier to understand, there is also the possibility that doing this will ruin the play itself. I personally do not hold this view, but I can see why some people do. It could possibly compare to Americans changing Harry Potter to fit their cultures, like giving the characters guns instead of wands and removing Harry’s glasses and replacing them with sunglasses or something ridiculous like that and having many of the female characters fall in love with him for no particular reason whatsoever. Though that isn’t happening, and hopefully never will, I could use that as a comparison to what is happening to Shakespeare’s work.

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10 Things is the movie that the director, Gil Junger is most famous for, this in fact being his first movie that made it to the big screen. His other two movies shown on screen were: Black Knight(2001), and If Only(2004). He is an American director for Touchstone Pictures and generally prefers directing television shows, such as In Case Of Emergency(2007), and 8 Simple Rules(2002).

Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles take on the roles of Patrick Verona and Kat Stratford, the two main characters in the film. Heath Ledger carries out Patrick Verona very well. He shows a rebellious ...

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