Preliminary Extension English Assessment Task #1
From a Shakespearean play set in the time of the Italian Renaissance, showing the journey of a women and her ‘taming’ by her husband comes Gil Jungers fantastic film 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). What once used to be a play viewed by anyone and everyone of European culture is now only viewed by those of an esoteric nature for literature. Gil Junger has successfully appropriated The Taming of the Shrew (1594), and made it into a flim which has taken the plays place in popular culture.
In modern society, it is common to want to take an old and extremely famous text and change it so it can be applied to a modern audience. This is achieved by modifying the themes and beliefs presented within the original text so that they reflect the attitudes of those people who will view it. By appropriating a canonical text, people who were previously uninterested in such a story are then able to relate to and enjoy the same basic text. This is because the context has been manipulated to apply to the time, place and circumstances they live in. Gil Junger has done exactly this with his appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You. Whilst Junger has modified Shakespeare’s original play to be more suitable to an audience of a modern lifestyle, he has managed to maintain most of its important themes. The Taming of the Shrew has transformed from one highly entertaining piece of work to another that is as equally enjoyable.
For an appropriation to be successful it must effectively modify and old text by updating the themes so they apply to a modern audience. When appropriating an old text it is essential that the main ideas are communicated in a way that is pertinent to those who shall be the audience. In the case of The Taming of the Shrew it was required that the presentation of women in society be seriously reconsidered. Also the setting of the story must be altered. The messages within the play needed to be altered in...