The Taming of the Shrew vs. 10 Things
The relationship between man and woman is a theme that is forever present in movies, literature, and plays. Over time, movies can portray this in similar and slightly different ways. The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You are two examples of this. They both have similarities and differences in characters, settings, and dialogue.
In 1967, Franco Zeffirelli directed an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew. This movie was set in Italy in the Elizabethan era. The movie is about a woman named Katherina who is forced by her father to marry a man named Petruchio. Katherina has a younger sister named Bianca who we see occasionally on the side, waiting for her sister to be married so that she can, in turn, marry if she is asked. No one wants to marry Katherina because she throws things, runs around yanking her sister by the hair, is quarrelsome and screams at everyone. Petruchio is a man who is looking for nothing other than money and the only way he can get money is to wed & receive the dowry. He hears of Katherina through one of his friends and decides that he will approach her father for her hand in marriage. Her father consents to Petruchio meeting with her and seeing if he can woo her. Katherina & Petruchio get married and, throughout the entire movie, instead of her treating him crudely, he does it to her as sort of a way to tame her and make her a lady. At the end of the movie, she is no longer quarrelsome and has more respect for her husband and her father than in the beginning of the movie. She in turn teaches her newly married younger sister, Bianca, that you are to love, honor, and obey your husband no matter what.
Thirty-two years later, Gil Junger directed a similar movie called 10 Things I Hate About You. This movie takes place in the late 90’s at Padua High School. Unlike The Taming of the Shrew this movie does not focus entirely on Kat, it also shows the struggles...