10 Things I Hate About You: Sisters and Stereotypes
Gil Junger’s 1999 film, 10 Things I Hate About You, retells William Shakespeare’s 1594 play, Taming of the Shrew, for teenagers. This movie takes the same themes of women challenging their societal stereotypes but repackages it with two wildly different sisters in high school. This film flourishes with meaningful questions about high school popularity, incredibly dynamic characters, and modern-day humor with a twang of Shakespearian language.
From a young age, women are told to stay quiet and not voice their opinions. 10 Things I Hate About You covers this power imbalance between men and women through the film’s main characters, Kat (Julia Stiles) and Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). Kat and Bianca are sisters who couldn’t be any more different. While Bianca worries about being adored by everyone and being popular, her older sister Kat consistently does the contrary. Bianca is your typical ditzy, shallow, popular girl, and Kat is mean, unpopular, and unliked by her peers. At the beginning, they are depicted as harsh stereotypes, but their character development throughout shows how they challenge and embrace their labels.
Kat claims that parties are “a lame excuse for all the idiots in our school to drink beer and rub up against each other in hopes of distracting themselves from the pathetic emptiness of their meaningless, consumer-driven lives.” Her constant need to express her non-conforming opinions gets her into trouble with everyone, including her teachers, family, and boyfriends. Kat is assertive and gains no respect or recognition from the men in the film. Males pass her off as obnoxious because of their sexist ways. While male characters assume the worst about Kat, they fawn over Bianca because she fits their ideas of the perfect woman. She follows the rules, doesn’t cause trouble, and expresses desire for a boyfriend.
The conflict in the film begins when Bianca wants to start dating, but her father will not let either of them date during high school. Their father knows that Kat has no interest in dating and makes a deal that Bianca can date when Kat does. In response to this, the boys, infatuated with Bianca, set up Kat with a charming suitor, Patrick (Heath Ledger). As the movie progresses, Kat examines why she is so abrasive with her peers, while Bianca explores why she adheres to what her men expect from her. This movie examines the nuances of teenagehood, what motivates teenagers to act in the way they do, and the complexities of sister dynamics.
Kat and Bianca’s wildly different social circles never allow them to interact during the school day. They have reputations as the antithesis of each other. Kat hangs out with an alternative crowd, while Bianca loves being in the “cool” group. Kat constantly tries to put up a front that she’s not vulnerable, but Bianca doesn’t put on an act about how she wants to be perceived. Kat is terrified of being vulnerable because of her past relationships and gives Bianca a word of advice, “You don't always have to be who they want you to be, you know?”. Bianca responds with, “I happen to like being adored, thank you.” While her intention with this advice is kind, it’s contradictory because it’s not Bianca who’s playing a role; it’s Kat.
Kat and Bianca are stereotypical opposites, and the movie shows that neither of them are correct in their approach to life. By the end of the film, both Kat and Bianca eventually realize that it’s essential to do things because you want to, not because it’s what other people expect of you. The two sisters bond throughout the film. In the beginning, they are quite cold and unacknowledging of each other. But by the end, they are more accepting of each other because they open up to each other about their pasts and why they act the way they do.
While Kat and Bianca are stereotypes, as are the male characters, that isn’t the film’s point; they are all layered, and they have changing morals and attitudes as the movie progresses. Unlike many teen movies, these characters are complicated. By the end, the characters are still themselves; Bianca doesn’t become deep and academic because she realizes she doesn’t need to do what men want, and Kat doesn’t turn soft and overly feminine because she found love. They acknowledge their flaws but don’t change their entire personalities. This movie is a witty way to examine the hardships and highlights of high school, and you may even come away from it quoting The Bard himself.
Original content for Zhive Media
