10 Things I Hate About You
Released: 1999Director: Gil Junger
Producer: Andrew Lazar
Cast:
Katarina Stratford Julia Stiles
Bianca Stratford Larisa Oleyruk
Patrick Verona Heath Ledger
Cameron James Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Michael Eckman David Krumholtz
Joey Donner Andrew Keegan
A story in which the fiery character of Katarina Stratford meets her match in school tough guy Patrick Verona. Menawhile Kat’s younger sister, Bianca, has to learn the difference between the arrogance of sleazy Joey Donner and the new boy in school who is sincere and true, Cameron James.
Promotional Material: The promotional material for a film can give you far more than just the movie credits. If you study the poster for the movie there are a number of visual and verbal techniques used to inform the viewer so that he/she can make predictions about the content of the film.
Consider:
o The intended audience
o The genre of the film
o When and where the film is set
o How recently the film was made
Synopsis:
New boy at Padua High, Cameron James, is attracted to the beautiful and innocent Bianca Stratford at first sight but is soon warned by buddy Michael that she is out of bounds. Her protective father will not allow Bianca to go out with boys until her elder sister, the unpopular Katarina, starts dating. Cameron and Michael come up with a plan to convince the rich and sleazy Joey Donner to pay school rebel, Patrick, to date Kat, thus leaving the way free for Joey to date Bianca. In the meantime Cameron stays close to Biance by tutoring her in French. After initially spurning Patrick, Kat accompanies him to the school prom where she learns about the deal between Patrick and Joey. Although the course of true love never runs smoothly, the film finishes with a happy ending for all four teenagers.
In 10 Things I Hate About You, what appears to be the main story (how Cameron can get to date Bianca) is swallowed up by what appears to be the subplot (the development of the relationship between Kat and Patrick). The audience becomes more interested in what is happening between them than in whether or not Cameron and Bianca will end up together. The problem of Cameron wanting to find a way around Mr Stratford’s rule is used as a springboard to tell the story of Kat’s initial rejection, then acceptance, of Patrick.
1. Name the characters that fit within the stereotypes below:
· A difficult and unpopular girl
· A beautiful and popular girl
· A faithful friend
· A lovesick suitor
· An unpleasant rival
· A tough guy who is really a softy
· An overprotective father
2. What do you think are the benefits of using stock characters? What are the disadvantages?
3. Was the ending a surprise to you? Why or why not?
4. Try using the stock characters from 10 Things I Hate About You to make up alternative plots for the story.
5. Put these events in order:
· Bianca asks Kat to go sailing with her and Cameron.
· Cameron pretends to know French so he can tutor Bianca.
· Kat goes to the school prom where the deal between Joey and Patrick is revealed.
· Mr Stratford decides that Bianca isn’t allowed to date until Kat does.
· Joey pays Patrick to take out Kat.
· Kat rescues Patrick from detention and they go paddle boating, play paintball and kiss.
· At Bogie’s party, Bianca is bored by Joey and asks Cameron to drive her home.
· Cameron and Michael realise they need money to pay Patrick, so Michael approaches Joey to finance the scheme. They lead Joey to believe that this will leave the way clear for him to date Bianca.
· Kat tells Bianca that she went out with Joey.
· Patrick tries to explain himself to Kat, but she runs off.
· Michael and Cameron come up with a plan to get Patrick to date Kat.
· Michael is assigned to show Cameron around the school.
· Kat gets drunk and is taken home by Patrick.
· Joey pays Patrick to take Kat out.
· Cameron and Bianca start dating.
· Annoyed that he has rejected her offer of a kiss, Kat resists Patrick’s advances until he uses the school PA system to woo her by singing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.
· Patrick buys Kat a guitar and surprises her by putting it in her car.
6. Match the key scenes below with the reason they are significant:
Scene / ReasonThe prom / Kat gets drunk and Patrick looks after her. We are shown that Patrick is not the low-life many think he is.
Bogie’s Party / Bianca is given the opportunity to date if Kat does.
Mr Stratford changes the rules / Patrick wants Kat to forgive him,
Cameron first sees Bianca / Kat finds out about Patrick’s deal with Joey.
Joey agrees to pay the costs for getting someone to date Kat. / Patrick starts hanging around in the same places as Kat pretending he likes what she likes.
Patrick agrees to the deal. / Bianca is able to appreciate Cameron.
Bianca realises what Joey is really like / Michael and Cameron start looking for someone to date Kat.
Patrick buys Kat a guitar / Kat admits her feelings for Patrick
Kat reads her poem to the class / Kat’s father accepts her right to make decisions on her own
Mr Stratford tells Kat that he has sent a cheque to Sarah Lawrence College / Cameron is determined to date Bianca.
7. In a group of two to four choreograph and perform a dance for Bogie’s party, Club Skunk or the prom.
8. Produce a news report for radio, television or newspaper about the gatecrashers at Bogie’s party.
9. Create a storyboard or comic illustrating a key scene in the movie.
Setting: In a film the setting is most often established at the beginning. Its purpose is to orient or position the viewer in the world they are going to occupy for the length of the film.
In 10 Things I Hate About You the first thing you see is a city. The camera sweeps towards the right, over the harbour and suburbs, and then moves closer to the particular street where the story begins. You can tell that you are in a comfortable suburban street- the houses are large and well maintained, people are walking along the street and there are many cars. It is summertime and from the clothes and music you know that the story is modern.
The setting is refined further when we follow Kat into the school quad. You know for certain that the world you are going to occupy is that of high school students. Knowing what you do about the environment you might be able to predict some of what is going to occur in the film.
10. What does the outside of the Stratford house tell us about the family?
11. Look at the way the camera allows us to travel through the window into the Stratford’s living room.
a. How does that make you feel?
b. What does it suggest about what we are going to see?
12. Patrick is reluctant to go to Club Skunk.
a. What sort of place is it?
b. Give the reasons for you opinion.
13. Create an alternative setting for one of the scenes in the film. Write a rationale explaining the reasons for your choice and what you want the setting to convey to the audience.
14. Suggest ways in which you could alter the temporal setting of the film.
15. Imagine you wanted to set the film in the 1960s or earlier. How could you convey this to the audience in the opening scenes?
16. Transpose the film to an Australian setting.
a. Where would you choose? Why?
b. How would types of language and groups need to change to make is more authentic to an New Zealand/ Australian audience?
c. Script the scene in the quad where Michael explains to Cameron who the different group are. Make your language reflect the groups and setting of Westlake (if it were a co-ed school).
Characters:
Directors make use of stereotypes to manipulate audiences to form judgements about certain characters based on their appearance. The clothes characters wear, their hairstyles, make-up, even the way they walk and talk combine to create an impression in the audience of what they are like.
Sometimes a director subverts the stereotype and contradicts the audience’s expectations. Miss Perky, the school counsellor, looks quite conservative. The first sign that she is not what she appears is communicated to the viewer by a close-up showing the words of the steamy novel she is writing. Cameron does not see what the viewer sees, so he doesn’t realise she is unusual until she swears and makes a rude gesture.
17. What impression do you get of the main characters in 10 Things I Hate About You from the way they look?
18. What impression do you get of the secondary charcters? (Michael, Joey, Mandella and Mr Stratford)
A film text such as 10 Things I Hate About You needs many characters to tell the story. The audience is usually only interested in the main character or characters because the story is centred around them and their problems.
10 Things I Hate About You has a plot and a subplot, each of which has its own set of characters. The two plots come together in the resolution (ending).
You will recall that we learn about characters from a number of sources. The words and phrases below are what the characters have said about themselves, what others have said about them and what can be surmised by their actions.
Self-righteousVain
Abrupt
Tempestuous
Vapid
Pragmatic
Psycho
Independent
B***h
Poor reputation
Antisocial
Sleazy
Intelligent
Immature
Experienced
Nervous
Persuasive / Unpopular
Scary
Conceited
Witty
Vengeful
Naïve
Impetuous
Prickly
Arrogant
Wretch
Deceitful
Feminist
Inattentive
Fashionable
Clever
Confident
Snappy / Hostile
Unfashionable
Sarcastic
Shrew
Pure
Selfish
Rich
Conceited
Mewling
Genuine
Mercenary
Stupid
Conservative
Superficial
Scheming
Wild beast
Mature / Self-centred
Submissive
Loser
Heinous B***h
Socially inept
Snotty little princess
Unattainable
Doesn’t scare easily
Doesn’t care what others think
Doesn’t care about others
Induces fear in others
Used to be popular
Superior
Sarcastic
Manipulative
Criminal
Tough
19. Divide into groups of 6 and take one of the following characters each: Kat, Bianca, Cameron, Patrick, Michael and Joey.
a. Select words from the list above which describe your allocated character.
b. Form a group with the other people in the class who looked at the same character.
c. Share you list with the people with the same character and create a list that you all agree upon. If there a words you do not agree on then try and convince the others in the group to add it to the list.
d. Return to your original group. You will all have different characters. Share your work so each member of the group has the same information on all six characters. (i.e. copy them into your book!)
The Stratford sisters:
First impressions: Bianca- a young, beautiful and innocent sophomore.
Kat- academic and alternative she is difficult and unpopular.
Our first glimpse of Kat is when the camera pans from the girls in the sports car over to Kat in her bomb. This immediately sets up a contrast between Kat and the girls. While the four girls are together, Kat is alone. They are bright and bubbly, Kat looks cross and moody. Their car is new, Kat’s is old. They have taken care with their appearance, Kat has not.
Our first view of Bianca is through the eyes of Cameron. This means that the audience’s initial introduction to her will be filtered through Cameron’s point of view. Bianca is presented as she walks towards Cameron, past him and joins her friend. She looks fresh and innocent and immediately captivates Cameron. What he does not hear, but the audience does, are the comments Bianca and her friend are making about the difference between like and love. This reveals to the audience two of Bianca’s personality traits, triviality and superficiality.
At this stage the audience doesn’t know these two are sisters, although most of them will have guessed this already because of the knowledge they bring to the film from its pre-release promotion, posters, DVD and video cover and even their familiarity with the teen movie genre. What the audience knows for sure is that the two aren’t going to get along and so the stage is set for conflict.
Kat and Bianca live with their father, a gynocologist, who is bringing up the girls alone. He is protective of his daughters and each daughter has a different reaction to this,
Kat has no intention of dating, so her father’s decree that his daughters aren’t allowed to date until after graduation is not a problem for her. For Bianca, however, this us an immense problem as she wants to date Joey.
Kat is ambitious and wants to study at an east coast school; she craves independence and the right to make her own decisions. Bianca’s ambitions are more modest: she just wants to be allowed to date.
Key Scenes:These scenes help us to understand the relationship between the two sisters, their attitudes and their differences.
· The girls bickering before and after Mr Stratford comes up with his new rule.
· In the bathroom Kat notices Bianca wearing their mother’s pearls.
· Kat agrees to put in appearance at Bogie’s party so Bianca can go.
· At the party Bianca tells Kat not to talk to her.
· Kat tries to tell Bianca about Joey.
· Bianca punches Joey at the prom.
· Bianca asks Kat to go sailing with her and Cameron.
These scenes establish the relationship between the sisters. They are dissimilar and their relationship is characterised by animosity. Bianca is portrayed as being self-centred and immature. Kat agrees to got o Bogie’s party only so Bianca can go, but once there Bianca tells her sister not to talk to her. Jealousy and rivalry are evident in their exchange about their mother’s pearls. Ironically Kat tries to warn Bianca off Joey but is unsuccessful until Bianca discovers what Joey is really like for herself.