It’s a classic comparison. Ancient vs modern. Misogyny vs liberation through love. The Taming of The Shrew vs 10 Things I Hate About You. Are these films love stories about men liberating women, or are they exercises in misogyny? The truth is, they are different films, made for different audiences, and when compared, the misogynistic contrast is evident between eras. The Taming Of The Shrew, filmed in 1967 by Franco Zeffirelli , depicts the extreme sexism of a classic William Shakespeare romance. Following the life of Katharina Minola, Zeffirelli’s film explores several themes, such as power, love, femininity, masculinity, dowry and relationships, all of which are prevalent in misogyny, when being displayed in the film. The plot generally stays true to the original text written by William Shakespeare in the 1590’s, and in this time the behaviours that are now considered misogynistic, were considered normal. Opposing this, is Gil Junger’s 1999 film, 10 Things I Hate …show more content…
For example, the plot of Junger’s film is: a young boy wishes to date a young girl. The young girl cannot date until her older sister, who does not date, does. The young boy pays a man to date the older sister, and over time, she becomes accepting towards his love. At the very end, the young boy gets to date the young girl, and the older sister falls in love with the man. This film has a plot similar to a classic 90’s chick flick, which is coincidental, considering it was released in the 90’s for a teenage audience. Considering its targeted viewing audience, there’s no doubt about why the plot was altered to be more appealing. Although I prefer this plot to Zeffirelli’s version, and I don’t believe that it is misogynistic, in my opinion, it does not classify as a love story about a man liberating a woman, as when we refer back to the definitions, we can notice that no woman is being set free from imprisonment, by a