10 Things I Hate About You: The Best Modern Shakespeare Adaptation
Anyone who know their Shakespeare will tell you that William Shakespeare is the ultimate authority on storytelling, love, loss, and the complex gamut of emotions in between. Therefore, it is no surprise that when modern writers and directors have turned his works into adaptations, they have always done well and become cult classics.
One of the most notable modern adaptations of Shakespeare's work is 10 Things I Hate About You, a 1999 romantic comedy released ten years after the aforementioned Anyone But You. 10 Things I Hate About You is a modernization of The Taming of the Shrew, starring a ensemble cast of rising stars including Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Larisa Oleynik, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Andrew Keegan. The plot focuses on the complex love story between Ledger and Stiles' characters, Kat and Patrick, with a surprising amount of chemistry between the two.
10 Things I Know About You turns the sexual politics of the original story on its head. Wherein Kat is a strong-willed teenager who is disliked by many of the boys at her school, the film makes her somewhat of a feminist hero. While Patrick is still the 'bad boy' who is paid to date Kat in order for her sister to be allowed to date, their dynamic is much more respectful and contemporary than that of Petruchio and Katherina.
More than that, 10 Things I Hate About You is a homage to 90s teen flicks, with scenes in the high school stadium and a prom finale. It is a fresh take on Shakespeare's original text, with a cast of young stars who went on to great things. If you're looking for a nostalgic classic to watch this week, then this is the perfect choice.