10 Things I Hate About You

American Values in…

Synopsis 10 Things I hate about you is based on

the Shakespearean play The Taming of the Shrew. It was adapted to movie in 1999 and over the past summer was readapted to be a TV series. Although the story line changes in some places, it keeps the same values that the original characters had, but plays on them more, basing entire episodes on one of the cultural values of America.

Characters Kat--Kat is an individual. She doesn’t do anything just because other people are doing it or because someone tells

her she should. She has a mind of her own and is very upfront about it.

Bianca--Bianca is Kat’s sister polar opposite. Her entire life revolves around what everyone else thinks about her.

Her daily routine includes going to school and doing everything in her power to impress the head cheerleader and

most popular girl in school in attempt to build her way to the top of the social tower of high school.

Patrick--Patrick is Kat’s reluctant love interest. He is mysterious and expresses her liking

for her in subtle ways, while she just shows utter disdain for him. He supports her

be-your-own-person attitude more than anyone else.

Mr. Stratford--Mr. Stratford spends every hour of the day thinking of ways to keep his daughters from having sex.

He lectures the girls daily about how getting pregnant at their age will lead to lack of success.

Chastity--Chastity is Bianca’s idol. She is rich and entitled and has everybody wrapped around

her finger. Her clothes are expensive as well as everything else she owns.

Cameron--Cameron is Bianca’s best friend. He is constantly trying to think of ways to get Bianca

to return his strong feelings of love.

Equality

The value of equality is displayed in an episode in which Kat tries to break the stereotype of girls doing everything a boy can do by joining a class to fix cars. The guys make bets that she cannot do it, but she spends all night at the shop to accomplish her goal and break the stereotype.

Education This value is displayed in an episode in

which Kat complains about the grading system in one of her classes when she realizes that everyone in the class got the same grade, even if their paper was not deserving of such a good grade.

Success and Achievement At the end of the episode in which Kat

fights the grading system, she rewrites her paper, which was described as preaching rather than the assigned story-telling, and changes her grade from a B- to an A.

Also, Mr. Stratfords efforts to keep his daughters from getting pregnant is largely due to the fact that this event would keep them from achieving success in life

Romantic Love

In one episode, Patrick attempts to get Kat up to the school roof to confess his feelings with her. He kisses her and tells her that he likes how quiet she is when they kiss and that she is a good make-out buddy. This ruins the romantic moment.

Cameron is constantly trying to sweep Bianca off of her feet. Unfortunately he always fails to capture the romantic moment that he longs to have with Bianca.

Individualism

When a new dress policy involving uniforms is instated in Padua High, Kat takes action to get it overturned. While others just don’t like the uniforms because they are hideous, Kat doesn’t like them because they represent lack of personal rights for students in the school. She also makes an attempt to rid the school of the new metal detectors.

Material comfort The American standard of living is one

of the highest in the history of the world, and is broadly equated with "happiness." This is especially true for high school girls. In one episode Bianca and a friend team up to put together a web show to raise money to go shopping with Chastity.

Progress

In one episode it is pointed out to Kat that she takes every situation at hand and unintentionally makes it about herself. Throughout the episode she tries to find ways to stop this behavior from herself and make progress on the road of becoming a better person than most of her high school peers.